Thursday, November 21, 2024
35.0°F

Kenneth Good

| September 29, 2004 11:00 PM

Kenneth Lloyd "Ken" Good, of Whitefish, passed away on Sept. 21, 2004, as the result of injuries sustained in a plane crash on Mount Liebig while in the pursuit of one of his many passions, the repair and maintenance of communications equipment in the Bob Marshall Wilderness as an employee of the U.S. Forest Service.

Ken was born Dec. 29, 1945, to Lloyd R. Good and Randi Alvida Good in Williston, N.D.

The family moved to Billings, where Ken attended and graduated from Billings West High School in 1964. He then attended Montana State University in Bozeman. Ken enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966 while working for the Forest Service on a trail crew in Glacier National Park. Ken's four-year tour of duty was spent in Europe, mostly in Germany.

Following his service to his country, in 1971 Ken received advanced education at the School of Forestry and Engineering at the University of Montana, where he met the love of his life, Wanda Jolliffe. Ken and Wanda were married Jan. 22, 1972. They have two sons, Craig Phillip Good, of Hawaii, and Bradley James Good, of Whitefish.

Ken, like his father, was a lifetime U.S. Forest Service employee. He started in Billings at the Custer National Forest in 1971, transferred to the Glacier View District in Columbia Falls in 1976, and to the Flathead National Forest in Kalispell in 1981 until present, where he was a communications technician. Ken was looking forward to his well-deserved retirement this winter.

Ken was devoted to his family first and his job second, and he had an insatiable passion for his hobbies - trains and photography. When he wasn't following his growing sons' many activities, Ken could be found following, researching and photographing trains of all sorts just about anywhere.

Ken was a walking encyclopedia about trains and their history, which led him to one of his proudest accomplishments, which was finding and refurbishing to exact detail the historic engine, GN 181, at Depot Square in Whitefish. He was an active member of the Glacier Camera Club and the Stumptown Historical Society. Ken could always be counted on by his neighbors to be the first and the best snowblower in his cul-de-sac.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Lloyd R. Good and Randi Alvida Good.

Ken is survived by his wife Wanda at the family home; his sons, Craig and Brad; his sister, Nancy Leiniuse, of Lacy, Wash.; his father and step-mother-in-law, Jim and Lynne Jolliffe, of Polson; his mother-in-law, Dolores Falcon, of Tioga, N.D.; several aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews; and countless friends.

A memorial celebration of Ken's life was held at Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish on Sept. 27, 2004. A reception afterwards at the Rocky Mountain Lodge in Whitefish was hosted by the Forest Service in Ken's honor.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be sent to the Stumptown Historical Society, 500 Depot Street, Suite 101, Whitefish MT 59937.