James A. Kalina

James A. Kalina, age 77, of Surprise, AZ, and formerly of Lowry, MN, died on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at Surprise, AZ. A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, June 30, 2023 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Lowry, MN. Visitation will be Thursday, June 29th, from 5:00 - 7:00 P.M. at the Hoplin-Hitchcock Funeral Home in Glenwood and will resume at the church Friday morning, one hour prior to the service. Inurnment will be in Bohemian Independent Cemetery rural Lowry. Arrangements are with Hoplin-Hitchcock Funeral Home of Glenwood.

James “Jim” A. Kalina was born September 4, 1945 to Wencil and Myrtle (Malyon) Kalina of Lowry, MN. He graduated from Glenwood, MN High School in 1963.

Jim enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the fall of 1963 and shortly thereafter received a hardship discharge in order to return home to run the family business after his father was in an auto accident. He was transferred to the U.S. Navy reserves under inactive status until he was honorably discharged in 1969. On July 23, 1966 Jim married Julane Erickson of Starbuck, MN and in June of 1970 they welcomed their only child, Troy.

Jim worked in the Construction industry for 37 years. In 1970 he started working for C.S. McCrossan, a Maple Grove, Minnesota based contractor. He went on to work for the company for 25 years. He started as a laborer and quickly worked his way up to the position of project manager. He managed projects and supervised testing and quality control. In the late 90’s he went to work for Arizona Pavement Profiling. He worked for APP for several years before he and Julane moved back to Minnesota. Jim built a home in northern Minnesota along the Mississippi River. He later went to work for Northern Engineering & Consulting of Bemidji, as an Inspector and Quality Control Consultant. Jim & Julane moved to Surprise, AZ in 2012. Jim continued to work for NECI during the summers until 2020.

Jim is survived by wife, Julane, their son, Troy (Andrea), and grandson, Edward James “EJ” Kalina of Ohio, two sisters, R’Dell Molander of Colorado and Dawn (Mike) Phillips of Minnesota; one brother, Dale (Vida) Kalina of Illinois, along with several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Wencil and Myrtle, a sister, Shirley Eaton, a brother-in-law Leroy Molander, a nephew, Jack Mooney; his wife’s parents, Herbert and Mabel Erickson, and his wife’s siblings, Wayne, Larry, and Beverly (Vold) Erickson.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the American Cancer Society or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

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