Carol King Daly, 80
Carol King Daly, 80, passed away peacefully in her rural Columbia Falls home with family and her precious dogs at her side on Sept. 5, 2023. It was a beautiful clear day with a light breeze through Pines, Aspen, and sun-dappled meadows where whitetails and two old horses grazed. She was beloved by neighbors, colleagues, family and friends.
She was born Oct. 4, 1942 to James and Cornelia Gore King in Evanston, Illinois. She was the only child of two only children, a fact that she mentioned often in her last months of life, but in no way did it diminish her impact in eight decades of life and perhaps pushed her to be the singularly driven yet quietly humble force that she was in pursuing a long and stellar career in economic development.
She graduated High School in Birmingham, Michigan, and received her BA in social science and literature from Bennington College, Vermont in 1964. She found herself in the thick of history and life as a student at the distinguished college where she spent a term of each year in Washington D.C. There she interfaced with foreign students, native Americans, judges, congressmen and senators such as Muskie, Goldwater, Metcalf and Udall. She toured foreign students through The White House, said, "Good Morning Mr. President," to JFK and watched John John run in from a morning romp on the South Lawn. She mourned with the entire country when JFK was assassinated.
On Feb 10, 1964, she wrote, "Tomorrow night I am going to hear the Beatles sing. Just sort of thought it would be an experience." The event at Washington Coliseum was the first Beatles concert in the United States after their debut at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. At a D.C. dinner, she was seated next to Sen. Lee Metcalf and her interest in Montana was piqued. The Executive Office of Economic Opportunity hired her after graduation, sent her west to Kansas City and then to Missoula, Montana, in 1967. Work took her across Montana and Wyoming, to campuses, community agencies and reservations.
In 1969, she married Paul L. Daly and took leave of her economic duties to join him in managing Executive Aviation flight service in Spokane. They shared a love for horses and acquired the first of several ranch properties, in Whitefish, then Ovando, and finally Columbia Falls. She earned her pilot's license, managed employees, bucked bales, vaccinated calves, fixed fences and drove tractors. Their last business venture together was JBM precision machining in Kalispell where Boeing was one of their clients.
Through the years, she worked for the Montana Department of Commerce, served the Montana Community Finance Corporation, NW Montana Micro-business Finance, and directed the Sustainable Forests Task Force.
In 1995, she launched Flathead Economic Policy Center as a nonprofit and was Executive director until 2023. She collaborated with the Forest Service, Native American communities, the Pinchot Institute, Western Governors Association and many other entities, to address forest stewardship and wildfire management. She also served on the board of her local rural firehouse.
She was preceded in death by stepdaughter, Jan Daly; and husband, Paul L. Daly.
She is survived by step-daughters, Camilla Daly Haynes, Paula Daly, Jennifer Lowe-Anker, (Conrad Anker); and six grandchildren; and brother-in-law, Larry Daly (Fran). A private family service is planned this autumn. The family would like to thank our caregivers and hospice. Donations can be made to Badrock Volunteer Fire Department, Columbia Falls.
