Funeral Services for Rohland “Rollie” Dahlquist, 94, of Woodbury, MN, formerly of St. Louis Park, MN,were held Monday, March 18 2019 at 11 a.m. at Zion Presbyterian Church, in Ellsworth, MN officiated by Pastor Paul Snyder and grandson, Adam Sieff. Burial with full military honors will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN. Rollie died Saturday, March 9, 2019, at the Parkview Manor Nursing Home in Ellsworth, MN. He was a man of integrity who built his full life around on the best things in: family, kindness, love, friendship and generosity. His journey began on April 12th, 1924 the only child to Arthur & Esther Dahlquist (Pedersen). He grew up in Minneapolis, MN and was a graduate of Harding High School class of 1942. “Skippy” as his friends would call him was a boy scout who loved soap box racing as a youngster and grew up competing with his designed model air planes.
After high school, Rollie enlisted on December 8th, 1942 and entered active duty in the United States Navy on August 5th, 1943. He sought to be an airman but due to an abundance of pilots he took on a life at sea serving as a Quartermaster Third Class on the USS Tillis in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was honorably discharged on March 20th, 1946. He received a good conduct metal during his service. He went on to complete his teaching degree in Industrial Arts at the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1953.
During his schooling he met the love of his life Bonivieve “Bonnie” Carlson while she was skating at a roller rink. Bonnie was actually on a date with another young man. What started as a simple skate turned into a love of a lifetime. The two shared many wonderful adventures together as they loved to travel and vacation all over the US. Rollie married Bonnie on March 19, 1949 in Minneapolis, MN at the Bethesda Evangelical Free Church. Rollie loved photography, he was constantly capturing great pictures of landscape and family. He could be found on a comfy recliner digging into a good novel or just sitting contently whistling and spinning his thumbs. The “Old Whistler” enjoyed flying model airplanes, watching Nascar and the famed Indianapolis 500, eating a Baconator at Wendy’s & or any home to his favorite dish, chow mien, It seemed like the only thing he and his wife would argue about was his picky eating habits. His most cherished times were those spent with his family.
Rollie was a man of faith who was a faithful member of First Baptist Church in St. Paul, Suburban Baptist in St. Paul, St. Louis Park Evangelical Free Church and Hope Evangelical Free Church in Woodbury, MN. Rollie & Bonnie lived out a simple life poured out to those around them based on the love of Jesus. Billy Graham was one of their favorite pastors and they were proud supporters of his foundation to share the message of hope with the world.
His work career started at General Mills as a draftsman and engineer. He designed the machine that made a c-shaped toasted oat that when baked formed a complete circle of goodness, known as the Cheerio! His creativity and craftsmanship also was experienced as part of a secret division at General Mills that designed amazing things for the United States Government. One of those projects that he was a member of the design team for was Alvin, the 2-man submarine that went deep in the ocean floor to discover, explore and retrieve military equipment. He later joined Char Lynn that was eventually bought out by the Eaton Company, and served their as a designer of hydraulic motors. He retired from Eaton in 1990.
Rollie was a master of the ordinary and lived a simple life of love with his wife of 66 years Bonnie Dahlquist. Together they had 2 beautiful children: Jacquelyn “Jackie” (Charles) Sieff (John “Jack”) Boltjes and Wendy (Tom) Johnson. He is also cherished by his brother in law Duane (Lorraine) Carlson & sister in law Lynn Payne. He was a wonderful grandpa to twelve kids: Kimberly Johnson, Kirsten Johnson, Ben (Janet, Erica) Sieff, Jennifer (Scott) Churilla, Nick (Brooke) Sieff, Chris Sieff, Jon Sieff, Adam Sieff, Zach Sieff, Amanda (Ryan) Lambertz, and Becca Sieff. Rollie very much loved his 7 great grandchildren too. Rollie was a caring uncle to Susan Martin, Peggy Peabody, Steven Hallstrom, Jill Martin and Stephen Payne. He also loved his 4 step grandchildren and 7 step great grandchildren.
Our Rollie peacefully went to be with Jesus on March 9th, 2019 joining his parents Arthur & Esther Dahlquist, and grandson Timothy Sieff. His great hope in Jesus is now a reality. In a week, Rollie & Bollie would have celebrated 70 years of marriage. It is comforting to know they get to celebrate that together in paradise. Together, we treasure his memory.
. Dingmann Funeral Home, in Adrian, is in charge of arrangements.
