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Rollie Evenson
1921-2002
Sturgeon Bay
Roland was an extraordinary man. His father died when Roland was 12 and he was pressed into service as a butcher in the small family grocery his family ran. He attended Marquette University, but enlisted in the army when World War II broke out. He was a distinguished hero, earning 3 purple hearts and a bronze star as a top sergeant of an infantry platoon in Germany. He returned to Milwaukee after the war and married his high school sweetheart, Elaine Hundt. Roland completed his medical degree from Marquette Medical School in 1952. He later went on to complete his radiology residency at St Lukes Hospital in Milwaukee. Roland was an avid outdoorsman all of his life. In fact, he convinced his bride to honeymoon in Boulder Junction for a week of northern and walleye fishing. Roland learned to hunt from his older brother Ole and his medical school classmates. Duck hunting was his favorite. He commented that he tried hunting after the war, but found he had enough time during his service sitting in the woods with a lot of people with high powered rifles. Over the years he traveled several times to Canada, Mexico and South Dakota on duck hunting trips with friends and family. Most of the last 20 years he hunted in the Sturgeon Bay area where he practiced. Early season would find him hunting a small marsh for teal, mallards and geese. Late season found Roland and his children shivering in a rock blind on Lake Michigan for golden eye, scaup and bufflehead. One of his greatest joys was goose hunting for a couple of years with his oldest granddaughter Erika. In the early 1980's he began carving decoys, both decorative and working blocks. He carved both dabblers and divers, as well as assorted shorebirds. His work was featured at an exhibition at the Door County library to great reviews.
