George Everett Greenberg

How to encapsulate the life of a remarkable man, a combination of Indiana Jones, George Bailey, and Albert Schweitzer? George Everett Greenberg squeezed two or three lifetimes' worth of adventures into his nearly 84 years in this world. On June 19, 2026, he embarked on his final adventure, passing away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family and their love. George was born on July 22, 1942, in Beloit Wisconsin to Everett and Dorothy Greenberg. His earliest adventure was living in Panama as a toddler, while his dad worked as a crane operator on the Panama Canal. Over the course of George’s entire childhood the family went wherever Everett could find work, which meant multiple “Grapes of Wrath” style, cross-country moves with everything they owned jam-packed in a pickup truck or station wagon. Dorothy, a teacher, prioritized education everywhere they lived, so George attended 9 elementary schools (including 3 first grade classrooms) and 4 different high schools. As the family grew – welcoming Jimmy, Charles, Janet, and Dallas – George took on an important caregiver role to support his parents and help raise his youngest siblings. He often (fondly?) told stories of washing their diapers in the bathtub! Young George’s wanderlust and love of adventure started when he read every National Geographic magazine he could get his hands on. He was determined to see the world, and his dream was to help people by one day becoming a doctor in Africa. The Greenberg family ultimately settled in Beebe Arkansas when George was a senior in high school. He liked to say he was “GG from Beebe”. He attended Hendrix College, completed medical school in Colorado and residency in Oregon, and ultimately settled in Dodge City, KS to serve as a radiologist. His career saw the transition from processing X-ray films in darkrooms, to the advent of CT scans and MRI machines, to interventional radiology, and ultimately the ability to do tele-radiology from anywhere with an Internet connection. In his quest to see the world, help as many people as possible, and smell all the roses along the way, George led an extraordinary life, marked by faith, family, service, generosity, and adventure. George loved the water. He was an avid scuba diver and explored undersea habitats around the world. He was up for surfing (maybe not great at it, but up for it!), waterskiing, snorkeling, kayaking, canoeing, and fishing – oh so much fishing! – in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Boundary Waters adventures were some of his favorites. If there was water around, George would want to be near it, on it, or in it. He’d often hook up his Dodge City sailboat to the old Pontiac Bonneville and drag it to whatever body of water he could find. George also loved the mountains. The snow, the skiing, the John Denver songs, the camping, the campfires, the hiking, the trails, the skies, the wildlife. He was delighted with the home he designed in Pagosa Springs, CO and had many happy times there with family and friends, like showing his grandsons the Milky Way and countless walks around Williams Lake. Mountains didn’t need to be snowy for George to enjoy them; special favorites were the emerald green peaks of Hawaii and the flowery slopes of the Canadian Rockies. Music was another source of joy. George liked traditional instruments like the piano, guitar, flute, and clarinet, but he also embraced more unusual ones like the hammered dulcimer, accordion, and harmonica. Because, why not? That was George. Mostly though, George sang. In the church pew and in the choir, on a road trip and around the dinner table, and even when he was supposed to be quiet but sang anyway (like during someone else’s performance). When gathered with the family around the piano, George relished competing for who could sing the lowest notes. A beautiful solo he performed in high school of “The Lord’s Prayer” was played at his own father’s funeral, and George’s loved ones will forever cherish the memories of singing around his bedside in his final days and him humming along. George absolutely delighted in nature. All forms of it, anywhere and everywhere. George never, even up until his very last day, lost his appreciation for the earth and the beauty of the natural world. Flora and fauna, storms and beaches, waterfalls and rainbows, all made him smile as though he were seeing them for the first time, every time. Bugs were known to cause his philosophical reflection (“even a mosquito’s got to make a living”) as were trees (“let’s talk about what this Oak has seen”) and the miracle of the human body (“glad my old ticker is still ticking”). Adventure. Oh how George loved adventure. If there was a “beaten path”, he was off it. If there was a “road less traveled by”, he was on it. Growing up he dreamed of seeing the world and as an adult he visited all seven continents! George didn’t just travel, he sucked the marrow out of every experience: pyramids in Egypt; tortoises in the Galapagos; penguins and icebergs in Antarctica; glow-in-the-dark caves in New Zealand; Kangaroo Island in Australia; polar bears in the Arctic Circle; New Years Eve in Hong Kong; a full month in Alaska… George photographed erupting volcanoes in Hawaii, hiked Machu Picchu, night snorkeled in Tahiti; and explored the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea… He canoed the Amazon Jungle; stayed awake all night under aurora borealis, caught halibut amid humpback whales in Glacier Bay, and prayed at the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem. From Assisi to Zermatt, if there was an adventure to be had, George Greenberg would make it happen. George was destined to fly; His whole life was marked by a deep and abiding affection for airplanes and the sky. He was honored and proud to become a pilot, and some of his best (and most terrifying) stories came from the cockpit of a small plane. Another one of George’s great passions was wildlife and nature photography. Although technically a hobby, many of his pieces could rival professional work. His photos must have numbered in the millions, because if one picture was good, a hundred pictures of the same thing would be better. He didn’t hesitate to strategically position a leaf or move an awkward tree branch in order to create just the right shot. He often wandered away from the trail, train, or tour group, in search of unique photo opportunities, paying little attention to warning or caution (or “do not enter”) signs. His family knew he would rejoin them once he’d found what he was looking for, and those photos tell the story. George’s pictures were a way to extend the fun of the adventure and share the beauty of the world with others. A trip wasn’t really over until the fully curated slideshow on a rotating carousel with accompanying music had been shared with friends in the basement after dinner. George didn’t want to just see the world and smell all the roses, he wanted to help as many people as possible. He used his pilot’s license and his Cessna to fly to small towns who needed a radiologist. He also helped people around the world - in a Costa Rican community he saw that they had an unpassable valley, so he arranged for a bridge to be built. And throughout his life George was generous in countless invisible and unsung ways to friends as well as strangers. Most important to George and his beloved wife Linda were the Ati people, an Indigenous tribe in the Philippines. On a trip there, they had a chance (divine!) introduction to the Ati people and thus began a relationship that has spanned almost 20 years. Seeing that they had no school and had other needs, George set out to change things and funded the creation of a feeding site and kindergarten. Each year he supported an additional grade level, which resulted in the eventual creation of the MASA Ati School for children of all ages. He also funded the creation of a multipurpose center for the whole Ati community. George said this work was the fulfillment of his young dream to help people, and that it brought him incredible joy. George was a family man who was the patriarch and caretaker of this amazing family. He relished being a dad and would often ask his kids at the end of the day, “Who’d ya, how’d ya, where’d ya, why’d ya, what’d ya…” He especially delighted in being a Peepaw and talked often about how proud he was of those boys. They learned so much from him – even now, he’s only been gone for a short while, but it’s already become a refrain in the family: “what would Peepaw do?” George is survived by his dear wife, soulmate, and love of his life, Linda, who cared for him in sickness and in health in the most inspiring, devoted, loving, and selfless ways. Many have commented that Linda is an angel on earth, which is 100% true. George is also survived by his children with his first wife Thelma, their daughter Tami Greenberg (Mary Chris Blickhan) and grandsons Ben and Alex Blickhan, and son Michael Greenberg (Michelle and her daughter Emily), and George’s dear stepsons Matt McQuain (Kris) and Brian McQuain. George is survived by his brothers Jim (Lisa) Greenberg, Charles (Catherine) Greenberg and Dallas (Cathy) Greenberg, and his favorite (and only) sister, Janet (Eddy) Liddle. George adored his nieces and nephews and their families, 13 on the Greenberg side and 8 on the Branum side. And he is survived by cousins and friends near and far. George Greenberg was a radiologist, a pilot, a photographer, a traveler, and a giver. He was funny (often hilarious, sometimes unintentionally so!), smart, curious, kind, and brave. He would want everyone to “remember the stubs”, and never pass up the chance to go into a bookstore. George was faithful to God and to his beloved family. He loved history and learning and philosophizing and would have wanted to see and experience God’s entire Creation before passing away, but his body just gave out before he could do it all. In his final days George said several times: “wow”. Over and over: “wow”, as though he could see that there was something new and beautiful on the horizon. We hope and believe that he is now having his best and greatest adventure of all. We will miss him, and we take comfort in knowing that he is watching over us from Heaven. He doesn’t need an airplane to fly anymore. A celebration of George’s extraordinary life will be held on Saturday August 8, 2026 at 10:30 am, at Grace Avenue United Methodist Church in Frisco, TX. George was most at home in Hawaii and guests are encouraged to wear Hawaiian attire in his honor. The service will be livestreamed here: https://gasanctuary.online.church/ In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to support the MASA Ati school in the Philippines that “Dr. George” and Linda helped create and that he loved so much: https://firstloveinternational.kindful.com/campaigns/1017903

George Everett Greenberg

July 22, 1942 - June 19, 2026