Chuck Frey

Chuck Frey (Charles if he was in trouble) was born in Great Falls to Joseph L. and Eileen D. Frey on July 22, 1948, a classic World War II baby boomer. He attended grade school at St. Joseph’s Catholic School on the west side of town and barely graduated from C.M. Russell High School in 1966. He enlisted in the US Navy (best thing that ever happened) and served aboard the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk for a tour in Vietnam. After being honorably discharged, he attended college for 2 quarters at Western Montana College in Dillon, Montana. It was there he rediscovered his interest in life and transferred to the University of Montana and majored in Geology, graduating in 1974.

He worked for the U.S. Forest Service as geologic assistant in the beautiful Bitterroot and National Forest for several years. He worked at a gold mine in western Nevada which was very exciting, and for the U.S. Geological Survey in Billings on coal projects in Scobey, Montana, and various coal projects in North Dakota. In 1979, he worked in Butte, for the Bureau of Land Management. In 1981, he returned to the Forest Service in Great Fall as a forest geologist for 9 years in the Lewis and Clark National Forest. In 1990, he answered the “call of the wild” and transferred to the vast and rugged Chugach National Forest Headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska. He headed the planning and minerals division of the forest.

Outdoor recreational activities included sea kayaking in the Price William Sound, hiking, and rafting in very remote areas of Alaska. On a birding trip to St. Lawrence Island, he met a Siberian Yup’ik Eskimo gentleman which was the beginning of a 25 year long business of buying and selling walrus ivory and whalebone carvings. He became very close to the family and was inducted into the clan and given the Yupik name “Kavanguk” which means one who’s present in the dream.

He returned to Great Falls in 2004 after retiring. He started traveling over the next 10 years and went to 46 countries. Most memorable was a 5-month trip from Thailand and south to Indonesia, to Singapore, then a month in Australia and a month in New Zealand. On return to Thailand, he hired a driver in Jakarta and drove north to Saundra Straits, hired a boat to the Island of Krakaota, and hiked up the side to observe the volcano which was the largest eruption in modern times.

Upon returning home, he flew off again and spent two years in Hawaii and 4 months in Panama. The next trip was across Russia on the Trans-Siberian train, which was interesting to say the least.

In 2020 he was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer and fought it for 4 and a half years. In that time he went on an organized tour of Israel which was fabulous.

Chuck was preceded in death by parents, Joseph and Eileen Frey. He is survived by brother, Kenneth "Kenny" Frey; sister, Joleen Frey; nephew, Jason Brown; and nieces, Tammy Frey and Michelle Frey.

Per Chucks request there will be no services. An inurnment will be held on Friday, June 14, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. at Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Mausoleum. A celebration of life will be planned at a later date.