Eugene Graf
Eugene Ernest Graf passed away at the age of 87 in Waynesville, N.C., on Dec. 28, 2008, where he and his wife Janice had recently celebrated their sixth anniversary.
Gene was born in Union City, N.J., on Dec. 16, 1921, to Albert and Anna Graf, Swiss immigrants who owned an embroidery business. He grew up fishing, skating and playing baseball and graduated from high school in North Bergen, N.J., in 1939.
After high school, he worked days and studied engineering at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, until World War II, when he enlisted in the Navy. Gene spent most of the next four years of his enlistment in the South Pacific as an aviation machinist mate.
After his discharge, he married Barbara Pettit. In 1974, they moved to Montana, eventually building a home on the KM Road between Kalispell and Whitefish. Gene enjoyed semi-retirement and dabbled with camping, hiking, hunting, fishing and skiing, but he really enjoyed working his garden, taking the surplus produce to the Farmers Market in Kalispell.
Barbara passed away in 1994. He spent the next few years volunteering at West Valley School, taking classes at Flathead Valley Community College, and traveling to Italy, Antarctica, Alaska and Vietnam. He met and courted Janice Moxely, from Raleigh, N.C., and they were married in 2002.
Together, Gene and Janice continued to travel and take classes in Raleigh and at FVCC. They attended the Glacier Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. They lived in Kalispell during the summer and Raleigh during the winter.
He is survived by his children Peter Graf, of Missoula, Robert Graf, of Danbury, N.H., Dick Graf, of Whitefish, Curt Graf, of Park City, Utah, and Andrea Graf, of Cincinnati, Ohio; his wife Janice; 10 grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at the Glacier Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall at 1515 Trumble Creek Road, in Kalispell, on Jan. 13, 2009, at 4 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Barbara Graf Scholarship fund at Flathead Valley Community College.