Jerome Reckdahl

Jerome Nels Reckdahl, 89, died at his home at Riley Crossing Senior Living in Chanhassen on Nov. 2 after a full life that included a half-century of teaching math at Grove City High School and Ridgewater College in Hutchinson. He was a 16-year mayor of Grove City known as a willing volunteer and good neighbor, who snowblowed others’ sidewalks and used his chainsaw to remove fallen trees. In 2015, at the state and county fairs, his life of service was recognized through the Meeker County Outstanding Senior Citizen award.

Jerry fulfilled his sole bucket-list wish in 2019, when he traveled to Norway with daughter Andrea and grandson Eli. (His delight is evident in the photograph that graces the cover of this program.) In the land where his father Nels was raised, he met his extended Rekkedal family, including first cousins at the grass-roofed home where their parents were born.

Services will be held at 11 a.m., with visitation at 9:30 a.m. and lunch afterward, on Saturday, Nov. 23rd, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 54384 E. Highway 12, Grove City. For details, visit www.johnsonhagglund.com.

Jerry was born near Gaylord to Nels and Agnes (nee Schlueter) Reckdahl on December 22, 1934. In 1952, he graduated from Gaylord High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a master’s in math education from St. Cloud State College.

While at the U of M, he met Joan Schramm through Gamma Delta, the Lutheran student organization. In 1958, they married and began work as educators. In 1961, Jerry and Joan were hired by Grove City High School. She taught English, then special ed, while he taught math, coached the track team, and taught generations as an unflappable driver’s ed instructor. In the late 1960s, he spent an entire summer at Michigan State University studying numerical analysis and computer programming, thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation Institute. He brought the first computer to Grove City schools in the 1970s. In the 1990s, he taught math at Ridgewater College in Hutchinson.

To the couple’s five children – Beth, twins Keith and Katy, Ben, and Andrea – Jerry will be remembered for his kindness, calm consistency, easy smile, twinkling blue eyes, and ability to recite Pi to 100 places. An active and involved grandfather, he was a natural namesake for his only great-grandchild, James Jerome.

His patience is the stuff of legend: grandchildren refused to be pushed on the swingset by anyone but him. With his ever-present camera, he quietly waited for perfect shots. He also could repair nearly anything. To stay ready, he often kept a measuring tape and to-do lists in his front shirt pockets; his pants pockets often held small tools or had work gloves hanging out of them. Starting at an early age, his children would beg to “help” him with his projects – and even when he was on a tight schedule, he never turned down those requests, always taking the time to meticulously explain how things worked.

He and Joan relocated to Hutchinson in 2016. In 2022, they moved into an independent-living senior apartment at Riley Crossing in Chanhassen, where Jerry walked outside, used the weight room every day, and woke up early to place the building’s Star Tribunes in front of each subscriber’s door. He was the picture of fitness in June, when he took a bad fall, followed by a massive stroke. For his care over these past five months, Jerry’s family is grateful to Fairview Southdale ICU, Bethesda Hospital’s LTAC, St. Croix Hospice, and his dedicated caregiver Mike Newell.

Preceding him in death are his wife of 65 years, Joan (Schramm) Reckdahl, in 2023; sister Annabelle Marron, in 2018; and oldest daughter, Beth Ellenby, in 2008. Survivors are many: Siblings Segwald Reckdahl (Marti) of Fridley, Waldo Reckdahl of Gaylord, and Mary Ann Hartenberger of Portland, Oregon. Special friend Pat Magnuson. Four children, Keith Reckdahl (Becky Epstein) of Palo Alto, California; Katy Reckdahl of New Orleans; Ben Bryant Reckdahl (Lonnie Davis) of Atlanta; Andrea Sweeney of Chanhassen, son-in-law Michael Ellenby of Phoenix, and many nieces and nephews. His eight grandchildren – Alex, Owen (Jinda), Lily (Jack), and Elijah Sweeney; Jayde Ellenby; Elise and Eric Epstein, Hector Campbell, and great-grandson, James Jerome Sweeney.