Dan, 82, died April 5, 2018, from cancer. He grew up in Pampa, Texas, and, at age 11, went on vacation to Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. It was the first time Dan had seen mountains and he knew then that mountains would be an important part of his life. He jumped out of Missoula in 1957 and 1958 while attending the University of Montana.

Following graduation in forestry in 1959, Dan went to work for the
St. Regis Paper Company in Libby, Montana, as a Forester. He then went back to the USFS working on the Kootenai NF before taking a position on the Tahoe NF. During his career, Dan also worked on the Six Rivers and Stanislaus forests.

After retirement in 1973, Dan went to work as a sawyer until his knees gave out on him in 1995. Dan and his wife, Susan, retired in Plains, Montana, here they lived on 86 acres looking down on the Clark Fork River. Dan left behind the following message: Lived free, died well!