Grandpa Galbraith

Marlin C. Galbraith 

  

1915 ~ 2012
Marlin Comran Galbraith died peacefully January 19, 2012, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born July 5, 1915, in Lyman, Idaho, to Archibald and Selma Galbraith.
Dad graduated from Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho, and from the University of Idaho in Moscow with a degree in Forestry. He married Ethel Briggs of Teton, Idaho, on May 29, 1939, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Dad worked briefly with the Immigration Service in Montana and taught at Utah State University before joining the U.S. Navy in 1943. After completing his officer training, Dad was transferred to Pearl Harbor where he spent the remainder of WW II as a communications officer.
After the war, Dad was hired by the U.S. Forest Service where he spent the rest of his career. He had many transfers within Idaho and Montana as well as to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Albuquerque. His last transfer was to the Ogden regional office where he served as the Assistant Regional Forester until his retirement in 1975.
Dad was very active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as branch president, high councilor, member of several bishoprics and wherever he was asked to serve. He had an unwavering testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He also taught us as his sons the importance of hard work and honesty. Dad always set a great example for us to emulate. Dad was also involved in community service; he spent many years delivering for Meals on Wheels and was one of the oldest volunteers of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
In retirement, Mom and Dad divided their time between their cabin at Mack's Inn, Idaho, and a winter home in Mesa, Arizona. They also visited their children and grandchildren in England, Japan and Hawaii. After their children relocated to the SLC area, they sold their Mesa home and moved to Salt Lake to be closer to the family. Dad loved Yellowstone National Park and always enjoyed taking family and friends on excursions through the Park. Coupled with his knowledge of forestry, he had a truly in-depth understanding of the Park. Vacationing at Mack's Inn was always a highlight for our entire family.
Dad is survived by his youngest brother Keith; four sons: Jim (Dixie), currently serving a mission to Tokyo, Japan, Randy (Bonnie), Bruce (Marie) and Kim (Glenda); as well as 16 grandchildren and 21 great-children. He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, his parents, two sisters, four brothers, and one grandson, Brian.
Funeral services will be held at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary (4760 South State Street, Murray, Utah) on Monday, January 23rd at 1:00 p.m. A viewing prior to the service will be at noon. Interment will be in the Teton-Newdale Cemetery in Idaho on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. 
Online condolences may be shared at www.jenkins-soffe.com

Granpda Galbraith passed away this week at 96. We have so many fun memories with grandpa and he will be missed!

Here are a few pictures of us with grandpa.

Grandpa called Justin and I the night before our wedding and sang, "I'm Getting Married in the Morning." It was the cutest thing! What a sweet grandpa! So thoughtful and fun.

When Ali was in the nicu the rules were that only parents and grandparents could visit because the swine flu was so bad. We brought grandpa over to visit one day.

At Ali's blessing

We were lucky to have grandpa so close to us. He only lived about 10-15 minutes away in Sandy. We often had him over for Sunday dinner with our family and on Saturdays we would sometimes go on a hike or walk with him when the weather was nice. He always loved the great grandkids and loved to play with them.

Molly loves great grandpa! She would often go with my dad on Saturdays to his place to visit him. They actually just went last Saturday to visit but grandpa was sleeping! Grandpa was very witty and always kind. He loved the outdoors and recently on a hike this summer he went up and told everyone he was 96 years old (he probably told at least 10 different people)! It was so funny. He has always been friendly with EVERYONE. He will go up and talk to anyone, no matter who they are or what they look like.

Another fun memory is going up to grandma and grandpa's cabin in Island Park. Grandpa would take us through Yellowstone and he knew all about the kinds of trees and animals around. We loved to take up 4 wheelers in the summer or snowmobile in the winter. We loved roasting hot dogs out back and making smores.

We are so lucky to have had grandpa in our lives! We love you grandpa! We are so glad you are with grandma again and we know we will see you again too.