Rod Slotten, 79, a pilot who taught in the Chicago area for more than 50 years and eventually opened his own airport, died after a stroke Friday, March 8, at Don and Marilyn Anderson Hospice Care Inc., in Madison, Wis. Born in Dodgeville, Wis., Mr. Slotten grew up an only child on his father’s farm outside of Verona, Wis. Fulfilling a childhood dream, Mr. Slotten received his commercial pilot’s license in 1939. He met Blanche, his future wife, in Chicago and married her in 1943, just before going into the Marine Corps. He was stationed in the South Pacific and flew a dive bomber. After the war Mr. Slotten and his wife lived for 18 years in Lombard, where he worked as a tool-and-die maker and taught people how to fly. Mr. Slotten had dreamed of operating his own airport, and in 1963, he began building an airport that would later be called the Verona Airpark in his hometown. He moved to Verona full time in 1969, and ran the private airport until a stroke left him partially paralyzed three years ago. “Not much dust got under his feet,” his wife said. “He was pretty busy.” Along with his wife, Mr. Slotten is survived by a son, Robin; a daughter, Renee Beauchamp; and two grandchildren. Services were held Monday.
