Kaare Martin Hitland

A well lived life has come to an end.

Kaare Martin Hitland, 88, died Aug. 9, 2013 at Kalispell Regional Medical Center after a brief illness.

A true Viking, his outlook was to always see what lay over the horizon and to never look back on what was in the past with regret.

He was born Sept. 29, 1924 in Bergen, Norway to Anton and Klara (Langeland) Hitland, the second of four children.

His childhood was about being outdoors as much as possible be it sailing the North Atlantic or cross country skiing across the mountains of Norway.

While a teenager he worked in the Nazi Resistance Movement in Norway with his work receiving a commendation from the King of Norway.

A failed love affair sent him on his next path. His training as an electrician and experience on the sea led him to work as a chief electrician on a ship where he traveled to four continents.

His time visiting the U.S. piqued his curiosity about living in what he considered the land of milk and honey – where anything was possible with hard work and maybe just a little good luck.

In 1949, he met Ruth Instebo, a fiery, opinionated independent girl from Bergen whose love of music and adventure matched his own. In 1950, they married and in November of that year, their older daughter Brith was born.

The land of opportunity beckoned and in 1952, Kaare accepted a job as an electrician at the GE plant in Long Beach, Calif.

A life surrounded by the dead palm trees and pumping units of Long Beach appealed to neither of them, so they went north to Montana where Ruth’s aunt lived.

The town of Whitefish and the lake reminded them of Norway and the railroad was hiring. Thus began a 35 year career with Great Northern and later Burlington Northern, first as a fireman and later as a locomotive engineer.

Using wood from the torn down ice house, he and Ruth built a cabin on the shores of Whitefish Lake. The cabin was added to over the years, as was their family with the arrival of daughter Janet, who came along in 1957.

The taste for adventure was never far from Kaare. He and Ruth traveled across much of the U.S. and Canada, and to Europe on numerous occasions over their 50-plus year marriage.

The sense of having something of his own led him to develop a line of fishing tackle, which he called Gynt Tackle in reference to his Norwegian roots. The more popular lines were the midi and maxi bells, the snubber and the fish board. He sold that business in 2012.

His beloved wife Ruth died in 2006 and he then moved to The Springs in Whitefish where he resided until the time of his death.

In 2007 he invited his brother and nephew to visit from Norway. That trip and the trip to Norway in 2008 with Brith and Janet solidified the family bonds on both sides of the Atlantic.

A bus trip to Las Vegas sparked a love of penny slots and he became one of Allegiant Air’s better customers traveling to Las Vegas and Laughlin on numerous occasions.

His daughter Brith Sutherland died too soon in 2012 and he considered moving to Tulsa, Okla., where his daughter Janet and her family lived, but Whitefish was home.

He is survived by his daughter, Janet, and son-in-law, Greg Yeager of Tulsa; grandsons, Eric Yeager of Missoula, and Scott Yeager of Rolla, Mo.; son-in-law, Steven Sutherland of Kalispell; grandson, Kory Sutherland of Bozeman; granddaughter, Bree Sutherland of Missoula; and by his beloved “adopted daughters and son” Donna and Tom Menard of Lethbridge, Alberta, and Betsy Kauffman Harmon of Wasilla, Alaska.

He is also survived by his brother, Reidar Hitland of Bergen, Norway, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of his remarkable life will be held on Friday Aug. 16 at 1 p.m. at The Springs in Whitefish.

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Arrangements entrusted to Austin Funeral Home.

You are invited to go to www.austinfh.com to offer condolences, share memories and view Howie’s tribute wall.