Ronald LeRoy Rognlien, 61, a retired defense contractor and world traveler with family ties to Westminster, died unexpectedly from a heart attack at his home in Warrenton, Va., on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013.
Born in 1952 in Baraboo, Wis.; he was the son of the late Stanley LeRoy Rognlien and the late Arlene Doris Jacobson Rognlien. His father served on submarines in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Pacific, then worked throughout his career with Alcoa, the Aluminum Company of America. As a result, the family lived all over America.
After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University, Mr. Rognlien followed in his father’s footsteps and served for 32 years as a defense contractor with the intelligence community -- a job that took him to some 68 countries over the years. His particular field of expertise was computer science and communications.
Mr. Rognlien married Marian Babylon in 1982 at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Westminster.
After retirement, Mr. Rognlien continued serving others through volunteer and mission service. He again traveled the world, this time for recreation, and spent time in Westminster with his extended family. He enjoyed fishing in Alaska, playing math and word games like Sudoku, and drove the Alcan Highway and across the United States several times.
In addition to his training as an electrical engineer, he was handy with tools and home improvement projects. He was a veteran of many mission trips with Taylorsville United Methodist Church, helping those who had suffered from natural disasters. Those mission included trips to Biloxi, Miss. after Hurricane Katrina and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy.
He volunteered at numerous Carroll County civic and community functions. He was handy with a chainsaw and was among the Taylorsville “wood chuckers,” who cut firewood for the needy. He was a serious student of golf.
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