Obituary of Robert Brook Dustrude

Robert "Bob" Dustrude, 97, of Swan Lake (Pengilly) died peacefully March 10 at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, with his daughter at his side. A memorial service will be held Sunday, March 25, at 1:00 PM at the Pengilly United Methodist Church. Robert was born April 11, 1920, in Oconomowoc, Wisc., to Willard and Ruth (Sheard) Dustrude. He is a veteran of World War II, and served in the European theater flying P-51 Mustangs as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Robert married Margery Catherine Loos of Green Bay, Wisc., in 1947, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1948 with a degree in Mining Engineering. His career included employment by Butler Brothers and Hanna Mining Company in Cooley, and by Boeing in Seattle. Robert retired from Hanna in 1981, continuing to pursue a longtime avocation making and selling his Dustrude Folding Saws. Robert is survived by a brother, John Dustrude, and his wife, Louise, of Friday Harbor, Wash.; three sons, Jim Dustrude and partner, Bjorn Davidson, of Mound, Minn., Michael Dustrude of Potomac, Md., and Mark Dustrude of Long Beach, Calif.; a daughter, Suzanne Dustrude Starr, and her husband, Mark Starr, of Hibbing; and two grandchildren, Troy Starr of Sacramento, Calif., and Julia Starr of Minneapolis; and several nieces and nephews. Robert was preceded in death by his wife, Margery, in 2010; and sister, Shirley Vick, of Winneconne, Wisc., in 2017. Even since childhood "Bobby" was an original thinker, inventor, and builder, creating his first functional car at age 12. After the war, and decades before four-wheel drive SUVs became commonplace, he and Marge bought a new Willys Jeep to tow his handmade tent trailer on a honeymoon trip to Alaska the first year the Alaska Highway was open to the public. After settling in Minnesota, he built a log cabin, mainly using hand tools, from trees he felled himself. In an age of big fins on cars, Bob and Marge bought the first VW Microbus in Northern Minnesota, which Bob outfitted to sleep six, for their annual three-week camping trips to the coasts. Winter, and his handmade skate sail, brought him great enjoyment, and the title "Sail King of Swan Lake" by the local paper, in addition to the more conventional skiing and skating which he and his family also enjoyed. The man whose 1938 Salutatorian speech was "We Need More Air Pilots" later came to share the views of Dwight D. Eisenhower on the dangers of an overgrown military establishment, and Charles Lindberg's reverence for the natural world. His realization of how few material possessions we really need, paired with a genuine empathy for those who struggle to simply survive, informed a most humane world view. Active and healthy till the end, Bob breathed his last on his feet. The manner in which he lived his life, and his strength of will even during his last days, will be a continuing inspiration to all who knew and loved him. "Brilliant. And Good." was how one lifelong friend summarized Bob Dustrude. It is the hope of his family that our generations will succeed in stepping up to the challenges today as did the last to the challenges of their time.