Roger D. Stenerson

Western North Dakota farm boy Roger Stenerson died Friday, May 31, 2024, in Plano, Texas. He was 98.

Roger was born July 9, 1925, to Rose (Olson) and A. C. Stenerson in VanHook, North Dakota. He grew up on the family farm and graduated from VanHook High School. Roger was a proud Cobber, earning his BA in physics from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1949. That summer he and a friend took a motorcycle trip from Moorhead to Mexico City. 

Roger was drafted into the army during the Korean Conflict, spending much of his duty working with atomic bomb testing in Nevada and in the Bikini and Eniwetok atolls in the Marshall Islands.

After the army he taught and coached basketball at Hunter, North Dakota, high school. There he met and married Virginia VanOrsdale. 
Roger's inborn interest in travel had been encouraged in his military days; Roger and Virginia moved to Spain in 1958 where Roger worked in the school at Torrejon Air Force Base near Madrid. Their son Jon and daughter Nancy were born in the base hospital. 

Returning to the US in 1962, Roger taught and was a guidance counselor. Daughter Kristin arrived in 1963. He found a fine property near the Buffalo River and built a house to raise his family in. In 1973 he took his family to Brazil where he was principal of the American school in Campinas for two years. They returned to Glyndon in 1975 and Roger retired in 1991. He married Joan Petrik in 1996 and they moved to Plano in 2015.

Roger loved to travel. In addition to his Mexico, military, Spain, and Brazil trips, he visited the USSR, the Balkan states, Bolivia and Peru, and much of Europe. He and Joan enjoyed a trip to Scandinavia and an Alaskan cruise among other travels. Wherever in the world he went he talked to people. On a bus, in a hotel lobby, when he had doctors appointments, his favorite questions were: "Where did you go to high school?" "Where are you from?" and "Are any of your people farmers?"

The advice he always gave to kids going into a new situation was "Smile and say hi" and he absolutely heeded his own words.

Roger is predeceased by his brothers Gerhard and Russell, and his sister Lovila. His sister Solveig died just a few hours after Roger. He is survived by his wife Joan and her children; his children Jon (Beth), Nancy (Tony), and Kristin (Doug); seven grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.

A visitation will be held on Friday, June 7, 2024, from 5 -7 PM with a prayer service beginning at 7 PM at Wright Funeral Home, Moorhead, MN.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, June 8, at 11 AM at Glyndon Lutheran Church, Glyndon, MN.

Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Glyndon, MN.