Earlier today, we lost our wife and mother, Eloise O’Rourke Pohlad. She died of natural causes at home, surrounded by her family.

Eloise was the heart of our family; this is a difficult and terrible loss for us.

We appreciate the support and prayers of our friends, colleagues and community Funeral arrangements are pending.

A complete biographical sketch of Eloise Pohlad follows.

Eloise O’Rourke Pohlad: Mother, wife, quiet benefactor

A woman known for her love and dedication to family, quiet generosity and grace, Eloise O’Rourke Pohlad has stayed true to herself and her Irish and Iowa roots throughout her life.

Born January 26, 1917, she was baptized Mary Eloise, but has always been known as Eloise. She is the youngest of 10 children in an extended Irish Catholic family. Her parents were John O’Rourke and Ellen Flanagan O’Rourke, proud descendents of Irish immigrants who made their way from County Tipperary to mid-eighteenth-century Iowa. While on a business trip to Austin Minnesota, her father met “Ella,” as her mother was called, and after a very short courtship, the couple married. John later built a successful career with Prudential Insurance, while Ella focused her efforts on her 10 children and extended family.

The O’Rourke family home at 408 Burch was filled with this extended family, including maiden aunts and unmarried uncles who were welcomed into the household, even during lean years. The family’s dinner table would have as many as 15 family members around it each evening. Keenly aware of their Irish roots, this heritage, combined with a strong Catholic faith, helped form Eloise’s dedication to family, along with other values and interests.

Educated in Catholic grade schools and high schools, Eloise graduated in 1935 from the Academy of the Visitation High School in Dubuque. She attended Mundelein College in Chicago, living there with her older brother, John.

Though naturally shy, Eloise was a fun-loving and active leader in high school social clubs. She began a lifelong love of dancing at an early age and enjoyed socializing with others in the Dubuque area. Eloise’s best friend since gradeschool, June Murray Link remembers, “We would go to Diamond’s Grill where all of the college kids hung out. And we would meet the college boys there. We would hold our breaths and hope they would have ten cents to pay for our soda.” The girls would walk home, even on the coldest of nights, never taking the bus in order to save the fare, and “we walked, walked, walked!” June remembers.

After college, Eloise returned home to Dubuque and worked as a receptionist, teller and bookkeeper for the American Trust and Savings Bank. She met Carl Pohlad on a blind date at a University of Iowa/University Minnesota football game. It was love at first sight, and five months later on April 22, 1947, they were married in a quiet ceremony at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Key West, Iowa, now a suburb of Dubuque.

The marriage has lasted some 56 years, producing three sons: James O’Rourke, Robert Carl and William Michael. Eloise has been extraordinarily dedicated to her husband and sons, supporting the family through her highly visible husband’s career in finance and banking, and later as the owner of the Minnesota Twins. “My mom is truly a lady, always putting our dad and her boys first,” said son Bob. “And her graciousness is extended to everyone, no matter their stature or place in life.” He also recalled Eloise caring for her older sister Dorothy when she moved to Minneapolis to live with them during the final decade of her life.

Despite her family’s success, Eloise’s interests throughout life have remained the simple pleasures: enjoying ice cream, doing the laundry and ironing, spending time with her sons and their families, and attending the Minnesota Twins baseball games. “Mom was originally a football fan, but she grew to love baseball after Dad bought the Minnesota Twins,” said Jim, her son. “She has become one of the Twins’ biggest fans, attending hundreds of games over the years.”

While she remained devoted to her family, Eloise also participated in community service, becoming involved in organizations around the Twin Cities, including the Boys and Girls Club, WAMSO, the Carondelet HealthCare Foundation and the Twin Cities Opera Guild.

Deeply committed to her Catholic faith, Eloise was a founding member of the Sisters of St. Joseph Ministries Foundation. She actively supported their programs for children, families and individuals in need. Remembers Sister Irene O’Neill, “Eloise Pohlad’s love for her family is so powerful that when I was with her I could feel it radiate in ever-widening circles warming her home, neighborhood, communities beyond her sight, soothing many people like a holy balm.

“Eloise Pohlad is a regal woman of strength, compassion, love, and with her, heart and hearth are one.”

Her family includes her husband of 56 years, Carl; her sons Jim, Bob and Bill; daughters-in-law, Mary, Becky and Michelle; her grandchildren Tom, Joe, Chris, Alexandra, Charles and Katherine.

“The word I’d use to describe Mom is ‘grace’ – in everything that she does, with everyone she meets, even in facing difficult situations, like her recent health problems, she always has been gentle, loving and graceful,” said her son Bill.

“She is, in our eyes, the perfect wife and mother.”