Archie Eugene 'Gene' McGlenn, 83

Archie Eugene "Gene" McGlenn, 83, passed away on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, at his home in Kalispell. Gene was born March 3, 1926, in Lewistown, to William Archie and Frances Josephine McGlenn. Gene started school in Ferdig, Mont. After the first grade the family moved to Glasgow, where he attended school through his freshman year. In 1941, his sophomore year was spent in Eureka. Gene finished his junior and senior years at Flathead County High School, where he graduated in 1944.

In June of 1944, he was inducted into the U.S. Navy. After boot camp at Farragut, Idaho, he reported to Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.On Dec. 11, 1944, he was assigned to a new ship, the USS Pitt, APA 223, for commissioning and duty. He served in the South Pacific and took part in the invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945.

After the war ended, the ship was assigned to take occupation troops to Aomori and Nagoya, Japan. Their next assignment was "magic carpet duty," where he made five trips across the Pacific, returning troops home to the U.S.After being discharged from the Navy, Gene attended the University of Montana in Missoula, from 1946 until 1948.

On Sept. 1, 1947, Gene married Dorothy Gene Sherman. Dorothy was the girl next door, and they have remained married for 62 years. In 1948, they moved to Spokane, where he worked in a sporting goods store for a year. While they were living in Spokane, their son William Roger McGlynn was born.

They moved back to Kalispell, where their daughtersMicki Joand Darcy Gene were born. After five years working at the Pine Grove Bar, owned by his father, he entered the insurance business as a fire and casualty agent.

He and Charles Powell bought the Conrad Casualty Co. After Powell's retirement, Gene merged Conrad Casualty Company with Kilpatrick Hansen agency to form Time Insurance Agency.

In 1960 Gene started Flathead Travel Service, which his wife Dorothy ran and built into a very fine business, and which his daughters, Micki Nonemacher and Darcy Lard, along with son, Roger McGlenn, run now.

Gene's second love was golf. He was Buffalo Hill Golf Course club champion five times, and won the Kalispell Labor Day Golf Tournament in 1957. He played in the Whitefish Fourth of July tournament 57 times consecutively, starting in 1950. Gene served on the Montana State Golf Association's board of directors for 30 years. He served as a sectional affairs committee man for the United States Golf Association for four years and served on the Golf Digest best golf courses rating panel for eight years.

He started the Alberta-Montana Junior cup matches in 1992; the perpetual trophy bears his name, along with his Alberta counterpart, McBride-McGlenn. In 1998 he was inducted into the Montana Golf Hall of Fame. He was the Montana Cup Captain for 13 years.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughters, Micki and Darcy; and a son, Roger; sister, Nancy, and husband, Ron Sloan; grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family requests donations be made to the Museum at the Central School, 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell, MT.

You are invited to go to www.buffalohillfh.com to leave personal messages for the family. Buffalo Hill Funeral Home and Crematory is caring for the family.

A celebration of Gene's life will be held at a later date. Gene left written instructionsthat his celebration of life would not interfere with anyone's tee time.