Glenn R. Rakow

Glenn Ronald Rakow, 88, of Breckenridge, passed away Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at St. Catherine’s Living Center in Wahpeton.

A time for visitation will be held from 10:00-11:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 10, 2023, at Breckenridge Lutheran Church. A memorial service will then begin at 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Ale Tulu officiating.

Glenn was born on January 16, 1935, near Appleton, MN, the youngest of Herman and Iva (Jensen) Rakow’s four children. He attended country school and then Dawson, MN high school where he played football and baseball. After graduating in 1953, he farmed for a couple of years, and then continued his education for one year at Dunwoody, a trade school, to learn Railroad Telegraphy. He worked for a short time for the railroad, and then enlisted in the United States Army for a seven-year commitment. After his honorable discharge, Glenn worked as a manager for the Country Club Markets in St. Paul, and married the love of his life, Dorothy Blystone on September 29, 1962. To this marriage, two children were born: Stephen and Terese. The family eventually moved to Hibbing, MN where Glenn went to work for Spies Supermarket. While working for Spies, he heard of an opportunity to buy a Dairy Queen in Breckenridge. When Spies started requiring him to work Sundays, he decided he might as well work for himself and in 1974, he purchased the Dairy Queen. He, along with Dorothy, owned and operated it successfully until they sold the business in 1998 to begin their retirement.

Glenn encouraged all of his workers to get an education and he became a competitive employer; everyone wanted to work for him. Though he spent many hours on many days of the week at work, he also found time to volunteer, along with Dorothy, through the Eagle’s Club, taking boys from Valley Lake Boys’ Home to baseball games and cooking for the Sunday night dances. He liked to fish, hunt, and work in his vegetable garden. Glenn was incredibly athletic, and loved to golf, play softball, volleyball, racquetball, or participate in any sporting activity he could. For his 60^th birthday, he even took up rollerblading, a hobby he kept for a few years.

Along with Dorothy, Glenn liked to travel, and together they went on river cruises in Europe and the Mediterranean. They also enjoyed traveling to California and Texas to spend time with their daughter. Glenn enjoyed logical games that involved math, like dice and jigsaw puzzles. He was known to be a good thinker and forever curious. He was an extremely hard worker that could fix anything. Glenn was a very happy, friendly, laid back, and even-tempered man with high energy, always cheerful and excited to talk to people around him. He liked to kid people and was a practical joker, even in his last months. He loved dogs but hated squirrels, taking much time to relocate them from his yard to the golf course across the river.

Left to cherish the memory of Glenn is his wife of 60 years, Dorothy; his children, Stephen (Tamara) and Terese (Carter White) Rakow; his grandson, Daneel Rakow; his sister, Yvonne Hanson; and many nieces and nephews.

Preceding him in death was his sister and brother-in-law, Arvilla and Don Cole, and his brother and sister-in-law, Vincent and Elaine Rakow.