Robert E. “Bob” Wahlstrom, 97
St. Joseph
Sept. 14, 1925-Oct. 20, 2022
Robert E. “Bob” Wahlstrom, 97, of St. Joseph, Minnesota died peacefully on Oct. 20.
A family memorial service will be held at a later date on the family land at Kjostad Lake. No local memorial is planned at this time due to concern with COVID-19.
Wahlstrom was born Sept. 14, 1925 in Brainerd to Gustav and Hulda (Hanson) Wahlstrom. In 1943, he graduated from Brainerd High School. He then enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp, Signal Battalion which took him to Occupational Japan in 1945. While there, Wahlstrom strung cable throughout Tokyo; he loved telling stories about his time overseas.
After finishing his tour of duty, Wahlstrom returned to Brainerd where he received a degree in business and marketing from Brainerd Junior College. It was then he met his wife Ellen (Klasen) and they married June 7, 1952. The couple was blessed with nine children: Robert, William, Karen, Christine, Daniel, Peter, Paul, Stephen and Jon, and they opened their hearts to one more son, John Ratzloff.
After graduating from Brainerd Junior College, Wahlstrom worked in retail lumber in Blooming Prairie and Racine, Minn. before taking a job managing the St. Joseph Lumber Co. and moving his family to St. Joseph in 1956. He ran St. Joseph Lumber Co about 11 years. He left St. Joseph Lumber when it was sold and purchased Silver Lake Lumber in Silver Lake, Minn. After selling Silver Lake Lumber, Wahlstrom took a job at what would become Lumber One, where he would work until he retired in 1988.
Wahlstrom enjoyed hunting and the outdoors. He purchased two landsites in northern Minnesota where he built the “Shack” on the Sturgeon and the “Wahlstrom Compound” on Lake Kjostad which is used to this day as a gathering place for much of the Wahlstrom Family. Wahlstrom will be especially remembered for his love of this land, as well as the fried chicken he would make over the campfire in the “Big Daddy” cast iron skillet.
Survivors include the following: his wife, Ellen; children, Robert (Arlene), Karen (Tim) Burdick, Christine, Daniel, Peter (Riki), Paul (Brenda), Stephen (Marcia), Jon (Sharon), and John Ratzloff; 16 grandchildren,and three great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents; son, William (Sharon); brother, Roy, sister-in-law, Eleanor and sister, Dorothy Hulbert and brother-in-law, Bruce.
The Wahlstrom family wishes to give special recognition and thanks to the Veterans’ Hospital staff for the compassionate care Wahlstrom received during his stay there. They were wonderful and gave great comfort to the family.
