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Dr. Terry Carlberg

Terry Carlberg passed away peacefully Sept. 14, 2018, in Santa Fe, N.M., surrounded by his loving daughters. He was born June 1, 1944 in Libby, Mont., the youngest child of Glenn and Florence Irene Carlberg. Shortly thereafter, the family settled in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He loved Coeur d’Alene and was always proud to call it his hometown.

Terry’s greatest joys as a child included biking to Fernan Lake to fish, playing ball on various local teams and being a paperboy under the guidance of a teenaged Duane Hagadone. He kept the ethics he learned of hard work and determination his whole life.

Terry graduated with honors from Coeur d’Alene High School in 1962, where he was proud to play basketball under the guidance of Coach Elmer Jordan. After graduating from NIJC, where he played basketball and was in the choral group, he attended University of Idaho and was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. In 1966, Terry married Sheri Cowart at the First Presbyterian Church in Coeur d’Alene. Graduating from U of I in pre-med in 1967, the couple moved to Louisville, Ky., where Terry graduated from University of Louisville School of Dentistry in 1971, and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, serving a Fellowship at Great Lakes Naval Hospital, Chicago, Ill. Their daughter, Aimee Recka, was born in Louisville in 1971.

From 1972 to ’75, the family resided in Guam, where Terry was stationed at the Naval Dental Clinic during the Vietnam War. When Vietnam fell and refugees fled by boat and airlift to Guam, Dr. Carlberg was charged with orchestrating medical services for Operation New Life, built in a tent city on the old Naval Station airfield. He received a Naval Commendation Medal for his work there. Daughters Miska Mar and Nicole Leigh were born on Guam in 1973 and 1974, respectively.

Terry subsequently accepted a residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, Oakland, Calif., after which the family returned to Guam. There Commander Carlberg was Chief of Oral Surgery Services at the Naval hospital in Guam from 1979 to 1982. Terry loved to scuba dive in the Micronesian Islands, and the family enjoyed many trips with friends to Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Okinawa, and especially Yap, Palau and Ulithi, where Terry had a medical mission with other doctors from the hospital.

The family settled in Santa Fe, N.M., in 1982, where Dr. Carlberg maintained an active oral surgery practice until failing health necessitated his recent retirement. The couple ended their marriage in 2003. Terry had good friends with whom he loved to hunt and fish. At the time of his death, he was married to Cheryl A. Salin, who remains at the family home in Santa Fe.

Terry is survived by his daughters and their spouses, Aimee Schaff Hegre of Maple Valley, Wash., Dr. Miska Carlberg Paget of Ramona, Calif., and Dr. Nicole Carlberg Weber of Coeur d’Alene. He is also survived by his two grandchildren, Brynne Nicole Schaff and Gahnan Leo Schaff, both of Maple Valley, all of whom he loved very much.

Terry is also survived by his three siblings, Alvin Carlberg, Gay Winger and Patty Turner; their spouses; and numerous nieces and nephews, of whom he was very fond. He was predeceased by his mother and father.

A celebration of life is planned in Santa Fe at a later date.