Donald Raymond Barnes, 87 | Daily Inter Lake

[ad_1]

Donald Raymond Barnes, 87, of Bigfork, died Thursday night, July 1, 2021, at home.

Don is survived by his wife of 62 years, Eileen Barnes, daughter Susan Anderson and her three children, and son Michael and his two children.

Don was born in 1934 in Middletown, Ohio to Walter and Wava Barnes. He graduated from Northwestern University Medical School with his MD in 1959. He conducted an internship at Evanston Hospital, in Evanston, Illinois, from 1959 to 1960 where he met Eileen. They were married in Dayton, Ohio, in 1959. Don joined the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon in 1960, serving for five years, including time at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls where they had a love affair with Montana and a four-year tour of Toul- Rosieres AB in Toul, France, where he received training as an anesthesiologist, serving as head of anesthesia for AB.

She decided to pursue a career in anesthesiology, dealing with residences at both the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver and Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. He briefly worked in Nampa, Idaho, but later moved to Kalispell, becoming the first anesthesiologist in the Flathead Valley in 1969. He worked in both Kalispell Regional and North Valley until 1992. He partially retired to Seeley Lake in 1992, though he continued in provide vacation support for anesthesiologists in Kalispell, Bozeman and Billings until 1996. In 2006, he and Eileen returned to Flathead Valley.

Don had a huge passion for the outdoors, spending a lot of time in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, both during his USAF time at Great Falls and in his subsequent years at Seeley Lake and Kalispell. He often asked that there was no ceremony at his death and asked instead that you go out and walk, float, or other outdoor activity and think of him as you do so. In addition, in exchange for flowers, we ask that you consider one of these donations that would be more in line with Dons ’passions:

https://glacier.org/trees-for-don/ to support the planting of trees in Glacier Park; https://wildmontana.org/donate/ to maintain public use of forest land so that future generations can enjoy the great outdoors; or https://rmef.org/donate/donation-packages/ to keep the elk in the Rocky Mountains.

Friends are encouraged to visit the website www.buffalohillfh.com to leave condolence notes for the family. Buffalo Hill Funeral Home and Crematory takes care of the family.

[ad_2]