Gale A. Jallen

Age 94, of Roseville, passed away on January 30, 2025.

Preceded in death by wife, Joan.

Survived by children, Nancy (Todd) Koch and Paul (Mary Beth) Jallen; grandchildren, Karen Koch (Carl), Sarah (Blue) Delliquanti, Katherine Koch, Emily (Ryan) Bailey, Matthew Jallen, and Cale (Maggie) Jallen; niece-in-law, Lauren (Steve) Workman; and many other family members.

Gale grew up on a small farm in Veblen, SD as an only child. As a very young boy, his father kept him entertained by giving him some tools and having him disassemble and reassemble old farm equipment, feeding his interest in how things worked. As he got a bit older his passion for electronics surfaced. At a mere 9 years old his father gave him a box of vacuum tube radio parts and from them, he built himself a working radio. After the depression and the dust bowl made farming difficult, his father moved the family to Fargo, ND where Gale continued to pursue his passion for electronics. He obtained old radio parts after the end of World War II and built himself a Ham radio, a hobby he enjoyed until his last days. He built many friendships through this hobby including a best friend, Bill Anderson. Gale attended North Dakota State University and obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering. During that time, through Bill, Gale met his eventual wife Joan, the identical twin of Bill’s girlfriend Joyce. The two proposed and had a dual wedding ceremony, best friends marrying twin sisters! Gale and Joan made their home in the Twin Cities where he worked for many engineering firms ultimately landing at Control Data where he served in many roles including working on the Star supercomputer (largest and fastest at that time) with Seymour Cray and heading Control Data’s research division. Along the way he acquired numerous patents for inventions related to supercomputers, wind power and disc drives. In addition to his Ham radio hobby, Gale also had a passion for astronomy. This is epitomized by his building a telescope from scratch, grinding a disk of glass into a mirror, using his metal lathe to cut precise gears to guide the telescope, virtually every part made by hand. Many hours were spent viewing celestial objects in the backyard. It seemed there was little he couldn’t figure out and do. 

Even with all of the hobbies, he found time to make his family’s life special. He found the time to be actively involved in both his children’s lives volunteering for church or scouting outings, taking the family camping and with many relatives living in California, he took time to plan driving trips to visit them, each trip routing through as many national parks as he could. Here his interest in photography was on display. His prize camera was a Nikon SLR he acquired while on a work trip in Japan, a camera not available in the United States at that time. There are many cases of slides documenting these trips and other family events! His devotion to family extended to his grandchildren who he adored. He would comment every chance he got how proud he was of them and how that made him feel good and content with his life. 

Memorial service 11:00 AM Wednesday, February 12 at Roseville Lutheran Church, 1215 Roselawn Ave. W., Roseville. Visitation at the church from 10:00 - 11:00 AM Wednesday.

Interment Roselawn Cemetery.