Wayne Stanley Halvorson, 75

Wayne Stanley Halvorson died Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, after suffering a terrible fall on Nov. 15, and was unable to recover from the brain trauma. His wife Karen was at his side when he died peacefully in Tillamook County General Hospital in Oregon.

Wayne was born on Feb. 24, 1936, the eldest of five children to Ora J. and Stanley N. Halvorson, longtime residents of Kalispell. In 1953 he graduated from Flathead County High School in Kalispell, and in 1957 obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in agricultural business and management, with a minor in biochemistry, from Washington State University at Pullman. At the university he was a member of the AGR Society.

Wayne was a man of integrity and congeniality. He started his career in dairy plan management in Bellingham, Wash., used his management skills in agricultural economics as general manager of Meadow Gold Dairies in Okinawa for the U.S. government during the Vietnam War, developed and then managed a new dairy plant in Seoul, Korea, and ended his career modernizing potato production plants in Poland, Armenia and Guatemala for U.S. Aid to International Development programs. He was especially proud of his work with WID, Widows In Development, a program in Poland to help widows maintain their farms after their spouses died.

 Wayne is survived by his wife, Karen; sons, Craig and Mark (son Eric is deceased); his daughter, Julie; ex-wife, Judy; and five grandchildren. His surviving siblings are Karen Sue and Kevin (Lowell and David are deceased).  We will all miss this great 6-foot 3-inch wonderful Norwegian man.