Richard John Solie ("Dick") died on September 11, 2025 in Green Valley, AZ from
complications resulting from Parkinson's. The fourth child of six, Dick was born on
September 19, 1933 in the family home in Barron, Wisconsin to Rachel and Maurice P.
Solie Sr. In 1942, when Dick was in grade school the family moved to his mother's family
farm south of Superior, Wisconsin.

All the heavy work was done with draft horses and for all of Dick's life many of his favorite
stories were of working with, riding, and getting into mischief with those horses. In high
school, besides farm chores Dick took a job in town delivering propane to help with family
finances. It was a time of hard work, adventure and life lessons. And of course, that rural
Halloween tradition of outhouse tipping and its escalating retaliation. By the end of high
school, Dick knew one thing for sure: he did not want to milk cows for a living. Following
graduation from Superior's Central High School in 1951 and receiving a couple
scholarships, Dick enrolled in Wisconsin State University, Superior. He graduated in 1955
with a B.S in Economics.

Dick's Christian faith was the paramount pillar of his life. During college he often sang in a
quartet in area churches and was very involved in Campus Crusade. It was at one of those
meetings that he met the love of his life, Elsie Granstrom. They were married in December
1954 in Superior by her uncle.

Following Dick's graduation from college they moved west to Sheriden, Wyoming to join his
older brother who had started a business selling insurance to the ranchers. While in the
west they moved a lot: Sheriden (where son Daniel was born in November 1955), then
Laramie (where daughter Carol was born in May 1957), then Denver, Colorado (where very
sadly, Carol died). Devastated, they moved back to Sheriden and then to Billings, Montana
(where son Richard was born in December 1959). While Dick liked the freedom and the
wide-open travel of selling insurance, it meant a lot of time away from his family with long
high-speed drives home for the weekend. After one too many speeding tickets, Dick
realized he needed a career change.

The family moved to Wolf Point, Montana where Dick spent the school year teaching high
school English and applying to graduate schools. He received a National Defense
Education Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Tennessee. In the
summer of 1961, the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. Hot, muggy and still
segregated, it was a big change for all. Dick, however, thrived in graduate school, and
especially in his research in labor economics. His doctoral dissertation focused on the
eeectiveness of retraining workers aeected when their towns and valleys were flooded by
the Tennessee Valley Authority's hydroelectric dams. He often drove deep into the Smoky
Mountains to interview residents. His tales of coal miners working tiny veins, deep
underground on their belly to chip out a living, and cagey boot-leggers back up in the
hollows were mesmerizing at the dinner table. During that time, third son Barry was born in
July 1962.

Following completion of his Ph.D. in 1965, Dick taught economics at Center College in
Danville, Kentucky, then in the University of North Dakota's graduate program for Airforce
Oeicers at Minot Air Base in Minot, North Dakota from 1966-1970. Born in April 1970,
daughter Joy was adopted as an infant while in Minot.

In 1970, Dick was hired as head of the Economics department at the University of Alaska
Fairbanks (UAF). Excited by the adventure, he bought an old International farm pickup,
piled our belongings to the top of the cattle-racks and drove to Seattle to catch the ferry
north. We slept on the deck in sleeping bags and built a nice little nest to keep tiny Joy cozy.
The university was growing and in 1975 Dick became the founding Dean of UAF's School of
Management. As a professor, nobody ever said Dick was easy, but he was fair and if you
worked hard, you learned a lot. As well as his teaching and management roles, Dick took
on a number of university special projects, including salary studies and, later, UAF
representative on the NCAA's academic advisory committee.

Dick & Elsie's Christian faith led to their active participation in churches wherever they
lived. During their years in Fairbanks, they worshiped at Bethel Baptist Church where they
made lifelong friendships. Dick served as a Trustee, often taught Sunday school classes
and sang bass in the choir. Beyond the church and university, Dick was in the Fairbanks
Rotary Club and a member of the Alaska Teacher's Retirement Board. Dick also served as a
Board Member for the Alaska Bible College (ABC) in Glennallen, which had an emphasis on
educating rural Alaska students.

Returning to Alaska following a sabbatical year at the University of Minnesota in 1978, Dick
was urged to provide economic advice on the financial losses of a plaintie in a legal case.
Dick developed a rigorous economic methodology for assessing economic loss due to
injury and death in Alaska and launched a new career. He retired from UAF in 1985 when
his legal consulting took oe. Sought after by both prosecution and defense, he worked on
and testified in hundreds of legal cases over the next few decades.

Hunting and fishing were passions of Dick's since boyhood, and he instilled his love for the
outdoors in his children. Towing a boat was usually part of family road trips. In the early
days in Alaska, he had a beat-up old 20-ft double-end Grumman canoe with a side-mount
kicker that he would pile his boys into for hunting, fishing and exploring the rivers of the
Interior. His serious "Got One!" when he hooked a fish and the reverent whisper as we
watched the sun rise over the Tanana Flats from high up a tree while moose hunting will
always be with us. In the early 1980's, Dick, Ken Stockholm, and a consortium of fellow
professors bought and revitalized Wood River Lodge north of Dillingham, developing it into
a first-rate fly-in fishing lodge, before later selling it. In later years, August would find "The
Three Amigos" (Dick, brother Maurie and Brian Andreen-his best friend since boyhood) in
Valdez fishing for silver salmon.

After the novelty of cold, dark winters wore oe, Dick and Elsie discovered Maui, and later
Tucson where they spent winters since the early 1990's. Summers were spent RVing
around Alaska. Retirement also allowed them to enjoy more international travel. The most
consequential trip was six weeks in China in 1995 as visiting lecturer at several Chinese
Universities on the workings of a free-market economy. While not missionaries themselves,
Dick and Elsie faithfully supported many in the mission field. While in China they were
moved by the lack of the Christian gospel there. Upon returning to Tucson where there were
many Chinese students attending the University, they started a weekly Bible study and
English practice for Chinese graduate students, which they continued for over 20 years.
After Dick's Parkinson's diagnosis they moved to La Posada, a graduated senior living
community in Green Valley, AZ. There, Dick became heavily involved with the mission
board of the Evangelical Free Church.

An avid life-long Green Bay Packers fan, Dick after moving to Tucson, also caught the
Arizona Basketball obsession. Dick and Brian Andreen rarely missed an Arizona home
game. He always took special pride in his kids' sports and outdoor exploits, and of course,
fishing on the Kenai with throngs of grandkids and great-grandkids was like heaven for Dick.
He had a special love for babies and toddlers and his love for all his children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren is a special memory we will always treasure.

We are thankful to Parkinson's physician Dr. Sherman and his stae, the stae at La Posada,
and the caregivers from Bayada who helped Dick in his last days. We also deeply
appreciate Debi Resner for the help she has given Dick and Elsie these last few years. Dick
joins his parents Maurice Sr. and Rachel, brother Maurice Jr., sister Rhoda, daughter Carol,
and best friend Brian in heaven. He is survived by his wife Elsie, sisters: Joanne, Lorna and
Cathy, and children Daniel (Diana) and son Eric; Rick (Cherie) and children Lindsay, Sean
and Laura; Barry and children Andrea, Arianna, Tyler, Riley and Jeerey; Joy and daughter
Senna as well as 20 great-grandchildren.