Obituary of Roger Wolff
In loving memory of Roger Wolff who passed away peacefully on January 13, 2021, a month after his loving wife, Theresa Wolff (May). A memorial service will be planned at a later date.
Roger was born on December 23, 1939 to Ora (Beaudry) and Clarence (Shorty) Wolff in Anoka, Minnesota, where he also grew up. Roger was one of eight children and had a loving upbringing where his mother was known for her pastries, which started Roger’s love of sweets and desserts. At the age of 19, Roger joined the Navy and was stationed off of the coast of Taiwan. He served for two years working on planes until they retired his ship. Though his time in the military was short, he had many adventures and memories that he shared, mostly of the different foods he ate around the world.
Roger met the love of his life Theresa May, through his sister who knew the May family. On September 13, 1967, they married and began their loving adventures with each other, which included snowmobile racing, which they both participated in and won many trophies. They had three boys (Terry, Spencer, and Aaron) shortly after marriage and decided to move from their newly built Ramsey, Minnesota home to an old farmhouse in Foley, Minnesota to start a dairy farm. For years, Roger commuted from Foley to Anoka to work nights at Federal Cartridge. As the boys grew up, their love for hunting and fishing grew together. The boys were raised outdoors and that is still evident today. In 1982, their youngest child came along, Bradley, who grew up solely on the dairy farm and looked up to his older siblings.
In the year 2000, after some health concerns for Roger, they sold the farm and retired to Deer River, Minnesota. There, they lived in the woods where they gardened, hunted, fished, and watched their grandchildren grow up in the outdoors as well. Roger spent a lot of his time watching his hundreds of VHS tapes while Theresa tended to the gardens. They would also spend their time driving around garage saling, which if that would be an olympic sport, they’d have all of the gold medals. Roger, like his wife, was very innovative and could fix almost anything. He had such a calm demeanor and rarely let anything get to him, allowing for him to be creative and see different options and ideas. He enjoyed driving around on his Argo, snowshoeing, berry picking, and having his sons take him fishing up north, though he couldn’t seem to outfish his wife.
His sweet wife battled dementia for many years and when it became unsafe to keep her home any longer, she moved into an assisted living home in St. Cloud, Minnesota. At that time, Roger sold his retirement home in Deer River and moved closer to most of his sons and grandchildren, where his youngest grandchildren kept him young and entertained. He spoke so highly of his boys and grandchildren and was proud of each and every one of them, but he spoke of his wife with the greatest admiration, where he mentioned many times how he didn’t know how he could be so lucky as to find her.
Roger is survived by his four sons: Terry (Sandy), Spencer (Linda), Aaron (Cathy), and Bradley (Starrsha) as well as his grandchildren: Tyler, Austin, Elicia, Hannah, Holly, Elliot, and Sophia. He is also survived by his siblings: Eugene (Virginia) Wolff, David (Sue) Wolff, Joanne (Ron) Schendel, James (Cheryl) Wolff, and Steve (Mary) Wolff.
Roger was preceded in death by his wife Theresa Wolff (May) one month prior, his parents Ora and Clarence, and siblings Elaine and Joe Stoffel and Mary Ellen and Bob Klein. He was also preceded in death by his in-laws: Llyod and Irma May, and brothers in law: Leroy, Darryl, Richard, Ronny, and Myron.
Roger and Theresa’s spirits are together again to continue on with their many adventures. Their spirits live in the hearts and souls that knew and loved them. Rest in peace Roger; you will be missed by all.
