Galen Decker, born August of 1932 in Mound Ridge, KS during the height of the Great Depression, after 90 years of a well lived life, he passed away on December 6th of 2022 at his residence in Marietta GA.
Galen spent his early years on the family farm where he learned his incredible work ethic. He attended a one room school house until the family moved to the railroad town of Newton KS. There he attended and graduated from Newton High School, participating in basketball and football while receiving his education.
Always the self-starter, Galen started a business raising and selling rabbits. He often used the profits from this business to fund his pastime favorite of building and flying radio controlled airplanes.
From Newton he moved to Wichita where he met and married the love of his life Donna. They would go on to enjoy 64 years of blissful marriage until Donna’s death in 2019. During this time, they adopted two children, Ken and Lori.
Galen spent his career in sales with Bristol Myers. When it was crunch time, his outside of the box thinking earned him the nickname “Dollars Decker”. As a testament to his integrity and true affection for people, 25 years after his retirement, previous co-workers and customers continued the relationships that began during his employment.
With his bride Donna by his side, Galen travelled the world, visiting every continent save one, Antarctica and that was on their bucket list. The two of them had a passion for life and enjoyed golfing, bowling, water and snow skiing.
Galen was a member of Mt. Bethel church and faithfully and willingly served that church for 44 years. He spent each day trying to make the world a better place than it was when he woke up. He served in a variety of roles over the years ,from being an usher for 35 years to being in charge of the transportation fleet. He served on the board, co-ordinated MUST ministries and Emmaus. He helped maintain the facilities at Cobb Street ministries and built homes with Habitat for Humanity. He and Donna were members of the Agape Sunday school class and Bible studies and Galen never shied away from leading a lesson.
But more than what he did, it was who he was that will be his legacy. Galen was a mentor to so many with those that he mentored saying that they want to emulate the man and father that he was. He loved to regale everyone with his stories but he was also the best listener, He listened patiently, never interrupting and he had the ability to respond in a way that was what the person needed to hear. Galen was a giver; a giver of his love, talent, time and money. He was truly a selfless man.
Galen was preceded in death by his father, Orville Decker, mother Margaret (Koehn) Decker, his wife Donna (Brown) Decker and his son Kendall Decker. He is survived by his daughter Lori Decker, sister Karen (Decker) Thompson, brother Dennis Decker, sister-in-law Mary Lynn (Brown ) Fulton and her husband Ronnie Fulton, grandson Kyle Jackson and his wife Nicole (Hooker)Jackson and his great granddaughters, Madison and Briana Jackson.
Funeral services will be held at Mt. Bethel Church, 4385 Lower Roswell Rd, Marietta, GA 30068 on January 13th at 11:00.
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