Cliff Buchan
News EditorAs time marches on, Forest Lakeís connections to its past continue to fade into history. And now the city has lost another.
Tom Rolseth, the man whose name still stands on the front of a downtown drug store, has died. Rolseth, 82, died on Friday, Dec. 5 at his home in Forest Lake.
Rolseth recently fought a bout with pneumonia, but family members said this week their father never recovered from the death of his wife of 55 years, Mary Therese, on Nov. 3. ìHe died of a broken heart,î said a daughter, Karen Dickey.
With the exception of his years in college and in the Navy, Rolseth spent his entire life in Forest Lake.
He was born here on March 8, 1921 and is a graduate of Forest Lake High School. He attended college at the University of Minnesota and entered the Navy when World War II broke out.
He served as a hospital medic and pharmacist first class. Rolseth was commended for outstanding performance of duty during the occupation of Saipan Islands in the Pacific Theater.
After the war and his service obligation, Rolseth returned to the University of Minnesota earning a degree in pharmacy in 1951. He married Mary Therese Mills in 1948.
After earning his degree, the couple moved from Minneapolis to Forest Lake where he went to work at Petersen Drug, a local store where he had worked part-time while in college. He purchased the store in 1961 and remained involved in the ownership until 1982.
The store continues to operate as Rolseth Drug. The business is owned today by Jim Garrison and Tom Hass, two pharmacists who followed Rolseth to the Forest Lake business scene.
Garrison was the first to arrive. An Edina native and Minnesota graduate, Garrison was looking for work in 1972 and stopped at Rolseth Drug on a whim. ìHe hired me on the spot,î Garrison said.
Garrison said Rolseth became a mentor and friend from that day on. ìHe was a good fellow and a wonderful man,î Garrison said.
Garrison became partners with Rolseth in 1975 and the two worked together until 1983 when Garrisonís purchase of the business was final. Rolseth continued to work part-time in the pharmacy until around 1985, Garrison said.
As a business owner, Garrison said there was nothing Rolseth wouldnít do to help someone in need. He recalls one time when a customer needed a prescription filled during a winter snow storm.
ìHe went in at 1 a.m. and delivered it,î Garrison said. ìHe would do it for anyone and at any time.î
In his retirement years, Rolseth continued to work part-time at Mattson Funeral Home, Forest Lake, and spent the better part of the 1980s as a volunteer caretaker at the old St. Peterís Church Cemetery in Wyoming.
On a regular basis he would cut grass and take care of the cemetery that was used when St. Peterís Church had a mission church in Wyoming in the early 1900s. The cemetery is on the north side of Wyoming near the United Methodist Church Cemetery.
He was a member of VFW Post 4210 and the St. Peterís Knights of Columbus.
ìHe will be remembered as a kind and generous man who will be missed greatly by his family and friends,î his family said in a statement this week.
Memorial details
A memorial mass will be dedicated to Thomas James Rolseth at 5:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 14 at St. Peterís Catholic Church. Friends and family are invited to a reception at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 14 at VFW Post 4210 in Forest Lake.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Therese, and his parents Thomas B. and Philomene Rolseth.
He is survived by his children: Tom (Mary) Rolseth, Terri (Don) Montgomery, Kathy (Mike) LaForge, Karen (Tom) Dickey and John Rolseth; grandchildren Megan (Casey), Marcy, Tommy, Shea, Rachel, Laura, Eric, Ian, Kelly, Corey, Katie, T.R., Tara and Mark; and one great-grandchild, Olivia.
Interment for Tom and Mary Therese Rolseth will take place in the spring at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
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