Roy T. Christensen

Roy T. Christensen age 91 of Milroy, MN died Friday, April 17, 2009 at the Prairie View Health Care Center in Tracy, MN. Services will be 11:00 AM Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at the Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Milroy. Visitation will be from 4:00 until 8:00 PM Monday, April 20, 2009 at the Almlie Funeral Home in Tracy, with a prayer service at 7:00 PM and also continuing one hour prior to the service at the church on Tuesday. Interment will be in the Our Savior’s Lutheran Cemetery in Milroy. The Almlie Funeral Home of Tracy is handling the arrangements. Roy T. Christensen was born August 26, 1917 to Henry and Christina (Jacobsen) Christensen in Rutland, IA, Humboldt County. As a young boy his family then moved to a farm near Milroy, MN where he was baptized and confirmed in Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. Roy also attended Milroy Public Schools and as a young man farmed with his family. In 1936 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a gunner, on the battleship USS Nevada. In 1940 he received his honorable discharge and returned to the family farm near Milroy. On March 8, 1940 Roy married Myrtle Johnson on her parent’s farm and they made their home in Milroy. Roy opened a butcher shop when they moved into town, which he operated until 1944 when he was drafted back into military service. He again was in the U.S. Navy, but to his surprise he served as a butcher at a military prison instead of on a ship. At the end of WWII in 1945 he received his second discharge and returned to his family in Milroy. Roy went back into business in his butcher shop until 1948 when he and his family moved to a farm southwest of Milroy and began farming. In 1977 they moved into Milroy and Roy retired from fulltime farming in 1980. After Myrtle’s death in 1984, he continued to work alongside his son on the farm for nearly twenty five more years. In August of 1985 Roy married Mae Determan and they made their home in Milroy. They enjoyed their retirement years together traveling and visiting theirs families. In 2002 Mae died and Roy continued to live in his home in Milroy until April of 2009 when he became a resident of the Prairie View Health Care Center in Tracy, MN. Roy was a life-long member of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Milroy and served as chairman of the Building Committee when they built the new church and also on the Cemetery board for many years. Over the years he was also very active in his community as a member of the Milroy School Board, Milroy Lions Club, Elevator Board, Tracy VFW, Milroy American Legion and it’s Military Honor Guard, and served as Mayor of Milroy. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping, traveling and woodworking, but what he loved most was spending time with his children and their families. On Friday, April 17, 2009 Roy died at the Prairie View Health Care Center in Tracy at the age of 91. Roy is survived by his one son, Jerome (Loris, “Pixie”) Christensen of Milroy, MN; one daughter, Diana (Jon) Beebout of Underwood, MN; ten grandchildren, fourteen great grandchildren; two great great grandchildren; one sister, Mabel Johnson of Seattle, WA; five sisters-in-law, Vivian Rolland of Tracy, MN, Eldora Bucholtz of Westbrook, MN, Viola (Bob) Knott of Tracy, MN, Emiko Johnson of Las Vegas, NV, and Myrna (Harold) Anderson of Balaton, MN; many nieces, nephews and many friends. His parents, two wives, Myrtle and Mae, one daughter, Janyce Brtna, four brothers, Clifford “Farmer”, Earl, Forrest “Busky” and Ray “Bud”, two sisters, Alice Brins and Anna Rothmeier and two brothers-in-law, Lester Johnson and Paul Rothmeier preceded him in death.