Allen Haapasaari (Al) was born to Oscar and Laura Haapasaari on November 11th, 1945. He
was baptized and confirmed in the Apostolic Lutheran Church by Reverend George Wilson.
Al learned to speak the Finnish language at an early age; his grandmother lived with them
and spoke only Finnish. His mother taught school, during the day he would speak Finnish
with his grandmother, and English with his mother when she came home.
Al went to school in New York Mills graduating in 1963. Al and Lorraine (Lori) Pesola married
in 1967, they had 3 sons; Scott, Jon and Jason.
Al had a diverse career, working at Control Data. He did farming in between. He worked at
Cray Computer in Colorado Springs, when they closed the company in 1995.
Al and Lori went back to Minnesota after Cray Computer closed in 1995. He finished building
a 44 foot steel sailboat that he had started prior to moving to Colorado. After living on the
sailboat for 5 years they moved to Panama City, Florida, where they built a house and made
Florida their home for the next 14 years. While in Florida he worked in outside sales up until
the time he started having more serious heart issues and retired in 2012. At this time he
began being seen routinely by the Mayo Clinic. They had an RV and would travel to
Minnesota for the summers and Florida in the winters. In 2016, they moved permanently to
Minnesota. Al’s health started to decline. He passed away peacefully at the Mayo Clinic on
October 7, 2024.
Preceding him in death are his father Oscar, mother Laura, sister Janice and brother-in-law
Steven Mursu, and infant son Jason.
Survived by wife Lorraine, sons Scott (Tammy) Haapasaari, and Jon (Emily) Haapasaari, as
well as grandsons; Luke Haapasaari, Michael Haapasaari, Lane (Ligia) Haapasaari, sisters;
Judy (Art) Ney, and Jean (Brian) Davis.
Funeral Services will be held on Monday, October 14th at the Apostolic Lutheran Church.
Visitation at 10:00 am, followed by the service at 11:00 am. Memorials are preferred to the
Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Research Center.