Delmore Leo Rosenquist

 

Delmore Leo Rosenquist (Del), 85, of Jekyll Island, Georgia passed away suddenly on February 1, 2023. Del was born December 24, 1937, at home to Hjalmer Wilhelm Rosenquist and Johanna Victoria Rosenquist (Peterson) in Roseville, MN. After graduating from Alexander Ramsey High School in Roseville, Minnesota. Delmore studied Tool and Die at Dunwoody College of Technology. Delmore started work at Pipkorn Manufacturing as a tool and die maker. He met Elizabeth Kampa around this time through mutual friends and they got married October 19, 1957. They went on to have two girls, Ann Marie Rosenquist and Lisa Kay Montgomery.

In 1971, Liz and Del fled the city and bought Solbakken Resort in Lutsen, Minnesota from Mary Alice and Elmer Harvey. While Liz ran the front of the resort, Del kept busy winterizing all of the cabins, doing plumbing and electrical work, installing septics, painting, and doing many maintenance jobs. He also helped clean rooms. They also had a big garden and managed to find time for fishing and a yearly family trip to Jekyll Island, usually in a cramped, overladen 2-door Ford Pinto.

After they sold the resort and moved to Grand Marais, Del found a job as Mountain Manager at Lutsen Mountains, in charge of all the outdoor operations, except ski patrol. Back then it was mostly Del and Charley Skinner who were doing maintenance. During his time there he became quite well-known with his positive attitude and ability to fix anything that needed fixing. Sometime around 1999, he retired from the ski hill and got way into having a garden. He stayed active with gardening and, of course, fishing. He was an excellent and adaptable fisherman, whether he was fishing in the BWCA in Minnesota or a trout stream or the ocean. He taught many people how to fish and enjoyed pulling by hand a long seine net for shrimping off the coast of Georgia. He also could cook up a storm as well and thought of himself as a jack of all trades (master of none). Both he and Liz enjoyed traveling and spending time on Jekyll Island. Throughout all this time, Del had at least nine lives, escaping tragedy. He fell 40 feet from a lift tower, got an extreme case of Vibrio from swallowing ocean water while shrimping with a net, was stung by a stingray, got a very bad case of a drug resistant bacteria after a surgery that left him with no inner ear from the IV antibiotics and several other near-death misses.

Delmore was very full of life and good cheer, having the ability to strike up a conversation and find common ground with anyone. He was in the process of getting ready to head back to Minnesota after Liz, Elizabeth Rosenquist, his wife of 64 years, passed away in January of 2022, when his life was cut short. He was physically active until the end.

Delmore is also predeceased by both of his parents and all of his siblings and their spouses, Lester Lloyd, Violet May, Lois Jean, Delores Audrey, and Betty Ann. He is survived by his daughters, Ann Marie Rosenquist and Lisa Kay Montgomery, two granddaughters Saffron Rose Straub and Kayla Ann Montgomery. He is also survived by one great-grandchild Graison Adam Lee Montgomery.

His remains will be interred in Grand Marais at the Catholic Church Cemetery in Grand Marais. A memorial service in his memory and honor will be scheduled in the Spring or Summer at a later date. As Del was a philanthropist giving to many organizations, he would appreciate all gifts be sent to your local food shelf.