Obituary of David Dyrstad

David (Dave) Dyrstad passed peacefully into his Savior’s arms on February 3, 2023. He was born on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938, in his grandparents’ farm house that didn’t have electricity or running water. His dad went for the doctor, but he was in church and neither of them made it back for the delivery. Dave was greeted by his 2 year old sister, JoAnn.

Dave and JoAnn, along with their parents, Clarette and John Dyrstad, moved from the farm house to a one room, homemade house trailer that they took on the road as his dad worked on road construction. Eventually they were able to buy the farm outside of Glenwood that Dave called ‘home’/owned until he was 75 years old. When they moved in it didn’t have running water or electricity. Eventually they got power and his dad added on a bathroom, a living room, and a bedroom. He and his mother milked cows while his dad continued to do seasonal road construction weekdays and farm work on weekends.

Dave’s first school was across the street from the farm: one room without running water or electricity. Dave turned out to be 6’4” and played on his high school basketball team, going to the state tournament.

Dave wanted to stay on the farm, but his parents sent him to the University of MN. He continued to play intramural basketball in college. He did dormitory janitor work to pay his way through college. He graduated in civil engineering in 1960.

His first job was for the FAA in Kansas City, MO. He traveled surveying for airports. One of his assignments sent him to Milwaukee, where he met Sandi.

They were married on November 30, 1963. They were transferred to Lansing, Michigan, and then to Helena, Montana. He finally bid on and received a promotion to Minneapolis, where he stayed until he retired at age 55. He and Sandi moved to a senior co-op building in Bloomington in 2013.

Dave and Sandi were blessed with four children: Karyn (John Cobb), Julie, Jon, and DJ. From there they had nine grandchildren: Bruno, Joshua, Nicholas, Benjamin, Risa, Ian, Marta, Nolan and Johann; and one great-grandson, John Michael.

Dave volunteered as coach and umpire for all of his sons’ sports: baseball, soccer and basketball.

He attended a Cursillo weekend as a favor to Sandi in 1988. The Holy Spirit washed over him that weekend and he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. He worked many Cursillo weekends after that.

And then Marfan Syndrome hit and hit hard. He had his first open heart surgery at age 43. He went on to have surgery for four bleeding strokes and a second open heart surgery. He also had collapsed ankles and wore braces for that. He also had wet and dry macular degeneration, with regular shots in his eye.  Even with all those ailments, Dave never needed to stay in a nursing home. We thank the Lord that he lived fairly comfortably to age 84. He died peacefully in his favorite recliner at home after reading the morning newspaper.

His memorial service will be Saturday March 11 at 2:00 pm at Emmaus Lutheran Church at 8443 Second Ave S. Bloomington, MN  55420. There will be a visitation one hour prior to the service and a luncheon afterward.