Galen R. Insteness Dies; Longtime Sitkan was 95

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Category: Obituaries

Created on Tuesday, 06 December 2022 13:11

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Galen Robert Insteness

Galen Robert Insteness passed away peacefully, with grace and love surrounding him, family and friends by his side, on Nov. 12, 2022, in Sitka.

He was born June 12, 1927, in Froid, a tiny farming community in northeastern Montana. One of six siblings and a large extended family, he started his formal education in a one-room school with the challenge of trying to learn and communicate in English when mostly Norwegian was spoken at home. Those early years were rich in family closeness, work and play outdoors seamlessly interwoven, and being immersed in an incredible array of musical talent and entertainment that planted within him a lifelong love of music. But these were also years of backbreaking hard work, even for very young children, as the Depression wore on and World War II erupted.

The family pulled up stakes in 1944 and moved across the state to Kalispell, Montana. Galen found the transition to the “big city” difficult and decided being a fire lookout on nearby mountain peaks for the Forest Service was a much better option than finishing school right then. So began a life of independent ventures, adventures, and misadventures that were the start of many a good yarn in the years to come! Later, he would finish school by obtaining his GED, becoming a voracious reader and self-taught learner. Still, he always regretted not being able to continue his formal education, particularly in journalism and illustration.

In 1946 he was itching for big adventure and change and so began his migration to the then Territory of Alaska that became his true home forever after. With a good buddy and only a few bucks in his pocket, he also began honing his unique capacity to overcome odds again and again and again – this time landing a construction job on the Fort Richardson army base near Anchorage for a couple of years.

Although loving the Last Frontier, family and the call of “settling down” lured him back to the Lower 48 for a five-year stint working construction in Idaho. 

During that time, he married Bonnie Crist and they began their family when two daughters, Gail and Lori, arrived in 1953 and 1954. When Bonnie was willing to take a blind leap to Alaska (only later came the real knowing about Arctic winters, light-all-night summer days, quonset huts, homesteads, hordes of monster-sized mosquitos, canned everything, endless list!) the whole family relocated to Fairbanks. Little did they know, however, that beyond the challenges and wonders of this rugged land a most significant discovery was awaiting them–learning of the Bahá’í Faith from new friends they met as they made their way with their young family in this new home. Galen decided to accept its highest purpose, establishing the oneness of humanity, as his own North Star in 1956. Thereafter, the direction of his life was forever patterned in trying to follow the Bahá’í Teachings, and he considered the privilege of going on pilgrimage to the Bahá’í holy places in Haifa, Israel (with daughter Lori) as the “crowning high point of my life.”

In those first years, Galen began his long time work in civil service as a water plant operator on the Fort Wainwright army base outside of Fairbanks. Then, much to the delight of the whole family, only son and third sibling, Mark, was born in 1959.

Life was filled with many joys and gifts but also difficult challenges for this growing family, and it was a deep sadness for all when Galen and Bonnie divorced in 1965.

For a number of years after that, he commuted from a small cabin he built for himself on a homestead outside of Fairbanks to his work on the base.

Some time later, Galen found love again with Myrt Peacock who also knew the homestead life and enjoyed his stories! They married in 1973, settling into town life until an early retirement opportunity came along in 1983. They grabbed the chance and took off like free birds, exploring the highways and byways of the “lower 48,” putting down semi-roots in Oregon, Arizona, and Nebraska at various times.

Sadness came again when Myrt passed away in 2002 but in the years that followed, Galen gradually found his way back west, closer to the extended family he loved, then finally (2008) back to the home of his heart, north to Alaska and all of his children.

His final home was Sitka, where he found the added joys of participating in Bahá’í community life again and finding a new family when he became a resident of the Pioneers Home in 2013. He frequently said, “Sitka has the best of everything important, I’m finally back in paradise!”

Galen was born with a natural sense of humor and wit that alternately confounded, entertained, and enriched the people he encountered throughout his life. His numerous letters, filled with humor, innuendo, and a steady stream of sketches and cartoons, were read, equally puzzled over and enjoyed, by the many family members and friends with whom he loved keeping in touch. As many would say along the way, Galen was a unique character, but for those who were blessed to know his heart and the serious side of his nature, they also knew how much he loved reading and learning, how many of his accomplishments and skills were self-taught, his gifts and potential as a writer and illustrator, his never ending enjoyment and thirst for music (live or of his own making), and, above all, how deeply he loved his family and friends, and his ever present Faith.

Galen is survived by his three children, Mark Inteness of Cordova, Lori Moles (Zeke) of Juneau, and Gail Bagley, recently relocated to Polson, Montana; his two remaining siblings, Cheryl Huggins of Olympia, Washington, and Lanie Wulf of Helena, Montana; grandsons Justin (Elizabeth) Bagley of Sitka and Michael (Danica) Bagley of Seattle; great-grandsons Ian and Elliott Bagley of Sitka; numerous nephews and nieces for whom he affectionately renamed himself “Sourduncle” (sourdough + uncle = sourduncle in true Galen form!); and every one of his extended birth and Bahá’í, old and new, family and friends.

Galen’s family expressed special thanks and gratitude for the extended and compassionate care, warm friendship, and loving attention to Dad and Grandpa in his final days and hours, to the Sitka Pioneers Home staff and residents, Dr. Drew Thompson, Trudy Prewitt of the Prewitt Funeral Home, the Sitka Cemetery staff, and the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Sitka.

On June 10, 2023, a  celebration of Galen’s life will be held in Sitka, with more information and details to come in the weeks ahead. For now, his family said, there is no doubt he is dancing one of his jigs, coming up with a whole new series of heavenly cartoons, starting a new chapter on his continuing adventures, reveling in his reunion with so many dearly loved ones who went before him, and smiling down on all of us with his love.

“Remember him when you gaze at the majestic mountains surrounding Sitka Sound, his last views of our earthly paradise,” his family said.

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