Harvey Carl Tallroth, 80, long time resident of Boulder Jct. and Manitowish Waters, passed away at home Jan. 20, 2018.
He was born in Chicago, Nov. 11, 1937, the only child of Hemming and Esther (Eriksson) Tallroth.
The north woods imprinted early when his family moved to Hayward to work at Esther’s parent’s resort, Eriksson’s Resort on Windigo Lake, where a lifelong love of fishing and hunting was born. He continued to return on summer holidays after his family relocated to the Elkhorn/Delavan area.
After graduating from Elkhorn Area High School, he studied music at UW-Madison and earned his Bachelor of Science in secondary education from UW-Platteville, where he returned to earn his Masters of Science in teaching-music. While at Platteville, he wooed the love of his life, Shelby, with a trumpet solo at a band concert. They married on Aug. 19, 1960, at the Evangelical and Reformed Church in Lancaster. He played trumpet in dance bands in the 50s and 60s in high school and college and in the early days of his married life in Dubuque, Iowa.
Harvey’s love of the north woods drew him to a job as area band director at MHLT Elementary in Minocqua, Arbor Vitae-Woodruff, North Lakeland and Lac du Flambeau schools. In summers, he guided visiting fishermen on many area lakes. On days when the fish were really biting, after parting with his clients, he might dash home to pack the kids in the boat for another round of evening fishing. If school was still in session, he would even rise before dawn for an early morning duck hunt before rushing off to teach his first class. He shared his love of the outdoors with his children and grandchildren through frequent fishing, hunting, camping, canoeing and sailing outings.
After leaving teaching, he and Shelby started a successful log home business, Tallroth’s Real Log Homes, traveling throughout the state selling and building log homes. He expanded the business to Elkhorn for several years, but the north woods called and he transitioned his talent to real estate, opening Hunter Realty’s Boulder Jct. office. Later he and Shelby started Tallroth Realty, which Shelby has continued to operate since Harvey’s retirement.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 57 years, Shelby (Chase) Tallroth; their four children, Christina (Ron) LaPlante of Spokane Valley, Wash., Sandra (Rick) Schelthelm of Marshall, Laura (Mark) Edmonds of the Town of Middleton, and Michael (Joan) Tallroth of Appleton; along with their 16 grandchildren, Catherine (John) Purrett, Aaron (Amanda) LaPlante, Timothy (Nikki) LaPlante, Benjamin, Esther and Emily LaPlante; Sarah (Jonathan) Allen, Esther (Joshua) Grams, Isaac and Nathan Schelthelm; William and Suzanne Edmonds, and Sonia, Nadia, Maya and Luke Tallroth; and their great-granddaughter, Amelia Purrett.
Funeral services will take place at Boulder Jct. Community Church at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10. Visitation will take place from 1:30 to 3 p.m. prior to the service in the church.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Harvey’s name to Lakeland Performing Arts Association, P.O. Box 1279, Minocqua, WI 54548 or to Ducks Unlimited, One Waterfowl Way, Memphis, TN, 38120.
Arrangements are with Bolger Cremation and Funeral Services of Minocqua and Woodruff. For online condolences visit bolgerfuneral.com.
