Ragnhild (Roni) Margrete Dørdal

Your love continues to shine through all of our hearts.

Obituary

A radiant light of unconditional love and Norwegian warmth was lost on February 14, 2025, when Ragnhild "Roni" (Bakstad) Dørdal passed away peacefully in Spokane, WA with her adoring daughter, Susan, by her side. Born January 19, 1940, in Romedal, Norway, Roni lived a life defined by courage, generosity, and boundless devotion to those she loved.

She was the fourth of seven children born to Lars and Gudrun (Thorstad) Bakstad. Roni was an extrovert from the start; she was always full of life and kind-hearted. After high school, she decided against college (her parents’ wish for her) and instead left her village for the capital city of Oslo to find a job. There she worked for the Post Office and enjoyed an active social life. Her friends and family agreed, she was a strikingly beautiful and lively young woman with a bold personality and a flair for the glamorous - she loved dressing in the latest fashions!

In 1958, Roni attended a dance where she met the love of her life, A. Helge Dørdal, who was equally active and dashing. They dated until he left to pursue an education in Colorado. Following her heart and adventurous spirit, she took a 24-hour plane ride to the United States at just 20 years old to work as a nanny in Solvang, California. Leaving everything she knew behind and embarking on a journey alone was courageous - she only had airmail letters to keep her connected to home, which took weeks to deliver, but calling was too expensive! The couple reunited in Boulder, Colorado where Roni worked as a restaurant hostess and secretary, showing off her considerable alpine skiing prowess in her spare time. They married in 1963 with her sister, Astrid (Bakstad) Kaufmann, as her maid of honor.

After Helge’s graduation, the newlyweds took a driving-honeymoon-trip around the US and then visited relatives and friends in Norway and Sweden. Upon their return to the US, they moved to Helena, MT where they had two daughters, Anita and Sonja. In 1969, the family settled for good in Tacoma, where they welcomed two more children, Susan and Erik. All four kids were raised in Tacoma.

While principally devoted to her family as a homemaker, Roni's nurturing spirit extended beyond her home. She ran her own nutritional supplement business for many years, provided respite care for children with disabilities in her home, and worked as a much beloved lunch lady in the Tacoma public schools. Roni was an avid reader, devouring novels, mysteries, and historical works. She was a seamstress, spending many a weekend at the fabric store and making clothes for herself and her kids. She loved crossword puzzles, music, and she loved laughing. Her laugh was truly delightful and infectious. Once she started, no one around her could resist joining in! We’ll all miss her quick smile, playful nature, and that uproarious laugh.

She read newspapers daily and was always well informed of domestic and international politics, feeling it was her duty to be aware of world affairs. She was only three months old when Germany attacked and occupied Norway during World War II. The occupation lasted five years. This early experience impacted her deeply and shaped her lifelong love of freedom and democracy. She worried in recent years that the lessons from WWII were beginning to fade, and that the world was at risk of repeating the same mistakes (see below for her 2019 Facebook post on the 75th Anniversary of D-Day).

Roni loved her family and friends fiercely and without condition or judgment. She was the most enthusiastic cheerleader for all her children and ten grandchildren, no matter what activity they embarked on. She encouraged our desires and dreams, coaxed us to fill out applications for higher education and scholarships, sat through endless track meets, soccer, basketball, and football games, clapped enthusiastically at drama, dance, music, gymnastic, and cheerleading performances, traveled to Hawaii and Germany to support her kids, she even moved in with some of us when we needed help. In retirement, Roni moved to Spokane to be closer to her youngest grandchildren.

Roni always insisted that her ‘love language’ was food and tradition. This was no joke. Her kitchen was littered with cookbooks, magazines, and handwritten recipes on every scrap of paper. She loved making traditional meals and baked goods. Her Norwegian waffles graced many an after-school snack table, the family enjoyed her riskrem (rice cream) with raspberry sauce every Christmas, she made towers of fresh lefse, ensuring all had enough to take home with them, and for every grandchild’s birthday, she brought her famous Norwegian bløtkake. Roni was truly ready for any family event – posing with wigs and costumes, playing games, and watching her beloved Mahomes (and other NFL stars) play football. Her selfless nature made it easy for us to celebrate her milestones as well. A favorite event was her 80th birthday bash, where she donned Viking horns and we provided her non-negotiables of food, drink, speeches, a dance party, and a welcome mat for everyone!

Even though she had to manage complicated medical conditions for the last years of her life, including heart failure, kidney disease, and diabetes, Roni remained incredibly resilient. She readily bounced back from surgeries and procedures, often when it wasn’t at all clear she would. She was diligent about her medication, following a heart- and kidney- health diet, using her stationary pedals to get her steps in, and walking with friends when she could. She was often a favorite patient when hospitalized because of her sense of humor and the kindness she showed the nursing and medical staff. When a bone infection in her toe required an amputation just before the holidays, she joked about making an ornament of the digit! Her daughter, Susan, crafted it in surprise for her (from clay, not the real thing!) and this big toe ornament became the joke of the floor as she showed it off to every person who came to her room! Truly, there was more laughter in that hospital room than tears or frustration.

She was extremely grateful for the excellent care she received from hospital staff and particularly her specialty doctors, including nephrologist, Dr. Satinder Singh, cardiologist Dr. John Everett, and her primary care physician Dr. Brian Seppi. The family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to all her care providers, especially Dr. Singh, for the trusting relationship he built with our mom, the respect he showed her, and his remarkable bedside manner.

Roni was preceded in death by her parents, husband of 51 years, brother Svenn Bakstad, sister Gunhild (Bakstad) Svenkerud, and beloved grandson, Dallas Cline. She is survived by children Anita Cline (Josh), Sonja Dordal (Greg Polkinghorn), Susan Dordal, and Erik Dordal (Christa), grandchildren Ryee Cline (Gabby), Levi Cline (Zoe), Elsa Boyd (Gurjap Kaur), Isak Boyd, Savanna Potts, Elijah Dordal, Ayden Dordal, Ella Dordal, and Amelia Dordal, and great grandchildren Cannon Cline, Reagan Cline, Isla Cline, Roberta Cline, and Synnøve Cline.

All are welcome to a Memorial Service on June 14, 2025 at 1 pm, Cathedral of St. John, 127 E. 12th Ave, Spokane, WA. In lieu of flowers, Roni requested donations be made to organizations providing support to the unhoused, such as www.help4women.org or a local organization in your area. This is so like Roni, to be thinking of others at all times. It brings us peace to know that her love of humanity will continue to be expressed by those who knew and loved her.

Facebook Post by Ragnhild Dordal in 2019

On the 75th anniversary of D-Day, I want to tell you about my childhood in Nazi-occupied Norway and express the profound gratitude my family and country felt for the Allied Forces who risked their own lives to rescue us from tyranny. Because of my experiences, I can never take my freedom for granted.

I was a baby when the Nazis attacked and occupied Norway in April of 1940. The occupation was devastating - we lost our freedom under military rule and we lived in persistent fear for five long years. My parents, Lars and Gudrun Bakstad, were active members of the resistance movement (Milorg = militærorganisasjon), a dangerous job, especially since Nazi soldiers were stationed in my village. My family rented a room to a Norwegian Nazi as well, which meant constant vigilance about covert activities. My father kept an illegal radio (very risky!) in our attic to listen to illegal broadcasts of Allied and exiled Norwegian government broadcasts from London. My parents and older siblings delivered messages and goods to the network of Milorg members in our town and neighboring towns. My father's trucking business allowed him to transport and deliver goods farther afield. He and other Milorg members collected air drops from Allied Forces and transported these goods and were part of a country-wide movement that gathered intelligence, engaged in sabotage, and smuggled people across the border to Sweden - resistors and Jews.

Like many others in the resistance movement, my parents were incredibly brave. They were ordinary people who risked their lives, with five kids in tow, to fight for a free Norway and Europe. The Norwegian government honored them years later, which they richly deserved. But, it took the sacrifices of many others for Norwegians to taste freedom and D-Day was a key part of this. D-Day began the liberation of German-occupied France and later western Europe, but it also importantly laid the foundation for the Allied victory on the Western Front (which included Norway). 'Think about what it truly means,' my mother told me again and again, 'for people from another country to sacrifice their lives to free us. We are strangers to them, but they came anyway. We must always remember them.'

I fear that the memory of WWII is fading for people in Europe and the United States. But, freedom really is not a guarantee. I urge you to digest the history and to heed my mother's words – remember, remember, remember – so that such a tragedy will never happen again.

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Anna Thorstad

Nils Thorstad

Kari Bryhni

Full Name

Gudrun (Thorstad) Bakstad

Full Name

A. Helge Dørdal

Astrid Helene Kaufmann

Stein Tormod Bakstad

Susan C. Dordal

Sonja M. Dordal

Erik R. Dordal

Anita D. Cline

Lars Gunnar Bakstad

Svenn Mikael Bakstad

Kari Synnøve Mygland

Tove Gunhild Svenkerud

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Astrid Helene Kaufmann

Stein Tormod Bakstad

Lars Gunnar Bakstad

Svenn Mikael Bakstad

Kari Synnøve Mygland

Tove Gunhild Svenkerud

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A. Helge Dørdal

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Susan C. Dordal

Sonja M. Dordal

Erik R. Dordal

Anita D. Cline

Ragnhild (Roni) Dørdal

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