Glenn Englund died Sept. 27 in Walnut Creek, Calif. of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 72. He lived in Walnut Creek from 1974 until 2010 and lived briefly in Clovis, Calif.

Englund was born June 20, 1939 in Haines, the oldest of four children born to Niles and Hazel Englund.

He was part of a large, extended family where aunts, uncles and cousins were in and out of each other’s homes daily, and spirited discussion, home-cooked meals, and hospitality were the rule, family members said. 

Louie Meacock grew up just down the Haines Highway from Englund, his cousin. "Wherever we went, we had to walk. We’d walk to town to see relatives, then walk all the way back. It was a completely different world than it is today," Meacock said.

Englund was a voracious reader of history who also excelled at math, Meacock said. "He was very smart. He took all the math that they could pump at him. If there was something that he wanted to do, he’d learn it."

Englund was close to his father, a Swedish immigrant who taught him to fish and to hunt rabbits for their family table. He also helped his father build the family home on land at 2 Mile Haines Highway in the late 1940s, and worked alongside Niles, a laborer, on jobs around town. 

Englund played on the Haines High School and Pioneer Bar basketball teams and was a self-described "sports nut" all his adult life.    

He received a degree in diesel technology from the Oregon Institute of Technology in 1962 and the same year was drafted into the Army.  

Wife Nancy Dooley-Englund said Glenn was on a plane of soldiers headed for Cambodia when an officer learned of his diesel engineering background and removed him from the flight, sending him instead to an American base in Italy where he worked as a heavy equipment mechanic. He was honorably discharged in 1964.

On his return, Englund worked on oil rigs in Alaska, but disliked being away from his family. In 1970 he received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He worked for the Internal Revenue Service for 37 years before retiring in January 2004 as appeals team manager at the Walnut Creek office.  

Englund is survived by his wife Nancy J. Dooley-Englund of Walnut Creek, mother Hazel Englund of Haines, sons Darren N. Englund and Brett L. Englund, of Walnut Creek, stepsons William O. Dooley and Vernon C. Dooley, grandson Maxwell Niles Dooley, and sisters Keitsie Anderson, Medford, Ore .; Josephine Kauffman, Anchorage; and Emily Zimbrich, Haines.

Englund was preceded in death by his father and by brother-in-law Eugene Zimbrich.

A memorial mass is scheduled for Nov. 5 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Walnut Creek with a reception to follow. Memorials may be made to Franciscan Friars, 1500 34th Avenue, Oakland, CA 94601 or Disabled American Veterans, P. O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301. Visit the online tribute at http://www.passalacquafuneralchapel.com.