Gary Albert Lindstrand

Gary Albert Lindstrand, 79, of Great Falls, passed away on Thursday, January 28, 2021.  A loving husband, father, grandfather and friend, he will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.  Cremation has been entrusted to Croxford Funeral Home.

Born to Nels and Sophia Johnson Lindstrand on February 18, 1941 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Gary graduated from Centerville High School in 1959.  He joined the U.S. Navy after his graduation, serving proudly as a hospital corpsman from 1959 to 1962.  He met the love of his life, Carol Leiviska, while in Rhode Island.   The two were married on June 23, 1963 in Greenwich, Connecticut, remaining together for 57 years until his death. 

Throughout his lifetime Gary wore many hats, including an electronic engineer for Motorola in Mesa, AZ, a plywood supervisor for Evans Products in Aberdeen, WA, a deep-sea skipper of a charter boat in Westport, WA and a maintenance supervisor for the Ocosta School District in Westport, WA.  The family was in Mesa, AZ from 1967 to 1977, moving to Westport, WA in 1977 until 2007 when they moved to Lincoln, MT until 2017 when they moved to Great Falls. 

When he wasn’t working Gary enjoyed wood carving and wood working.  He loved fishing, owning a float house on a river in Washington as well as skippering a charter boat for deep-sea fishing.  An outdoorsman, he enjoyed camping, but you could also find him relaxing in his favorite chair whilst reading a good novel.  A “foodie”, he enjoyed watching cooking shows, making sauerkraut and sausage or smoking salmon. 

Survivors include his beloved wife, Carol; daughters, Chris Collin, Cara Svendsen and Cindy Ross and four grandchildren.

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