Gary Carter Tallman, 89 | Daily Inter Lac

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Gary Tallman, native of Montana, born April 13, 1932, died September 11, 2021. He was strong and full of his quick wit and passion for life until his last days at home with his children, Kimi, Brett and Heather, and his wife Marilyn Tallman. He will be remembered!

Gary and his younger brother Glay were raised in Whitefish by the adoptive parents of Gary, Paul and Syb Tallman. Gary enjoyed hiking, skiing, hunting, fishing and inventing. He alpine run in high school on surplus army white skis in the late 1940s. He competed for the University of Washington and was a contender for the Olympics. Gary graduated from Fresno State College in Breeding.

Gary has dedicated decades of his life to ensuring that all the children of Flathead can have access to the sport. He has taught and mentored many skiers through the free Saturday ski program he helped create with volunteers. He created the popular annual wild game dinner and auction to support the Kalispell Ski Club.

Gary could recite other poems and write his own. He had a talent for preserving and polishing the natural characteristics of wood, wood and stone and other objects which he transformed into fine art. He has created dozens of bowls, boxes, flutes, drums, and other keepsakes for family and friends. As a carpenter he preserved and incorporated old brick and beam materials into modern homes and buildings throughout the Flathead Valley, which set the stage for the look and feel that still draws people in. to Whitefish.

In his twenties, Gary served as an officer in the US Marine Corps and became a scuba diving instructor. He enjoyed exploring the underwater world as much as the mountains. After a deployment to Okinawa, Gary and his wife Jeanne (Berthelote) Tallman settled in Whitefish and raised their four children.

Twenty-seven years ago Gary married Marilyn (McCafferty) Tallman and moved to Tillinghast Creek in Monarch, Montana. Always a nature watcher, Gary has captured her beauty in photos and film. As a young man he has created ski movies for Big Mountain with Jim Rice and for the past 20 years and has enriched more lives with his musical films documenting the seasons of Tillinghast.

Late in his life Gary discovered members of his original family and enjoyed getting to know his maternal uncle “Babe” Johnson and his four half-siblings Howard Backen, Mary Ann Hogan, Linda Lozano, Butch Backen and their wives who all kissed him. Gary is survived by his wife Marilyn, the mother of his children, Jeanne, three of his children Kimi, Brett and Heather, his other siblings and many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his eldest daughter Shannon, as were his parents and older brother Bud Backen.

Gary’s ashes will be scattered in Tillinghast on Sunday October 3. More stories will be shared when we can meet again in Flathead in the spring.

We love you, dad!


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