Roger Lee Holmdahl died on June 14, 2024, at the age of 88 years, in Atwood, Kansas. He was born during the Dust Bowl on July 11, 1935, in Oberlin, Kansas, to Carl Joseph “Joe” Holmdahl and Maude Venla (Carlson) Holmdahl. He lived in rural Rawlins County, attending country school, until he moved with his family to Wheat Ridge, Colorado, in the mid-1940s. He graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in 1953.
Following high school, Roger joined the Army and was primarily stationed in Germany operating a radar unit. During his time there, he was able to travel through Europe and into Africa, which started a love of traveling. After his time in the military, he returned to Colorado to farm, where he married Jean (Mazza) Holmdahl in 1961. Roger and Jean moved back to the Holmdahl family farm in Kansas in the spring of 1964. Roger lived the rest of his life tending the land his grandparents had homesteaded when they emigrated from Sweden in the 1880s.
Roger’s lifelong career in agriculture was highlighted by his prize cattle herd. He started with Herefords in the 1970s, and then added Simmentals in the 1980s. He was very proud that his calves would bring a premium at any sale barn, based solely on his reputation as an expert cattleman. Roger loved raising wheat and putting up alfalfa – harvest and silage cutting were eventful times that often included his beloved nephews and young men from the neighborhood, who he mentored without them even realizing how much he taught them until they were older.
In 1971, Roger and Jean became the proud parents of a daughter, Wendy, who was their only child. Roger instilled in her his love of the land, golfing, an obsession with the weather, and his gift of conversation. Roger was the kind of man who would sit down in a coffee shop in Moab, Utah, or Midland, Texas, and find some common ground with at least one person in the room.
In the 1990s, after his marriage ended, Roger met the love of his life, Donna Reagan. This began a 30 year relationship of dancing, traveling around North America, and loving companionship. Traveling between the farm in Kansas and Donna’s condo in Denver became a monthly occurrence, and he continued the journey until this past winter, when he became too ill to travel.
Roger was preceded in death by his parents and his dearest lifelong best friend – his sister Joanne (Holmdahl) Yager. He is survived by his daughter Wendy of Atwood, Kansas; his granddaughter Emily (Fields) Wickham and husband Grant of Bertrand, Nebraska; and his grandsons Alexander Fields and Cooper Hayes; along with many nieces and nephews.
Roger’s life will be honored on Saturday, July 13, 2024. At 11:00 a.m. a short memorial service will be held at the Herndon Covenant Cemetery, located 12 miles east of Atwood on Highway 36. This will be followed by a come-and-go Celebration of Life including lunch and golf at the Atwood Country Club – please feel free to bring your clubs!
Memorials in his name may be sent in care of Wendy Holmdahl, 608 N 2nd, Atwood KS 67730, to be designated at a later date.