Carrie Gorans

Carrie J. Gorans, age 50, of Willmar, died on Sunday morning, February 4, at her home in rural Willmar.

Memorial services will be 1 p.m. Friday, February 9, at Svea Lutheran Church.  Interment will be in the church cemetery.  Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Thursday, February 8, at Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar and will continue one hour prior to the service at the church on Friday. www.petersonbrothers.com

Carrie Jean Gorans was born February 19, 1967, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.  Carrie was adopted by Dale and Alva (Gade) Halos.  She grew up in Crookston, Minnesota and graduated from Crookston High School in 1985.  Carrie lived in several areas of the country and Canada while raising her four children: Bailey, Taylor, Austin, and Maddie.  She moved to Willmar in 2002 and worked for several years as a paramedic with Willmar Ambulance Service and as a First Responder for Lake Lillian.  Shortly after moving to Willmar, she met Troy Gorans. They were married on June 4, 2004.  In 2015, Carrie expanded her medical training at Rasmussen College in St. Cloud as a Certified Medical Assistant. She was currently employed at the CentraCare Coburn Cancer Center in Sartell, where her passion for the medical field continued.

Carrie was a self proclaimed "trauma junky"; the scanner was always on. EMS was always a big part of her life, even long after an injury and physical limitations ended her career in EMS. Volunteering in the EMS tent at the Sonshine Festival was a must; for years she made it a family event; and as a music lover, it was her favorite type of music. Carrie loved sports, she could watch most any kind of sport, even her husband's sport of curling. Her favorite however was hockey, the MN Wild and the UND Fighting Sioux. Carrie loved spending time at the cabin on Lake Minnewaska and her favorite thing to do was the campfire; she required no special occasion or company to start a fire. She also loved dogs, motorcycle rides, musicals, and reading. As a young girl Carrie was very active; gymnastics, she played the baritone sax, manager of the wrestling team and was in FFA "for the boys", just to name a few. Carrie was fun-loving with a great sense of humor; if there was fun going on she was involved, many times the instigator. But most of all Carrie was "Nana", and she had no greater love then for the three little granddaughters down in Illinois, of which she made the distance much closer with the iPad by Face-Timing them on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, Carrie was no stranger to pain and discomfort, suffering from a long list of various injuries and ailments during her life. Carrie was born with a form of Ehler-Danlos, a syndrome that involves loose joints, super elastic skin and "freakish" flexibility, among many other things. Dual knee surgery in the 8th grade ended her gymnastics, and this physical limitation would prove to limit her life of physical activity; sports and career that she loved so well.
Carrie was a free-spirited soul, passionate, compassionate, with strong convictions and beliefs and a limited ability to "filter". She will be sorely missed by many.

Carrie is survived by her husband, Troy Gorans; her four children, Bailey (and Wes) Brooke of St. Francisville, IL, Taylor Sandberg of Grand Forks, ND, Austin (and McKenna) Sandberg of Edwardsville, IL, and Maddie Sandberg of St. Cloud, MN; and three granddaughters, Alexis, Keira, and Lillian Brooke.   Also surviving are her father, Dale Halos; a brother, Brian (and Mary Jo) Halos, all of Crookston, MN; her nephews and niece, Christian, Benjamin, and Kathryn Halos; and other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Alva Halos and her aunt, Pat Eggebraaten.

Cemetery Details