Elmer E. Begalka, of Bellingham, died at his home on February 27, 2008. He was born on January 2, 1923 at the family farm in Deuel County, South Dakota (near Estelline and Dempster), the youngest of 10 children born to Wilhelm F. and Margarethe K. (Sonnenburg) Begalka. After he graduated from Clear Lake High School in 1941, he attended Nettleton Business College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The next year, he moved to Ellensburg, Washington, where his brother, Albert was already living. In 1943, he entered the U. S. Army Air Force. From 1945 to 1946, he served in the 10th Air Force (China-Burma-India Theater) as a radio operator on airplanes traveling "over the Hump" (the Himalayas) between India and China. He returned to Ellensburg after his discharge and began working as the business manager at Valley General Hospital and Clinic in June 1947. There he met Bernice S. Noyes, a nurses' aide. They married on March 11, 1949, and had three sons, all born in that hospital. When the hospital closed in 1965, he continued working for the Valley Clinic, which had moved to a new building close to the new Kittitas Valley Community Hospital. He retired in January 1988, and moved to Bellingham in 1993. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Bernice; son Brent and his wife Karen, grandchildren Aaron and Brenda and great-granddaughter, Alissa; son Bradley and his wife, Regina, and grandchildren Margaret, Teresa and Thomas; son Barton and his wife Aimee, and grandchildren Melanie and Elizabeth, and numerous nieces and nephews. Pastor Iben will conduct the Memorial Service at 3:00 pm, on Friday, March 7, 2008 at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 119 Texas St., Bellingham, WA. Arrangements are under the care of Hawthorne Funeral Home 1825 E. College Way, Mount Vernon, WA.