G. Douglas Follett, 98
On the sunny blue-sky day of March 2, 2025, G. Douglas Follett, age 98 passed away at his home with family by his side. Please join us on March 30, 2025, at 1 p.m. at Whitefish Grouse Mountain Lodge, Continental Divide Room for a celebration of Doug’s life. We look forward to celebrating his life, and together honoring his memory. Bring your stories to share.
Surrounded by the mountains of Fernie, British Columbia, Doug was born on a frigid day at the end of March 1926 to Isabel Boardman and George Follett. In 1927, he and his mother joined George in Whitefish eventually moving to East Glacier for the summer, where his father would help run the Great Northern train depot. Doug learned to walk in the East Glacier Lodge when they went to watch the trains arrive, hob-knobbing with visiting high society as they mingled with Glacier’s frontier peoples. So began Doug’s “seasonal life” in Glacier National Park.
The family returned to Whitefish and Doug grew up hiking and fishing in the surrounding hills with the freedom allowed children of the 1930’s to roam and explore from dawn to dusk.
This small-town boy was most at home running wild in the wilderness knowing that dinner would always be waiting for him.
He attended school in Whitefish, graduating in 1944 and then joined the United States Air Force. After World War II ended, he declined the offer from the Air Force to fly him home to Montana and instead hitch-hiked from North Carolina back to Whitefish. He never stepped into an airplane again.
Doug returned to Whitefish and married the beautiful hometown girl, Anastasia Herriges. With military service in the rear-view mirror, he attended the University of Montana in Missoula earning a teaching degree in History and Biology. In 1952, he moved to Columbia Falls with his wife and baby daughter Lynn, beginning his 35-year career teaching high school American history.
Doug often said, “if I was to be a school teacher, Columbia Falls was the place, with that community, with that administration, that faculty, and those students. It was a super situation with super people, and I was lucky to be there.”
In 1961 Doug, Anastasia and daughters left the city life of Columbia Falls for the wild woods and rustic life on Whitefish Lake. Ignoring his failing grades in Jr. High shop class, he began building a house in the woods by the lake that remains to this day a gathering place/home for daughters, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Summer jobs were always a part of Doug’s life. The summer of 1942 found Doug in the park for the first time as a Department of Interior employee pulling gooseberry bushes, one bush at a time, to save the white pine trees from the blister rust disease.
While teaching in Columbia Falls, Doug worked summers at the Hungry Horse Dam, guiding tours and giving lectures about hydro electric power production on the Columbia River. This continued until 1960 when the tour guides were replaced by automation – a phonograph record. Doug then returned to Glacier National Park as a naturalist where he remained seasonally for 58 years eventually retiring in 2019 at the age of 93.
Much has been documented about Doug’s Glacier National Park storied career. He was a storyteller, a comedian, and a poet. Ranger Doug shared his knowledge with park officials, celebrities, and political leaders, most importantly giving the same special attention to all, whether famous or not.
He was an advocate for all things Glacier and was dedicated to passing on his love of the natural world. Doug would often say that he couldn’t afford to go see the rest of the world, but the rest of the world came here to him. “For other people this was a step to somewhere else, but for me, this was the end. This is where I was always going.”
Doug is preceded in death by his wife Anastasia; daughter Lynn Stocking, infant sons Douglas and Gregg; and sister Louise Tanler. He is survived by daughters Jen Follett McCaw (Bill), Audrey McNally (Michael), Karen Follett (Hal Bennett), son-in-law Tom Stocking; grandchildren; Geoff, Sarah, Sydney, Riley, Austyn; great grandchildren; Sebastian, Benedict, Alex, Noah, Thea, Sienna, Georgiana, Penelope, Elijah; the Canadian Boardmans, and many Herriges family relatives.
“… Walk with me when the north winds blow
and whisper of the coming snow
Tossing golden leaves on high
as summer bids a sad goodbye
These and other things you’ll see –
if you will come and walk with me.”
(Doug Follett, Come Back in September)
Fantastic journey Dad, we love you. See you on the trail…
G. Douglas Follett