Robert 'Phil' Rognlien 87
Robert “Phil” Rognlien was born on May 5, 1937, to Gordon and Myrna Rognlien in Kalispell. He grew up hunting and fishing with his dad, sometimes showing up late to school with a couple of ducks in his backpack. Phil spent his summers at the family cabin on Flathead, enjoying swimming and water skiing with his older brother Skip and his younger sister Mary. He excelled on the Flathead High ski team, earning a skiing scholarship to Montana State College in Bozeman. During his freshman year at Bozeman, a senatorial appointment to the US Naval Academy dramatically changed the trajectory of his life. Engaged to his high school sweetheart, Celeste Leitch, they were married when he graduated from the Academy in 1960. Phil completed flight school in Pensacola and Texas where his daughter, Leslie Carol, was born.
An outstanding aviator, Phil became a fighter pilot and flew A-4 Skyhawks off the USS Constellation aircraft carrier. He completed two cruises in the South Pacific on the “Connie,” culminating in aerial combat over the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam, shortly after his son, Robert Phillip Jr., was born. Phil completed his naval service and became a pilot for Pan Am World Airways in 1966, a career that would span the next 31 years. His postings took the family to live in Hong Kong and West Berlin, before settling down on a small ranch outside of Seattle. After the kids were grown and off to college, the marriage ended and Phil moved back to Montana. There he married Mary Margaret Little and they lived on the new Eagle Bend golf course for 15 years, before building a beautiful ranch home outside of Bigfork. In 1991 Pan American went out of business and Phil continued his career with Delta Airlines. Phil’s retirement in 1997 gave him and Mary Margaret more time to travel, enjoy their friends, be active in Bible studies, and work on his golf game. In 2015 they moved back to Eagle Bend where he enjoyed the final years of his life with his family and many friends.
He passed from this life into the arms of Jesus on Nov. 23, 2024.
Phil is survived by his wife Mary Margaret; his children Leslie and Bob; his stepchildren Shawn and Capri, Ryan and Wanda, and Scott; his grandchildren Bobby, Luke, and Stan, and his stepgrandchildren Gussie, Lane, McKinnon, Morgan and Nathaniel.
He was preceded in death by his brother Skip and his sister Mary.
A celebration of his remarkable life will be held at Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at 2 p.m.
Robert “Phil” Rognlien