Ivan William Dahl, age 87

On July 15, 1938, a baby boy was brought into the world out in Highwood, Minnesota, a small community located in the Norris Camp area.  Ivan William Dahl was born to Alf and Elsie (Brown) Dahl.  He would be the 4th child born in a family of 7 children.  At five years old, the Dahl family had to leave the Norris Camp area and would move to the town of Baudette.  Through the years the family moved to several different homes, including one in Pitt.  World War II had hit and due to the shortage of workers along with necessity of wages, Elsie loaded up Ivan and his siblings and headed to the west coast.  They would live there for 2 years as she would become a welder in the shipyards.  Alf was to follow, but when he didn’t, she packed the kids up and moved back home.  As the years passed, more mouths were added to the family so by the age of 13 Ivan felt a strong obligation to help out the family.  Upon entering school in the 6th grade, he would laugh and say “I walked through the front door and then I walked out the back door” to which he would never return to school but instead head to work to help with family finances.  While still a teenager, Ivan headed to Cloverdale, California with some friends to work for his uncle Andrew Brown at a Sawmill.  By the time he was 18 (in 1956), he headed back home to work in the woods with his brother Julius and two close friends Gordon Olson and Norm Undahl.  Shortly after he would take a job driving for U.S. Van Lines which would lead him to working road construction in Minneapolis and Chicago.  Ivan helped construct the Eisenhower Parkway in Chicago and the main Interstate that ran through Minneapolis at the time.  During this time, he met who would become the love of his life, Charlotte Rose Hanson, and he would return home each weekend to see her.  Ivan and Charlotte would be united in marriage September 17, 1960, and would take a beautiful honeymoon through North Dakota and up through Canada.  November of 1960 Ivan and Charlotte would head with friends Otto and Kay Ruediger back to Chicago.  Being deer season, Ivan shot a deer but didn’t want to waste it, so he strapped the deer to the fender of their ’57 Chrysler and headed on to the Windy City.  Ivan spent the next couple of months hauling oil and fuel to many businesses throughout the Chicago area but would return home once again in January of 1961.  Upon moving back home, Ivan found himself doing multiple jobs, such as hauling pulp to angle, hauling hay bales and potatoes, and moving houses.  In May of 1961 Ivan became a father with the birth of their first child, a daughter, Coreena Marie.  By fall the odds and ends jobs weren’t paying the bills so he joined his brother Julius in Bemidji, MN where Julius had started Dahl Trucking.  Ivan, Charlotte, and Coreena all made the move and would stay until 1963 when they made the final move back home to Baudette.  Upon moving home, they rented a house in Spooner (East Baudette) from Carl P and Lois Mae Hanson.  Ivan loved the house so much that he made an offer to buy it.  After purchasing the house Ivan began remodeling to welcome their second child.  In July of 1963 Ivan and Charlotte would welcome their second child – A Boy – Anthony Alf Obert.  Once again, Ivan continued to drive truck, hauling anything and everything possible.  The trucking industry was beginning to boom so Ivan decided to buy a second truck and used this to start his own business, often buying multiple wrecked rigs in which he would heat and bend to bring them back to life.  In February of 1965 Ivan and Charlotte would welcome their 3rd child – A Girl – Marva Elaine to the world.  By 1966, just a short year later, one more baby girl would be added to the family.  In February of 1966 DeVonna Lynn would be born to make a family of 6.  That same year Ivan’s younger brother Elwood would move home with his new bride, Peachie, and he would join the trucking business as it would continue to grow to 10 drivers.  Their yellow house in town was beginning to feel too small for the family of 6 so Ivan began to look for something larger.  In 1973 that feeling proved right when a 5th child was welcomed into the family.  March of 1973 would welcome their 5th and final child – A Boy – Nicholas Ivan.  This would secure the decision, and off Ivan went to build his first big house to hold his family of 7.  NorthStar trucking would then offer Ivan a management position to bring his trucks over to Grand Forks and run their business, but the draw of city life was not what he wanted for his children.  He wanted the small town/farm life to teach them work ethics and responsibility.  By October of ’73 they moved into their brand-new home that would bring some new challenges and opportunities.  Never shying away from a challenge, he turned the new house and land into a hobby farm with hayfields, grain fields, chickens, and cows, sometimes even taking in horses for friends.  With the new house being so large, it didn’t take long to burn through a whole tank of fuel oil.  This motivated Ivan to build his own woodstove to heat this large new house.  His first wood stove was a forced air system, but this dried the house out for his family.  With the brilliant mind that God gifted Ivan, he would then create a boiler style woodstove that added moisture back into the house.  Soon friends were asking if he would build them one, which led to the start of Dahl Wood Stoves.  Ivan and Charlotte traveled around to fairgrounds all over the United States to sell their invention.  Dahl Wood Stoves lasted over 30 years and spanned the reach of Oregon to Michigan and Minnesota to Kentucky.  After retiring out of the woodstove business, he would continue to build.  By the late 1980’s each of his 3 daughters were married and on their own so it was time to sell the big house.  Deeper into the country he would build a hip roof style house for him and his wife.  Ivan and Charlotte spent many years in this house before making their final move to a smaller double wide not far from their current home.  Even while being “retired”, Ivan never really fully retired.  He both raced and sold snowmobiles and go-karts.  Along with building and racing other cars, some of his many accomplishments include building his own discs, road grater, forklifts, bobcats, windmill, and anything else the family needed.  He never sat still when there was something to be done or be built.  Ivan passed this trait on through many generations.  Ivan gave his life and his heart to the Lord in his younger years and never turned back.  While his love for the Lord was always first, his loyalty and love for his wife Charlotte was a very close second.  On October 23, Ivan passed from this world and will be greatly missed.

Ivan is survived by his wife of 65 years, Charlotte (Hanson) Dahl, his two sons – Anthony and Nicholas Dahl, his two daughters Marva (Mark) Bowen, DeVonna (Mark) Hanson, and his brother Dennis Dahl.  Ivan is survived by 19 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren.  Ivan was proceeded in death by his oldest daughter Coreena (Dahl) Jones, his parents Alf and Elsie (Brown) Dahl, his brothers – Julius, Elwood, Gordon, and Olaf Dahl and sister Leila (Dahl) Kothrade.  Funeral arrangements have been made with Helgeson Funeral Home.  A funeral service will be held on November 13, 2025, at 1:00pm at the Evangelical Covenant Church with Pastor Dale Rosette officiating.  Ivan’s remains will be put to rest at Wildwood Cemetery at 3:00 the same day.