Robert A. Gallison

Robert A. Gallison 5/7/25 – 5/27/15 Robert (Bob) Gallison, beloved husband, father and grandfather, passed away May 27th. He had recently celebrated his 90th birthday with close family, after briefly rallying from a physical decline brought on by prostate cancer. Bob lived most of the last 40 years in Evergreen, where he vigorously enjoyed mountain living and family, and before retirement, commuted to Denver to wrap up a 37-year career as a Land Supervisor with Exxon Mobil. Prior to his move to Denver, the oil industry brought transfers to Anchorage, Los Angeles, and Durango. Dad had the rare fortune in early life to grow up near the base of Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park as the son of one of the first NPS rangers. He fondly related many boyhood adventures in the park, hiking, hunting, fishing and skiing with his brother Glenn and sister Dorothy. In honor of his father's work planting the first fish in a remote, high Sierra lake, Gallison Lake was designated. Early alpine ski prowess at one of the nation's first ski hills, Badger Pass, led to placing in many ski meets and success competing in four events (downhill, slalom, jumping and cross-country) on the UC Berkeley ski team in the mid 1940's. It was also in Yosemite that Bob met his first wife Marifran, whom he married in 1951. There followed two children, Dave (Cherri) and Lisa (Mark) Fuller Seelbinder, as well as four grandchildren, Caley and Lauren Gallison and Justin & Sarah Fuller. Always active, Dad joined the jogging craze and picked up cross-country skiing during our eight years in Anchorage. Upon moving to Evergreen from Anchorage, Bob took up mountain biking and cross country ski racing, even beating then Governor Lamm in the Governor's Cup Race! After retirement, the couple traveled the US, Europe and Africa, and it was in Kenya that Marifran met an untimely death in 1997. In 1999 Bob was fortunate to reconnect with a longtime friend Nora Harvey, and they married and enjoyed over sixteen years together in Evergreen and Cambria, CA. Bob was known as a kind, steady man with a generous and understanding heart. He led a full and generative life, blessed by the love of family, friends and colleagues. A celebration of his life will be held 2:30 p.m. Saturday May 30th at the Meridian Lakewood senior living facility, and also somewhere in the Yosemite area in late summer. If you'd like to honor Dad's life, please consider a charitable donation to The Yosemite Fund or Prostate Cancer Foundation. Please click on ""Sign Guestbook"" to share memories of Bob and messages of condolence with his family. By Dave Gallison