Leonard L. Dahlgren

Memorial services for Leonard L. Dahlgren of Warroad, MN will be held on Thursday, December 21st at 3 PM at Helgeson Funeral Home in Roseau.  A visitation will be one hour prior.

He passed away on December 17th at the Altru Hospital in Grand Forks at the age of 53.  In lieu of flowers, memorial preferred to the Altru Cancer Center in Grand Forks.

Leonard LeRoy Dahlgren was born on May 18, 1964, in La Crosse, WI, to Gary and Gloria (Wolff) Dahlgren. The family lived in La Crescent, MN, Houston, MN, Lansing, IA, and Wausau, WI, before settling in Falun Township in 1974 where Leonard attended grades 5-12 in the Malung and Roseau schools.

In 1982, Leonard enlisted in the Army. He was stationed in Georgia, Kentucky, and Germany, training as a machinist and heavy equipment operator. In 1987, he returned to Roseau and was employed as a truck driver for Marvin Windows and Doors.  Eventually he started building and repairing machines in the Milling room and there he met his wife, JoAnn (Tveit), whom he would marry on November 19, 1987. But his love of operating heavy equipment led him to hauling gravel (R & Q Trucking), logs (to Boise Cascade), and LP/fuel (Warroad Farmer’s Union Oil Company). Leonard also became partners with Les Norquist of Roosevelt, rebuilding roads and digging ditches after the 2002 flood. It would develop into his own “Dahlgren’s Gravel and Excavating” business for five years. He finally settled back at Marvin Windows and Doors in the Maintenance Department in 2008.

He also enjoyed spending time with family, visiting friends, and being with his maintenance co-workers not only during work hours but after hours as well. Leonard was a hard worker and  was one-of-a-kind, constantly planning and thinking ahead to figure out the simplest, easiest, and best way to accomplish anything he ever encountered. He was able to fix anything broken, as well as construct projects of either wood or metal, and could not rest until the task was completed. In 1989, Leonard and JoAnn built their own home, after learning from his dad how to build a garage out of logs when Leonard was 14 years old. He also cut most of the lumber on his own sawmill.  He was outside most of his time; mowing grass, digging in the dirt, hunting, or exploring in the woods on one of his snowmobiles.  But most of all, Leonard was happiest driving his boat and fishing on Lake of the Woods. 

After never having a sick day in 50 years, Leonard was faced with a two-year battle with lung cancer.  As long as he had a breath to breathe, he was busy trying to think of ways to fix things that needed fixing. He tried to figure out the mysteries of cancer from his hospital bed, but to no avail. Although never a quitter, he grew weary, and was impatient fighting a disease that has no cure. Faced with more challenges than choices, Leonard finally joined his dad on the stairway to Heaven in the morning of Sunday, December 17, 2017. Rest assured, they are both watching over their family from above, until we can all be together again. And there is no doubt they are together either fixing, building or rebuilding something.

Leonard is survived by his mother, Gloria; his wife of 30 years, JoAnn; daughter, Shannel; brothers, Lyle (Karen), Larry (Lynnea), and Leslie (Becky); sister, Louise (Dale) Boroos and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Gary.

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