Judith Solie, spouse of the late Covenant pastor Wilbur (Bill) Solie and mother of retired Covenant pastor John Solie, passed away on October 15, 2026. She was 93.
Judith Marie Carlson Solie was born to parents Rev. Arvid C. and Esther (Hanson) Carlson on November 18, 1932, in Kensington, Minnesota. Her parents had served as missionaries to China in the 1920s and then pastored Covenant churches in the Midwest, and Judy grew up in Kensington; Essex, Iowa; and Warren, Minnesota. From her parents she learned to love Jesus and the Bible, and how to make people feel welcome in the church and in her home. She graduated from high school in Warren in 1949. Judy then went on to attend North Park College in Chicago, which was a two-year school at the time, completing her associate degree in 1952. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1954 with a degree in elementary education.
Bill Solie first saw Judy from a distance at North Park and later claimed he knew at first sight that he wanted to marry her. They were married on September 11, 1954, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They had two children, John, born in 1955 in Moose Lake, Minnesota, and Linda, born in 1957 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Judy worked as an elementary school teacher, primarily as a substitute. As the wife of a pastor, she served the congregations beside Bill, teaching Sunday school, filling in as substitute organist, and preparing countless meals as the family hosted parishioners in their home. Bill pastored Community Church in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, from 1959 to 1963 and Trinity Covenant Church in Salem, Oregon, from 1963 to 1970. In 1970 the family moved to southern California when Bill was called into the VA chaplaincy. In 1974 they moved to Minneapolis, where he became chief of chaplain service at the VA hospital. Judy continued to support his ministry as substitute organist for chapel services, entertaining the other chaplains and their wives in their home and baking cookies for the veterans.
Judy was a loving wife and mother with a fun sense of humor. She spent hours reading Egermeier’s Bible Story Book to John and Linda when they were young, and the family regularly studied the Bible together, with Bill leading devotions from the time the children were toddlers through their college years. Christ was central in her life. Judy loved people and people loved her. She had the gift of hospitality, was an amazing cook, and possessed a healthy dose of common sense and wisdom.
After Bill and Judy moved to Covenant Living of Golden Valley in 2007, she invited new residents to their apartment to help them feel welcomed, and she continued practicing hospitality to those around her even after Bill died in 2015. In her final days, following a stroke, she could not speak, but she clearly communicated that she wanted to hear the Bible read to her, that she had no fear of death, and that she was eager to go be with Jesus.
Judy was preceded in death by her husband, Bill, and her sister Dorothy Pearson. She is survived by her son, John (Holly); daughter, Linda; grandsons Christopher (Catherine) and Matthew (Lauren); four great-grandsons, Asher, Auggie, Benjamin, and Joshua John (JJ); sisters Elvira Englund and Ruth Dahlgren; and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service was held October 18, 2026, at Covenant Living of Golden Valley in Minnesota. Interment will be at Pleasant Plain Cemetery in Prairie Lake, Wisconsin, on a future date.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Kenya Children’s Fund or the Benevolent Care Fund at Covenant Living of Golden Valley.
Peace be to her memory.
