Arlan Kohl

Arlan Harvey Kohl, 84, died May 31, 2022 in Kalispell, Montana.  Arlan was born July, 29, 1937 in Sisseton South Dakota to Harvey and Clara Kohl of rural Claire City South Dakota.

Arlan went to a rural one room country school and graduated from Sisseton South Dakota High School in 1955.  He graduated with a degree in forestry and a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army from Montana State University (now UM) in 1960. Arlan served 7 years in the US Army Reserves achieving the rank of captain.

He married Carole Reich right after graduation from college and they moved to Coos Bay, Oregon.  Arlan worked for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as a forester in Coos Bay and Roseburg, Oregon and Folsom, California.  In 1968 he was selected by the BLM to attend the University of Michigan and obtained a masters degree in public administration and natural resource management.  Arlan and Carole’s son Michael was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1969 while Arlan was going to the university. He next worked in the BLM Washington, D.C. office in the Division of Recreation and the Alaska Pipeline Office.  In 1973 he and his family moved to Anchorage, Alaska where for the next 14 years he worked on the Department of the Interior’s staff administering the Federal Right-of Way permit for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.  He retired in 1987 and moved to Kalispell.

Arlan was a life long member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  He served in many positions but his favorite was missions and made 8 trips to Mexico with church mission teams and 4 trips to Minot, North Dakota to work on homes damaged by the flood in 2011.  Locally he volunteered to work on Habitat for Humanity houses and worked helping to prepare food for the Kalispell Community Kitchen for over 20 years.

Arlan was preceded in death by his parents and brother Gene Kohl. He is survived by his wife Carole, his son Michael of Kalispell, his sister Connie and husband Sam Rudolph of Sisseton, South Dakota and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Kalispell on June 10, 2022 at noon.  Memorials may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church, Trinity Lutheran Camp or Lutheran Hour Ministries, 660 Mason Ridge Center Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141-8557

Darlington Funeral Home is caring for the family.

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