St. Olaf College | St. Olaf Alumni

*Alfred Roe ’57

*Alfred Roe died on June 14, 2014, after a long illness, in his home in Oceanside, Calif. Al was the fifth of eight children. When he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force. The Air Force soon learned that he could type, and so his service time was spent in clerical work in the United States and in Korea. At the time he was in Korea, his brother, Louis Roe ’56, and his brother-in-law, Chuck Carlson, were also there.

After his service in Korea ended, he enrolled in St. Olaf College. While a student there, he married Kathryn Reitan Roe ’56. He then earned a doctorate in history from the University of Minnesota. During these years as a student, his and Kathryn’s four sons were born.

He taught in Winona, Minn., until moving his young family in 1962 to Bellingham, Wash. There he taught at Western Washington State College, now Western Washington University. In 1967 he earned a Mellon Fellowship to study banking for a year at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. His first marriage ended and he relocated to California, where he began a second career working for San Diego County Social Services. He married Willa Mae Holbrook in 1980. She died in 2001.

He enjoyed all things that engaged his mind and he was an animated conversationalist. His treasured writings for his sisters and brothers and for his sons are his letters, often in the form of an eagerly awaited birthday letter, in topics and language that could be savored.

Two of his four sons – Steven and wife Mavis, and Larry were with him at the time of his death. Joining them very soon after his death were his son, Philip, and his niece, Karen Jacobson. His fourth son, Theo, died in 2012

Al is survived by his three sons, Steven, Larry, and Philip; three daughters-in law; six grandchildren; three sisters, Margaret Roe Vernon ’45, Katherine Roe Jacobson ’45, and Charlotte Roe ’57 and husband Jerome Narveson ’57; one brother, Louis Roe ’56; and nieces and nephews, including Elizabeth Roe ’90, Kari Roe ’92, William Vernon ’79, David Vernon ’79, Anne Jacobson Robertson ’83, Karl Jacobson ’92, Gregory Steenson ’87 and wife Claire Colliander ’88, and Daniel Steenson ’83 P ’18. He was preceded in death by his wife, Willa; parents, Ludwig Roe ’12 and Alpha Larson Roe ’16; and siblings, Elizabeth Roe Carlson ’43 P ’68, and Ellen Roe Schultze ’47.