Bernard Wilson Alt, 85

Bernard Wilson Alt, 85, passed away Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls. Bernie was born May 29, 1924, in Letcher, S.D., where he grew up on the family farm/ranch. After completing high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was with the first occupational force to land at Nagasaki, Japan, following the dropping of the bomb. After his honorable discharge from the Corps, he married his high school English teacher and enrolled in the School of Forestry at Montana State University (U of M), earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1950. He started his professional career in Malta, managing Land Utilization Act lands and then transferred to the U.S. Forest Service. He was the ranger on the Sioux District, Camp Crook, S.D., where he was involved with the first wild turkey transplants in the Long Pines. Next he became the ranger on the Medora District, Dickenson, N.D., where he helped facilitate, with the Burkhardt family ranch and the state, the re-introduction of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep into the Badlands of the Little Missouri. He then transferred to the Deer Lodge National Forest, Butte, where he was instrumental in acquiring, for the public trust, 120,000 acres of Anaconda Company land, a portion of which became the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area. He retired from the U.S. Forest Service as their first coordinator for managing the Custer National Forest National Grasslands, spanning North Dakota, Montana and South Dakota, Bismarck, N.D. Upon retirement from the USFS, he immediately moved to Kalispell and began working for Glacier Park Company and Plum Creek Timber, managing all of their livestock grazing leases in the western one-third of Montana. Upon retiring again, he was hired by the Hubbart Grazing Association as a rider and grazing allotment coordinator. He retired for the third and final time at the age of 75. He was given the honor of Distinguished Alumni by the U of M School of Forestry for his career accomplishments. He was a Royal Arch Mason and volunteered countless hours helping others, from manning Kalispell Crisis Line phones, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Shriners, Lions, Optimists, to holding BS with Bernie Sessions at the Columbia Falls VA Home. He was an active member of the Epworth United Methodist Church, Kalispell. He was a Northern Great Plainsman at heart and a good man, Semper Fi! He was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Lucile; brother, Wendell; and sisters, Marlys and Arlene. He is survived by his sister, Ellen and Bob Yadesky, of Connecticut; and three sons, Lee and Debbie, and grandchildren, Lyndsay, Jake and Derek, and great-grandchildren, Mickenzie, Lauren and Gannon, of Butte; Miles and Jeannie, and grandsons, Sean and Jordan, and great-grandchildren, Danielle, Catlynn and Brittany, of Rhode Island; and Kurt and grandson, Seth, of Bozeman. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at Epworth United Methodist Church, in Kalispell. The family is asking to have any memorials in Bernie s honor sent to the Montana Veterans Home, 400 Veterans Dr., Columbia Falls, MT 59912. Columbia Mortuary in Columbia Falls is assisting the family.