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UPDATE: A graveside service will be held on Saturday, August 6, 2022 at 11:00 A.M. at Forest Hill Cemetery in Houghton conducted by the Copper Country Veterans Association.
As received from the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home:
Jon A. “Bird” Saterstad, 67, retired Sergeant Major, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, of Stanton Township, succumbed to a sudden heart attack at his home on Wednesday, June 29, 2022.
Jon was born in Alpena, Michigan on August 12, 1954 to the late Otto and Jane (Houle) Saterstad where his father was a U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse keeper. Later his family moved north to the U.P. where Jon grew up in the Houghton Canal area, attending Redridge Elementary School and Houghton High School.
He enlisted into the U.S. Army for his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri spending much of his first deployment in South Korea in the DMZ. Later he joined the Army’s Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina until his retirement in 1992 after 20 years of service. Jon also worked at various jobs with the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.
Jon is survived by his life partner Donna Sugar; son Jon O. (Christal) Saterstad; daughter Rachel A. Saterstad; granddaughters Savannah, Summer, and Annabelle Saterstad; sisters Anna (Kevin) Koskey and Amy Dabio; nieces Andrea Tuthill and Savannah Saterstad and their families; and nephews Nathan Scott, Bryan Scott, Jordan Saterstad, and Adrian Saterstad and their families. He is also survived by a very special great aunt, Margaret Cuffe, and by numerous cousins and many friends.
A graveside service will be held on Saturday, August 6, 2022 at 11:00 A.M. at Forest Hill Cemetery in Houghton conducted by the Copper Country Veterans Association.
Jon will be remembered as a true warrior, a mentor to many and a genuinely great soul.
Arrangements are being handled from the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home of Hancock. To leave online condolences, please go to www.oneilldennisfh.com.
