Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Whether it was sorting mail on railroad cars rolling across the country or delivering mail to homes in Hugo, Jack Robertson always found satisfaction with postal service work.

Robertson, of Grand Portage, a Forest Lake resident from 1950 until his retirement in 1987, has died. He was 80.

A native of Duluth, Robertson was a World War II veteran who served with the Army Air Corps. He spent two years in the service from 1945 through 1946 with duty in Guam in the final months of the war where he was a maintenance worker and served on aerial reconnaissance missions.

Robertson married his wife, Kit, on Nov. 15, 1949 in St. Paul. They moved to Forest Lake in 1950.

During his early years here, Robertson worked as a bookkeeper for an oil company and auto dealership before signing on with the Great Northern Railway.

His railroad service included duty as a rail inspector, but he also was assigned to mail trains, spending three years in all with the railroad company. “He worked on the trains sorting mail,” his wife of 57 years said.

After a stint with the highway postal service, Robertson landed a job with the U.S. Postal Service. He was a clerk in Forest Lake and a rural route driver in Hugo.

He retired from the Hugo office in 1987 with nearly a quarter of a century of work to his credit.

“He loved the freedom of working on the rural route in Hugo,” his wife said.

Since retiring, the couple has spent summers in Grand Portage, 15 miles from the Canadian border, and winters in Mesa, AZ.

Funeral details

A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. today (Thursday) at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Forest Lake. Visitation was Wednesday, June 20 at Mattson Funeral Home, 343 North Shore Drive and also at 9 a.m. prior to the service today at the funeral home.

He is survived by his wife, Katherine (Kit); children Anita (Mike) Aljets, Paula (Chuck) Neiman, Mike (Lori) Robertson, Debbie (Bill) Garrison, Pam (Bob) Hughes-Marzolf, Barbara (Ron) Schleicher, and Patrick (Christi) Robertson; 17 grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren; siblings, Corky (Henry) Stevens, Ron (Donna) Anderson; several nieces, nephews, family and friends.

He was preceded in death by one sister, one brother and son-in-law Randy Hughes.

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