Cassandra Lynn Askelson, 27, a Minnesota girl living in a Montana world, passed away Saturday, April 22, 2017, after a short, but heroic, battle with cancer.

She was born Sept. 30, 1989, in Owatonna, Minnesota. She grew up with her parents, Mindi Federman Askelson and Steve Askelson and her brother, Vinny. She spent her childhood on the family farm in Austin, Minnesota, where she learned to love the land, the animals and the outdoors. She especially loved horses and dogs. She was a member of the Moscow 4-H Club and the Austin FFA. Through these, she spent a lot of her summers showing steers and her horses. When she wasn’t working with her animals, Cassie and her family spent summers along the Jersey Shore. Days there were spent building sandcastles in the shade of a beach chair or riding her boogie board in the surf.

She graduated from Austin High School and went on to attend Eastern Wyoming College and transferred back to Rochester Technical Institute where she earned her associate degree as a veterinary technician. After graduation she headed west to Billings, Montana, where she worked as a veterinary technician at Moore Lane Emergency Hospital and Boarding Clinic. Her love of animals also took her to the Race to the Sky dog sled races in Helena, Montana, every year where she tended to the animals as a veterinary technician. She also worked at Highlands Elementary School as a paraprofessional and substitute teacher, the Laurel Golf Course and as a sales associate at Torrid. She was enthusiastically involved in Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Laurel, Montana, where as a member she served on the church council, as a Sunday school teacher, and was an avid leader in the music program.

She loved to travel and see the sights, capturing the wild beauty of Montana through her photography. She also loved to draw and sketch and was learning to play the guitar. She was an avid movie watcher and loved anything Disney. Car rides with her were always loud and fun with Disney and country jams sung at the top of her lungs. She loved to read fantasy, science fiction and anime genres. Starting in high school, Cassie developed a love for reading and writing poetry. She published a collection of her poems and was soon to publish another. What Cassie is most remembered for, though, was her warm heart and the way she touched the lives of everyone around her.

Cassie was a loving, devoted daughter and lively friend and her smile and laugh were pure sunlight. She was a devout believer in God and lived by those beliefs. However, her sass could make anyone laugh. Her fun, warmth, wit and tenderness will always be with those who knew her, and to know her was to love her.

Cassie is survived by her parents, Mindi Askelson, Steve Askelson and Julie Nelson; PopPop Burton Federman, grandma Mary Schroder; brothers Vinny, Chris and Tucker; sister, Abbey; uncles Allen Federman, Troy Askelson, Gordy Briggs, Tony Briggs, Barry Goldstein, Steve Wollschlager and Tim Jackson; her aunts, Heidi Skorin, Cecilia Rios, Sookie Federman, Terry Briggs, Barb Buckley, Paula Goldstein, Alicia Dammen, Paula Briggs, Donna Wollschlager and Kathy Jackson; along with her cousins Stephanie, Tucker, Kylie, Jesse, Skylar, Savannah, Emily, Nick, Grace, Kelly, Ryan and Jenny. She also has her Montana family, Carolyn Gregory, Michael Gregory, Katrina Burington, Aunt Shirley, Raychel, Kole, Madelynn Hust and Jackson Clark. She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Argyle and Marjorie Askelson; her Nana Annette Federman and her aunt, Kathy Askelson.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 27, 2017, at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 707 West Third St., Laurel, MT 59044.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, the Freeborn County 4-H, Highlands Elementary School in Billings, and Neveln Elementary School in Austin.

Arrangements are by Cremation & Funeral Gallery in Billings. Condolences can be sent through www.cfgbillings.com through “Our Families.”