Maurice Palmer Solie

The Life of Maurice Palmer Solie, Jr.

Maurice Palmer Solie, Jr. was born at home at 11:30 a.m. on June 25, 1926, in Barron, Wisconsin. He was the oldest of six children that were born to Maurice and Rachel Solie.

The family lived in several homes in Barron, Wisconsin before moving to the Rasmussen farm 13 miles from Superior, Wisconsin. Maurie was about 16 years old at the time they moved to the farm. However, he was very familiar with the Rasmussen farm since he had spent several summers helping his maternal grandparents, Louis & Lorenza Warner Rasmussen with farm chores.

Maurie played the tuba in high school. He loved it! He played at various functions in a brass quartet. Maurie also played a solo over the local radio station, and he was very proud of the fact that he took 2nd place at Regional Nationals. His solo was "His Majesty, the Tuba." Another song he enjoyed playing was "A Rumba on My Tuba Down in Cuba," which was a very fast pace moving instrumental piece!

Maurie and his sister Rhoda graduated from high school the same year. Maurie had to finish high school via correspondence course. Since his father was working at the Walter Butler Shipyard building ships for the war, Maurie was responsible for running the dairy farm.

Maurie loved horses. There were 7 or 8 horses on the farm. Maurie had several favorites. Bert and Black Betty were a team of Percherons. Bert almost seemed human. Maurie taught Bert to kiss the girls and take the hats off the men. At night the horses would stand outside the barn door and listen to Band of America while Maurie finished up chores in the barn. When the music was finished, the horses would trot off.

One of Maurie's favorite horses was Prince. Prince was a young stallion that could run 42 – 43 miles per hour. Dad enjoyed riding him just holding onto his mane.

Shortly before he married Elaine Andreen, Maurie took over running the Rasmussen farm from his parents. He and Elaine were married on August 1, 1949, and they moved into their little two-room bungalow on the farm. Maurie bought additional dairy cattle and new farm machinery and had big plans for the future.

Their first child, Beth, was born on an extremely cold wintry night, 44 degrees below zero. Three years later, Maurie and Elaine had another daughter, Christine. Two years later, David was born and then Mark arrived four years later. Just when they thought the family was complete, Elaine gave birth to another daughter, Sharon, who arrived eight years after Mark.

Things were looking pretty good on the farm, but the summer and fall of 1951 were a disaster! Maurie had planted five acres each of wheat and oats. By the end of July or first part of August, they were ready to harvest. He was planning on harvesting his fields on Monday morning. However, over the weekend, a hailstorm wiped out both of his crops.

Maurie wasn't too worried about that turn of events since he had planted 30 acres of flax. Flax was at an all-time high for selling and that would be enough to pull the farm out of debt with money left over. It was now early September, and it was time to harvest the flax. The combine pulled into the farm that evening. The next morning, Maurie woke up to heavy, wet snow that was six inches deep! The snow put the heads of the flax down into the ground and there they froze. Maurie knew that farming was finished. It was a devastating blow!

In February, 1952, Maurie, Elaine and their one-year-old daughter, Beth, took a trip out West. Shortly after they returned to Wisconsin, Maurie and Elaine decided to move to Wyoming.

They packed up their belongings and Maurie found work as a ranch hand on a ranch in Ranchester, Wyoming located at the base of the Big Horn Mountains. The family lived in a tiny bungalow on the ranch.

Maurie loved riding the range on his horse Black Man. When the other cowboys were trying to lasso their horses in the corral first thing in the morning, Maurie would just walk up to Black Man, a magnificent stallion and ask him if he wanted to work that day. Then he would put the halter on him and off they would go.

Maurie and Elaine moved again shortly before Christine was born to Sheridan, Wyoming. By the time Maurie's first son, David, was born, the family was living several miles from Sheridan in the "house on the hill with ten acres." Initially, the family moved into the basement until the upper part was finished. Elaine had her pink dream home! The living room had a high open ceiling with cedar beams and large picture windows

It was during the time in Sheridan that Maurie became an insurance salesman. He had an office on the second floor of a building on Main Street. He was a General Agent for Beneficial Standard Life Insurance Company. He was able to recruit other agents and train them. For a period of time, his brother Dick and father worked for him selling insurance. Maurie built the second highest producing insurance agency in the nation with Beneficial Life. When Maurie finally decided not to take any more insurance exams, he was 90 years old and the oldest insurance agent in the state of Wyoming.

After living in Sheridan, Wyoming for ten years, the family moved to San Diego, California for one year and then back to Billings, Montana and Denver, Colorado.

Then In 1974, Maurie found the perfect spot in Wapiti, Wyoming to build his dream home. Once again, Wyoming was calling him. Maurie and his sons built a large two-story home overlooking beautiful Wapiti Valley, halfway between Cody and Yellowstone Park. The home sat high on the top of a hill with large picture windows in the living room and family room. Jim Mountain loomed up across the valley, and the Shoshone River wound its way below.

Several years after his wife Elaine died, Maurie built a smaller house on the property that overlooked a small pond with a mountain view across the valley. He loved looking at his mountains and didn't want to be anywhere else.

Towards the end of 1987, Maurie purchased a building complex on Big Horn Avenue for the computer and satellite business. The business was named IMA Electronics and was a family run business. IMA Electronics was in the top ten in the nation in a Tri-state area.

Maurie always had a love for traveling. He made sure that the family made several trips to visit relatives in California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Alaska and Arizona over the years. He also took the family to Baja, Mexico and Hawaii,

In later years, Maurie and Elaine took a cruise to the Caribbean Islands, and they also traveled to London, England.

Several years after Elaine died, Maurie traveled to Norway, the birthplace of his ancestors. He met second cousins there and was able to see his Great Grandpa Hegge's 640-acre farm.

Just a few months prior to Maurie and Elaine celebrating their 50th Anniversary, God chose to take Elaine home with Him. Every day Maurie would say how much he missed Lainey (his name for Elaine), but he also knew God was still there with him as he continued to walk life's journey. Someday there would be a grand and glorious reunion in Heaven, never to part again.

Maurie always loved to go camping, especially in Yellowstone Park. In the early days, the family would take Dad's little aluminum boat out onto Yellowstone Lake. As Maurie and Elaine grew older, he and Elaine would pack up their camper and spend the weekend in Yellowstone just relaxing before another busy week would start. Many summer weekends found the grandchildren joining him for boating at Yellowstone Lake.

Maurie always enjoyed fishing and hunting trips with his brother Dick, brother-in-law Brian. Sometimes they were joined by his sons, David and Mark and nephews Dan, Rick and Barry. For 18 years in a row, the annual Alaskan fishing trip when Maurie would join Uncle Dick and Uncle Brian for a week or two of catching Alaskan King Salmon was greatly anticipated. He always had a great time and came back with lots of "fish stories" and of course lots of fresh salmon! Maurie was 90 years old on the last salmon fishing trip.

When Maurie was in his eighties, he started writing. His first short story entitled "The Blizzard" was published in From the Heart by the Cody Writers Guild in 2010. He then went on to write more stories and in 2012 self-published Dreams Shattered and the Trail Lost. Dad was 86 years old at the time. This book was dedicated to his grandson Indy Ward who also sketched "Gwampa, I can't find the twail!" Since then, he wrote about 10 or 12 other short stories. Maurie said his writing was mainly for his family – to share life's experiences and how to have faith and trust in God no matter what life throws at you.

Maurie was a man of faith, with a strong, deep faith in God. He always enjoyed studying God's Word and searching its meanings. He had deep convictions – that God provides eternal life for us only through His Son Jesus Christ; that the Bible is the Word of God and our primary guidebook for our lives; that God is a Sovereign God and that he can and will do whatever pleases Him; that God takes a personal interest in our personal lives…even in the small things; that God promises to give us wisdom, direction, guidance and help when we call on Him; that the promises of God would extend to the generations beyond us if we obey God's commandments and that once our life on earth is over, we will spend eternity with God the Father, with Christ and with our many loved ones who have gone on before.

Maurie celebrated his 99th birthday June 25, 2025, with family. He is survived by his 5 children Beth McElmury (Randy), Christine Helvik (Karl), David Solie, Mark Solie (Cande) and Sharon Ward. He has 18 grandchildren – Ryan, Bret, Kevin, Eric, Rachel, Rebecca, Erica, Emily, Margaret, Abigail, Daniel, Grace, Jesse, Whitney, Brian, Indy, Holly, and Ty. He had 15 great grandchildren – Tayler, Tierra, Tori, Paxton, Eli, Boaz, Tate, Caleb, Elijah, Mathew, Ethan, Nathan, Isabelle, Nathaniel and Waylon. He has one great, great grandchild – Brysen. He is survived by three sisters – Jo Ann Sandoval, Lorna Aylard and Cathy Picha (Gerry) and numerous nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the American Bible Society in memory of his three grandchildren who predeceased him – Eric McElmury, Bret McElmury and Rebecca Helvik Hedegarrd. You can also donate to the Elaine Solie Scholarship Fund at Crown College in St. Paul, Minnesota that was set up in Elaine Solie's memory.