William Ofstedal

William John Ofstedal, age 80, of Walker, died on June 1, 2022 at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center.

Bill was born on July 31, 1941 in Crookston, Minn. He moved to Walker with his young family in 1964. He was a true jack-of-all-trades. He started out as a land surveyor, but was also a talented auto and motorcycle mechanic, and eventually opened his own small motorcycle sales and service business, Cass County Cycle, in the garage of his home. He was the course superintendent at Tianna Country Club for many years. He is known by many as a skilled, self-taught metalsmith, who created gorgeous lamps, teakettles, jewelry, and more from brass, copper, silver and other fine metals. He made many custom items for people’s homes, and donated awards for community events. In his later years he did custom machining work, dealt in scrap metal, and continued to buy, trade, and work on all things motorized. Bill was known as the guy who could fix anything.

Bill’s love of animals, both domestic and wild, was unmatched. While a surveyor, he brought home surprises in his lunch box for his kids: frogs, toads, snakes! He also had a pet fox pup for a while and even a flying squirrel. The chipmunks in his yard ate peanuts from his hands. He had anywhere from one to three dogs at a time, and even let the girls in the family have a couple of cats, despite not being a cat guy. He left instructions that the accompanying photo be used for his obituary. He is holding a goose whose broken leg he repaired with a homemade splint. Once he nursed the goose back to health, it went back to live in the pond near the SuperOne (Bieloh’s).

Bill is preceded in death by his parents, Lloyd and Elizabeth Ofstedal. He is survived by his wife, Sharon; daughters Laurie (Doug) Frattallone and Amy (Rick) Meyer; son, John Ofstedal; grandchildren Elizabeth (Rob) Frattallone Carrese and Salvatore Frattallone; and shop dog Lucy. He also leaves behind treasured friends who helped him many times when he was in a jam, among them: Kory Nelson, Chuck Swenson, Thor Thorson, Kevin & Barb Heyer and Jared Seely. We know he will be missed by people around town who enjoyed his stops into the auto parts and grocery stores. Bill requested no memorial service. We think he would ask you to be kind to animals, and we imagine that wherever he is, he is feeding too many treats to his beloved dogs: Charlie, Jenny, Nelly, Fatty Patty, Roger, Annie, Gus #1, Hans, Patty, Gus #2, Gracie, and Mikey.

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