Gloria Mae Dobesh

Gloria Mae Dobesh of Aitkin, MN, passed away peacefully in her sleep, Thursday, July 10, 2025 at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Silver Bay, MN. Gloria had moved to the Veterans Home during the summer of 2023, along with her husband Fred, to be near family.

Gloria was a ‘Leap Year Baby’ born February 29th, 1936, to Arnold and Gota (Mellstrom) Hattling at the family farm in Salol, MN, just out of Roseau. Gloria was the second of four children. As a small girl, her family moved around the state spending time in the growing communities of the Mpls./St. Paul area as her father worked as a union pipe fitter. When it came time for the children to attend school, they moved back to their home in Salol and Gloria would eventually graduate from Roseau HS.

Gloria loved to participate in school activities including choir and 4H Club and taught Sunday School as she got older. She loved to watch high school hockey and was very proud of her school mates from Roseau, and even Warroad, when they would make it to the State Championships. She continued to watch them throughout her adulthood and would namedrop the guys she knew, or the family names of the children that she recognized from ‘home’.

After high school she moved down to the big city of Minneapolis, this is where she met her future husband, Fred, whom she met while at a dance with friends. Fred proposed the next Valentines Day and they were married June 21, 1958. They would spend the next 50 years going out dancing as often as possible. They raised their only daughter, Renee, in the cities, keeping busy gardening, camping and going ‘up north’ to visit relatives every chance they could. Gloria loved to ride bike and take long walks, and when her body wouldn’t allow her to any longer, she found a way to continue doing so in the therapy room in the Veterans Home! We all teased her that she rode so much that she was going to end up in Omaha!

In 1993 Gloria & Fred sold their home in Brooklyn Center and moved to Ripple Lake, just out of Aitkin, MN, this is where they would spend their retirement years, relaxing, gardening, going for walks and enjoying the peace of the lake.

Gloria was preceded in death by her loving husband, Fred James Dobesh (2/13/25), parents Arnold & Gota (Mellstrom) Hattling, Brothers Arnold Jr. (and sister-in-law Rose), Roger Hattling and sister Lois Ann Hattling.

Gloria is survived by her daughter Renee (Dave) Iverson of Silver Bay, grandson Ian Iverson of Hermantown, granddaughter Amy Iverson, great-grandson Gage VanHouse & great-granddaughter Bailey VanHouse, all of Silver Bay, and several nieces, nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

A special thank you to the amazing staff at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Silver Bay, you’re not just care, nutrition & recreation providers, you are friends that become family to the residents and they, as well as their families, look forward to seeing you each and every day. I know you’ll miss my mom, and I know I’ll miss seeing you being with my mom, every day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Renee

A service will be held at the MN State Veterans Cemetery, Duluth (Saginaw), in the near future.

To share a memory or leave an online condolence visit www.cavallinfuneralhome.com .