Cavallin Funeral Home

Sartell, 75, of Sartell and all points north, south, east and west, our sweet, enduring Husband, Dad, Papa, Grandpa and Great Grandpa died on Sunday, September 18, 2016 in Sartell, MN after a lengthy and valiant struggle with Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease.Dick was born and raised in St. Cloud and Sartell. He attended the St. Cloud State Lab School. He was an active Boy Scout and achieved the Order of the Arrow and worked hard to become an Eagle Scout. He was a 1959 graduate of Tech High School where he was a National Honor Society member and on the swim team. He attended Macalester College in St. Paul where he was a member of the Bagpipers and where he met the love of his life and married Diane Swenson Sartell May 29, 1962 in Mason City, Iowa. He was a 10 year member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. He worked in information for Greyhound lines until 1969 when he joined Perkins Restaurants. He was part owner operator of the first Perkins in Brainerd, Mn. After a short turkey farming caper he worked as a manager for FasGas and then opened two restaurants; Oasis Inn in Pequot Lakes and Sportland Café in Nisswa. Later he was a Sales Rep for Continental Foods until he decided to return to school, attending St. Cloud State Univ and graduating from the University of Minnesota with distinction in 1989. He was a Minnesota Mortician Emeritus serving as staff mortician at Cavallin Funeral Homes in Two Harbors and Grand Marais, J.S. Klekatsky Funeral Homes in Eagan, So. St. Paul and West St. Paul, Crawfords in Duluth, the Cremation Society, Utoft Johansen in Tyler and Lake Benton and Dobmeiers in Barnesville, MN. He belonged to the American Legion A.C. Hansen Post #185 of Tyler, MN. He was a past active member of the Tyler Lions and their melodramas, Tyler Kiwanis, Tyler Arts Council and the Grand Marais Little Theater where he played the lead in Mass Appeal.Dick will be painfully missed by his family and friends. Life with him was never boring. There was always an adventure in the offing and things were always changing. He decorated our lives in so many ways. ... (WJON News)

He was first elected mayor in 1957, served on the Two Harbors City Council and again as mayor until 1976 when he was elected to the Minnesota Legislature, serving for 18 years and rising to become a key player in the then powerful Iron Range delegation.Battaglia, a labor-stalwart DFLer, for years headed the House committee that funded the Department of Natural Resources, and he played a role in key issues, from fishing and hunting to iron ore mining.“He sat on my left side for 16 years on the House floor,’’ said longtime state lawmaker Joe Begich of Eveleth. “He knew how to get things done down there.”Begich recalled that Battaglia would sometimes butt heads over regional policy with fellow northern lawmakers who represented the core cities of the Iron Range, but that the group always came together in the end.“He never ever goofed off down there. He did that job like it was life and death. He really cared about the people…. And he always looked out for the North Shore people,’’ Begich said. “He was a top notch guy.”After retiring from the state Legislature in 1994, Battaglia the went back to serve on the Two Harbors City Council from 1997 to 2004.Battaglia is survived by his wife, three sons, two daughters and 12 grandchildren.A visitation will be held Feb. 10 from 5 p.m. until the 7 p.m. Rosary Service in Cavallin Funeral Home in Two Harbors. Visitation will continue from 10 a.m. until the 11 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial on Feb. 11 in Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Two Harbors. Burial will be at Lakeview Cemetery. (Lake County News Chronicle)