Paul C. Estlie, of Dawson, died Tuesday evening, November 22, 2011, at the Johnson Memorial Hospital in Dawson, at the age of 81.
Funeral service: 2:00 PM, Saturday, Nov 26, at Grace Lutheran Church in Dawson with Pastor Kendall Stelter officiating; daughter, Ann gave a family greeting, grandson, Andrew read a special poem and granddaughter, Kayla read Proverbs 3:5-6; organist, Chris Lehne accompanied the singing of "Abide With Me," "Rock of Ages" and "Amazing Grace"; Paul's mothers prayer was recited; and the honorary casketbearers were Terra, Kayla, Carla, Andrew, Allison and Rachel and the active were Andrew, PJ, Ryan, Joe and Will.
Burial: 12:45PM Monday, Nov 28, at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.
Visitation will at Grace Lutheran Church on Saturday for one hour prior to the service.
Paul Christian Estlie was born August 21, 1930, in rural Boyd, MN, the son of Clifford and Ruth (Christianson) Estlie. He was baptized at home in rural Boyd and grew up on the farm attending country school grades 1-4. He then attended town school in Clarkfield for grades 5 - 6, moved to Arena Township, rural Clarkfield where he finished 7 & 8 grade in a semi-country school. He was confirmed at the Faith Lutheran Church in Madison and then graduated from Madison High School in 1948. Paul joined the Minnesota Army National Guard on November 5, 1947, which was based at the Armory in Madison. He served active duty from January of 1951, in the Korean War and also in Japan, before being honorably discharged at Camp Carson, Colorado, in November of 1952. He continued in the National Guard until December of 1972, when he retired as Sergeant First Class (E7). In November of 1952, he returned to work on the family farm and in construction and in 1955, began working in a grain elevator. In 1959, he started working for the Soybean Plant in Dawson, where he worked for over 25 years, until health reasons caused an early retirement. Paul married Dorothy Jean Ekstrom on April 22, 1954. They had four children: Clifford, Carol, Peter, and Ann. They rented homes in Dawson and finally bought their home south of the river in 1969. Later, after a city buyout, due to flood zone area, they moved to 510 Maple Street.
Paul was a life-time member of the Oscar Lee American Legion Post and the Strand-Saboe VFW Post of Dawson and served for 25 years as a member of the VFW Drill Squad. He was also a member of Grace Lutheran Church and a member of the non-denominational Thursday Men's Bible Study group, since 1975. He was an active member in AA for over 35 years and also a member of Smokers Anonymous for 25 years. He lived by taking it "One Day At A Time." He enjoyed conducting on-line meetings on his computer during all hours of the day and night. He liked having his family home for visits and loved to travel to visit his children: from St. Paul to as far as Menorca, Spain. Paul and Dorothy even recently had the chance to visit their oldest daughter, and her husband at their new home in Lake Havasu City, AZ.
Paul died on Tuesday evening, November 22, 2011, at the Johnson Memorial Hospital in Dawson at the age of 81 years, 3 months and 1 day.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; four children: Clifford (Lorraine) Estlie of Lino Lakes, Carol (Robert) Bowen of Lake Havasu City, AZ, Peter (Katie) Estlie of St. Paul, and Ann Berg of Chaska; 9 grandchildren: Terra (Andrew) Erickson, Kayla (PJ) Hauan, Carla and Andrew Stavroulakis, Allison, Joe, and Will Estlie, and Ryan and Rachel Berg; 2 great-grandchildren: Aubrie Stavroulakis and Jude Erickson; other family and many friends.
Preceding him in death were his parents; and his half-sister, Anita Putzier.
Blessed be his memory