Barney Considine died in his sleep as the sun rose Friday, September 20, 2024, at home in Missoula, after a four-year fight with prostate cancer. Survivors are his wife, Gladys, sons, Shawn and Wayne (Darla), grandchildren, Gail and Alexander, and great-granddaughter, Joriah, sister-in-law Irene LaRiviere Friend, nephew Terry Considine and his family, nephews Randy, Bruce and Brian Siler, nephew Byron Snodgrass, nieces Catherine Friend and Sandra Friend Ehlbracht.
Barney was born November 7, 1939, on a homestead ranch near Broadus in Powder River County, Montana, to Martin and Winifred Brackett Considine. His mother taught him using a state correspondence curriculum. Earning accolades at Broadus High School, he then achieved degrees in mathematics and statistics from Montana State College in 1963. He married Gladys LaRiviere in 1961.
For 35 years, Barney was an engineer and proposal development manager for Boeing Aerospace and Boeing Computer Services. He wrote proposals for projects including AWACS, lunar rover, missile systems, Apollo and space shuttle programs. Though based in Seattle, this work often required travel nationally and globally.
Despite his work and travel schedule, Barney was a Boy Scout leader for week-long 50-mile hikes, helped with YMCA swim meets, participated in an international dinner group, sent postcards to friends, and organized a family bicycle ride along the entire Oregon coast.
In retirement, for 2 years, guided by the Lewis and Clark journals, Barney and Gladys trekked from Washington, DC to the Pacific. Moving back to Montana in 2003, Barney was an avid genealogist, building a family tree of more than 5000 members available on ancestry.com. He worked to preserve family history, submitting his mother's 50-year diary of homestead and ranch life to the Montana State Archives. Barney enjoyed MOLLI classes at the U of M. Barney and Gladys liked nothing better than jumping in the car for a drive through wildlife preserves looking for birds, or into the mountains, exploring new roads, even getting stuck in a snow drift a couple of times.
Barney was a dynamic and powerful thinker, caring husband, father and friend, and a strong mentor, leaving a tremendous impact on those he met. He was always thinking of others. In that spirit, donate to your favorite charity and be sure to send flowers to those you love.
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