Mankato, Minnesota - Brenda Ellen Lewis, age 71, passed away January 9th, 2026, at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Brenda was born on May 17th, 1954, to Robert Wilbur Lewis and Shirley Mae (Cleveland) Lewis in Austin, Minnesota. Brenda married right out of high school, moved to Waseca, Minnesota and had three amazing daughters. She later divorced. Brenda worked at Wal-Mart in Waseca in the fabrics department for years. She was skilled at sewing, passing her love and talent of sewing on to her daughters. She was well known for fried rice, potato salad and carrot cake. She often had special requests for her cinnamon rolls, and even made her own bread recipe. After her daughters all grew up, she moved to Mankato, Minnesota to start anew.

Brenda is survived by her daughters: Tracy (Greg) Patterson of Faribault, Valerie Lewis of Red Wing, and Alana (Jason) Stinehart of Lakeville; sisters: Judy (Robert) Olson of Rochester, Gayle Thom of Rogers, Renee Lewis of Austin, and Christine (Timothy) Gaffron of Hanover; grandchildren: Wyatt Melendrez, Joshua Stinehart, Lydia Patterson, Noah Stinehart, Abigail Patterson, Xander Lee, Axel Lee and Aiden Stinehart; nieces: Julie (Dave) Osterberg, Lauren Gaffron and nephew: Erik Gaffron.

Brenda is preceded in death by her parents and brother-in-law Gaylord Thom.

A memorial will be held for Brenda on Saturday February 7th at 2pm at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 420 Marie Lane, North Mankato, MN 56003.

For more details go to

https://www.ranfranzandvinefh.com/obituaries/brenda-lewis