Dr. Walter Gale Biggs 1935-2023
Dr. Walter Gale Biggs passed peacefully at home in Boulder, Colo., on March 26, 2023.
He was born on May 6, 1935, to Lt. Col. Lloyd W. and Violet (nee Fairbanks) Biggs. Gale was baptized and raised in the Methodist church. His father’s military career took the family to many locales including the Philippines prior to World War II and Gale then spent his formative years growing up in Holton. He attended Oklahoma Military Academy his sophomore and junior years of high school, and Holton High School his senior year, graduating in 1953.
Holton High is where he met his future wife, fellow senior Suzanne Kunkler. They married on Sept. 1, 1956, at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Holton and spent 66 very happy years together. This included having two children: Roxanne Bennis, who with her husband Cyril lives in England, and Bruce Biggs-Gregory, who with his wife Karla lives in Centennial, Colo.
After receiving his bachelor of science degree from the then-Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (now Kansas State University), he went on to receive a master’s degree and Ph.D. in meteorology from the University of Michigan. Part of his degree involved carrying out research on a floating ice island above the Arctic Circle for a year. While a student, he also served as a Sergeant in Company C, 174th Military Police Battalion of the Kansas National Guard.
From Michigan, he went to Iowa State University to teach, where he established the meteorology program in the Earth Sciences department. While there, he was elected a member of the Iowa State University chapter of Sigma Xi, the society for the promotion of research in science. His specialist interest in micrometeorology led him to move into environmental consulting and relocating to Colorado when he joined Dames and Moore in 1971, moving afterwards to Science Applications Inc.
In 1982 he started his own business, W. Gale Biggs Associates, as an air quality consultant, a business that he successfully ran for more than three decades. He worked on many domestic and international projects, acting as an expert witness in many state and federal level cases, ultimately chairing the Air Committee of Governor Romer’s Rocky Flats Scientific Monitoring Panel.
Many site visits in remote areas not served by large airports, combined with his interest in flying, prompted him to obtain his private pilot’s license. He continued as a pilot for business and pleasure for many years.
He was active in many professional groups and was a member of the American Meteorological Society, Air and Waste Management Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Even after retirement, he stayed actively involved in local air pollution and environmental issues.
He is survived by his wife, children and older brother, Lloyd William Biggs Jr. He was preceded in death by his parents; older half-sister, Bevie Bartley; and younger brother, Dr. Edmund Logan Biggs.
Gale will be remembered by his family, friends and colleagues for his kindness, his intelligence, his sense of humor and his smile.
A private family service was held Friday, April 14 at Sacred Heart of Mary Church, Boulder, Colo.
(PAID OBITUARY)
