Donald Barnes

Donald Raymond Barnes, 87, of Bigfork, MT died the evening of Thursday, July 1st at home.

Don is survived by his wife of 62 years, Eileen Barnes, daughter Susan Anderson and her 3 children, and son Michael and his 2 children.

Don was born in 1934 in Middletown, OH to Walter and Wava Barnes. He graduated from Northwestern University Medical School with his MD in 1959. He performed an internship at Evanston Hospital, in Evanston, IL from 1959-1960 where he met Eileen. They were married in Dayton, OH in1959. Don joined the USAF as a flight surgeon in 1960, serving for 5 years including time at Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, MT where he and Eileen developed a love for MT and a 4 year tour at Toul-Rosieres AB in Toul France where he received training as an anesthesiologist, serving as the Chief of Anesthesia for the AB.

He decided to continue to pursue anesthesiology, tackling residencies at both the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver, CO and Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. He briefly worked in Nampa, ID but eventually moved to Kalispell, MT, becoming the first anesthesiologist in the Flathead Valley in 1969. He worked at both Kalispell Regional and North Valley through 1992. He partially retired to Seeley Lake in 1992, though he continued to provide vacation support for anesthesiologists in Kalispell, Bozeman, and Billings through 1996. In 2006, he and Eileen moved back to the Flathead Valley.

Don had a huge passion for the outdoors, spending a great deal of time in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, both during his USAF time in Great Falls and his later years in Seeley Lake and Kalispell. He had often asked that there be no ceremony upon his death and requested instead that you get out and take a hike, float, or other outdoor activity and think fondly upon him while you do so. Additionally, in lieu of flowers, we ask that you consider one of these donations that would be more in line with Don’s passions:

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