November 2024 Newsletter

Who could resist?

A Visit with the Roigers

By Dale Dauten

We’re always grateful when residents offer ideas on who we might profile for The Resorter, especially true in the case of Shari Prickett who has helpful before and who got this month’s article started with this note:

 

Another amazing couple would be Ron and Carol Roiger. They are from MN. Ron has had several professions in his adult life as well as spending time in the military (Vietnam, I believe?) If I remember correctly he was even a grave digger at one time. Ron is the type of guy who can fix and fabricate just about anything. It seems like he owns every tool known to man.

 

Who could resist wanting to know more? We caught up with the Roigers by phone. They are currently in Minnesota and we spoke in mid-October when Ron had just come in from a day of driving a beet truck – it was sugar beet harvest time in Minnesota.

Given the introduction to the Roigers, it might be a bit surprising that boredom came up twice in our conversation. Some of you reading this could probably identify with the first of the two.

 

It was four years ago that the Roigers decided they were ready to retire after being in business together for 4+ decades. It was time, as Carol put it, to “enjoy life with six grandkids.”

Moving closer to the grandkids meant moving to Hutchinson, MN, and it also meant that they could spend winters in Arizona. Good idea, but for their first winter in the Arizona desert they chose a pleasant new suburb that is actually a suburb of a suburb of a suburb: San Tan Valley. In Ron’s words, “The first year we made the mistake of renting in San Tan Valley. I was bored. There was nothing to do.” And what came to the rescue? The Resort. It turned out that Carol had cousins living in the park: Bob Anderson, Judy Haberman and Terry Herrig. Ron explained, “We ended up coming over to The Resort all the time. So the next winter we rented at The Resort and before we left, we bought a place.” As Carol says of the park, “It’s living with friends. Everyone is on the same page.” Boredom problem solved.

 

Then there was the other time that “boredom” came into the conversation: that’s was when Carol described their first date. Ouch. Here’s the story:

 

Both Ron and Carol grew up on farms in Minnesota – Ron on a dairy farm near Springfield and Carol on one in Comfrey where they had livestock and grew grain, corn and beans. While Ron and Carol grew up ten miles apart, they went to different schools and only met at age 16 on a blind date. We asked Carol to reminisce about that date and she recalled it was a drive-in movie. When asked how it went, she chuckled and said, “It was okay. A little boring. I wasn’t to going out again, but Ron stayed with it.” Then again, at 16 years old, Ron had time to work on his dating game. He did and the two dated till Ron went into the Air Force right out of high school. He served in Minot, North Dakota before being shipped over to Vietnam, then back to finish up his four-year tour of duty in Kansas City. The two stayed in touch and they married when Ron returned from Vietnam.

Ron’s time in the Air Force was spent as a heavy equipment mechanic, and after his discharge he completed diesel mechanics college. The couple eventually settled in Appleton, Minnesota and stayed for 45 years, having three kids along the way. Ron worked for John Deere for five years, then opened a repair shop, working mostly on tractors and other farm equipment, with Carol doing the books and running the office. They eventually added a NAPA auto parts store. Then, after decades of self-employment, they decided to retire. That only lasted until Ron had a chance to take over a business digging graves. Carol came back to work, too, handling the office.

 

Naturally we wanted to know more about such an arcane business:

 

First off, it became a lot of business – they handled the digging for 88 cemeteries. We were surprised to learn that the profession has it own rhythm: “Everyone wants to bury grandma on a Friday or Saturday,” Ron explained, adding, “we had one Saturday where we buried seven people.”

 

The saddest part of the business was, of course, funerals for kids. Ron shared an uplifting recollection: “When it’s a small child, everyone wants to help. These are usually young families without a lot of money and they have enough to handle. So the funeral home would donate their time and we would, too. We’d donate everything. Everyone did, all the way through the process.”

 

Finally, given that this was Minnesota, we also wanted to know about that weather issue that you see in movies, where the ground is frozen and you can’t bury someone. Not true, Ron informed us: “I had a frost pick on the backhoe and we’d dig right through.”

 

That brought our conversation to one last question, our favorite one about the best advice you’ve ever gotten. Carol didn’t hesitate: “Let your faith be bigger than your fears.” Nice. And Ron added, “Yes, it’s about faith and family. Life is good.”

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