I am sad to say that dad passed away late in the evening of March 18, 2021, due to complications from dementia.
Oscar LaVere Wolske was born in Spring Lake Township on April 19, 1938. He was the youngest of 5 children both to Oscar and Esther Wolske. He grew up in a small farming community called Olivet, WI, went to high school in Elmwood, WI where he met Joyce Kendall. He knew from a young age that he would not continue farming due extremely bad allergies to hay and ragweed. He had pneumonia every summer he was on the farm. He decided after high school to go to Devry Tech in Chicago for electronics and a new thing called computer hardware. He only had enough money to go for the 2-year course/certificate – but boy, did that certification take him far. He married mom on August 1, 1959 2 months after he graduated from Devry. He worked at Norlake for a short while until he landed a job at Remington Rand (now Lockheed/Martin which he retired from). He worked for the defense side so they moved several times for him to work on Naval bases fixing their big computers (he was known as “the fixer”). Each time mom was pregnant (all four of us kids were born in a different state). They settled in South St Paul where they raised their 4 children (Ken, Lorene, Phil and Lois). Dad coached softball and Boy Scouts. He liked fishing and worked to get a boat to go out fishing in (and to do some waterskiing as well). Then after learning how to downhill ski at local hills, he went skiing in the mountains around Salt Lake City when he travelled there for work. When he took an interest in photography and took a class at the local community college to make sure he had the knowledge to utilize his new camera. Everywhere he went, he took pictures. When he was elected church council president, he joined Toastmasters so that he would be more comfortable with public speaking. He continued with Toastmasters even after he was no longer the church council president. He entered speaking contests and won many awards! Dad and Mom loved to see new places – the Badlands / Black Hills in South Dakota as a family camping trip, road trips to see the mines in northern MN, the bridges of Madison county, North Carolina to see their sons, Hawaii for their 25th wedding anniversary.
After they retired, they became snowbirds for 10 years to a place in AZ, where he became very involved in the woodshop and oil painting. He was extremely good at both!! Towards the end of those ten years, it was getting too hard on him driving back and forth, so they sold their place there and the house in SSP (that one my nephew Tim bought!) and bought a condo at Gramercy where they enjoyed 7 years of living. The last two years they were there we started noticing dad’s memory going in and out, we originally chalked it up to old age until he started forgetting where he was, losing the car in the parking lot if he went somewhere without mom. 2019 we fast tracked them into an assisted living apartment at Inver Glen because dad started having episodes (like seizures) and it was getting too hard for mom to take care of him. They were only there a month or so when he had to be moved into memory care and mom moved into an independent living apartment on the floor above dad. He had a good year in 2020, but unfortunately us kids could not be there to see that. Thankfully, mom was. We each got to visit with him over the last few weeks and he soon began to decline. No one thought he would go so quick – not even the nurses, but now he is at peace and he is whole again.
Dad had the biggest personality, an amazing sense of humor, an infectious laugh and gave the best bear hugs – that is what we choose to remember. He was the best father a kid could ask for. You are now a Guardian Angel watching over mom, us kids and grandkids – just like you did when you were alive.
Love you infinity, Dad.
Oscar is survived by his wife of 62 years, Joyce; children, Ken (Sue) Wolske (St Paul, MN), Lorene (Wil) Damsits (Savage, MN), Phil (Rhonda) Wolske (Goldsboro, NC), and Lois Wolske (Inver Grove Heights, MN); 9 grandchildren; 8 great grandchildren; nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents; brother, Lyman (Margaret) Wolske; sisters, Leona (Ambrose) Gamroth, Mabel Wolski, and Dorla (Clarence) Holm; in-laws, Donald and Vesta Kendall; brothers-in-law, Jerry Kendall & Donald Anderson; Due to COVID a private funeral was held and a celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Please consider memorials to the Alzheimer’s Association.