Barry Wolcott

Barry Kendall Wolcott of Bismarck passed away on Jan. 23, 2026, at the age of 85 in Mandan after a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was born on May 6, 1940, in Hardin, MT, to Kendall and Dorothy (Fishbach) Wolcott. Cremation has taken place. A funeral mass will be held at 10 AM on February 13, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hardin. Burial with military honors will be held at Fairview Community Cemetery.

Barry lost his father at the young age of 11 but was lovingly raised by his mother and two older sisters, Gloria and Diana. In high school Barry was active in sports as the quarterback of the Bulldogs and guard on the varsity basketball team with Montana high school hoops legend Larry Pretty Weasel. Barry was also involved in school activities as a member of student council and in the drama department. He graduated from Hardin High School in 1958. After graduation he spent two years at Caroll College in Helena, MT.

It was the summer of 1960 where he met his love and partner for life on a blind date in Billings, MT.  Janet Althoff was asked to join her cousin as a group were headed to the countryside to build a fire and roast marshmallows. The summer was spent with dancing, long car rides and fun with friends.

 As Barry transferred for one year to the University of Utah. The two wrote to each other often and by the fall of 1961, they were married in Hardin.

Their journey was just beginning.

While attending the Brown Institute in Minneapolis, Mn. and earning his associate’s degree in broadcast announcing and broadcast engineering, Barry enlisted in the United State Army. His radio and tv skills earned him the ability to be an instructor for Defense Information School in New York. It was at this time, Janet gave birth to their son, Kendall, in New Rochelle, NY.

Soon after, Barry was deployed to southeast Korea for one year. His duties included being a sports and special features reporter. He was also a writer, producer and announcer for First Army Recruiting Brigade. Halfway through his deployment, Janet and six-month-old Kendall joined Barry in Korea.

The family, with Janet expecting their second child, returned to the states in the fall of 1964 where Barry was stationed at Fort Meade, MD. On a chilly October morning, Janet’s contractions became increasingly strong. Living off base, they jumped in their brand-new Nash Rambler station wagon headed to the base hospital. It soon became clear that they weren’t going to make it in time, so Barry pulled over on the side of the highway to deliver their daughter, Carlotta Kay, in the backseat and wrapped her in his Army shirt. Fortunately, a fellow soldier stopped to help and drove them to the hospital. Barry continued his military service in the Army Reserve and was Honorable Discharged in 1968.

He began his longtime career in radio and television as a disc jockey for a country and western radio station in Baltimore, MD. As the radio and television industry goes, moving from job to job and city to city is common. Barry utilized his knowledge communicating and sports by providing crisp and precise radio play-by-play at local high school’s football fields and gyms in Wyoming and Montana including KHDN in Hardin, MT (1965-66 and 1978-80) and KGHL in Billings, MT (1969-70).

In 1966 Barry expanded his skills to television news and sports. All reporters share the characteristics of curiosity and the desire to tell stories. Barry was an award-winning reporter who covered the local news with a stick-to-itiveness and with undeniable credibility.

But most of all he wanted to tell the stories of the people of Montana. He was News Director and on-air sports anchor at KFBB TV in Great Falls, MT. (1966-69) and a jack of all trades at KOUS TV Hardin/Billings. He was the weatherman, special features reporter and newsbreaks anchor, and movie critic (1982-84).

Barry was most proud of the piece he produced and reported on a reunion of World War II veterans gathered featuring Billings native and Bataan Death March survivor Ben Steele.

 From 1974-82 Barry’s main career was selling insurance in Hardin as he juggled radio play-by-play gigs for the Hardin Bulldogs. It was this time when Barry’s true life’s passion showed itself to him.

During those years he directed and acted in numerous plays with the Hardin Community Theatre ranging from Paint your Wagon to Mousetrap to Witness for the Prosecution.

After moving on from the insurance business, Barry did one more stint as a TV reporter for two years in Helena, MT. By then he had spent 28 years in the radio and TV business. It was time to chase his true passion.

It was the theatre.

He graduated from Eastern Montana College in 1988 with a BA in communication and theatre. He spent a year in graduate school at the University of Montana before transferring to the University of South Dakota where he earned a Master’s in Fine Art in theatre direction in 1992.

Soon after, Barry and Janet moved to Bismarck, ND. to be near their daughter, Carlotta McCleary, and her family. During this time, he took his talents on the road across the North Dakota prairie by joining the artist-in residency program with the North Dakota Council on the Arts to introduce the world of acting and theatre to young students. He also directed and acted in productions for Dakota Stage, the Valley City Community Theatre, Jamestown. ND, Fine Arts Council, Mouse River Players, and the Black Hills Playhouse.

With his MFA degree, Barry and Janet packed their bags again this time to Mitchell, SD, where he was an associate professor of Theatre and Communications at Dakota Wesleyan University.

The next year they loaded the U-Haul once more and headed to Bakersfield, CA, to be near his sister, Gloria, and her family and an abundance of colleges in the state needing competent theatre directors. He found plenty of work as an adjunct professor at the University of Laverne, College of Sequoia, Taft College, and California State University-Bakersfield.

Barry continued to share his enthusiasm for directing and teaching outside the walls of higher learning. He led theatre productions for the Bakersfield Community Theatre, Arts Council of Kern (County, CA), Spotlight Theatre in Bakersfield, CA. Throughout this time, Barry was also an award-winning playwright from suspenseful dramas to children’s plays.

They returned to Bismarck in 2011 where Barry continued to teach on-line classes for Taft College. His last acting role came in 2013 for the Bismarck Historical Society production of Little Casino. During his lifetime, Barry directed more than 40 plays and acted in 15 more.

In retirement Barry continued his lifelong love of photography, poetry, and writing short stories. He left behind countless notebooks, journals, and scraps of paper encompassing his owns thoughts and the musings of the numerous colorful characters generated from his imaginative mind.

Barry and Janet were married for 64 years. It was Janet’s relentless determination and devotion to keep Barry living at home for the past two years until it became clear, as the Alzheimer’s progressed, she was unable to care for him by herself.

Over the course of his life, Barry also knew how to enjoy life away from the stage. He was active in softball leagues in Hardin, MT, a decent bowler, going on family camping trips in the mountains of Montana, a voracious reader and a lover of music. He would listen to music of his generation from Broadway tunes to jazz, big band and any rendition of Send in the Clowns (which he would play endlessly to everyone’s annoyance).

To know Barry was to know a man of passion, intellect, compassion, creativity, tenacity, unbridled imagination, and a heavy dose of competitiveness and ego. And that’s ok. He couldn’t have accomplished what he did in life, without his strong his personality and his resolve without being confident in his abilities and knowing just who he was and as a man, husband, father and grandfather.

Barry leaves behind his beloved wife Janet (Althoff) Wolcott, Bismarck, ND, his son, Kendall Wolcott, Billings, MT, grandson Erik (Kelcy) Wolcott, Billings, MT, granddaughter Rene Whitecrane, Billings, MT, daughter, Carlotta (Mike) McCleary, Bismarck, ND, grandsons, Matthew (Caitlin) McCleary, Bismarck, ND, Garrett, Bismarck, ND, Katie (Nathan) McNamara, Bismarck, ND, brother-in-law Carl Betts, Worden, MT, 10 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Barry is preceded in death by his parents Kendall and Dorothy Wolcott, his sisters Diana Betts, Wordon, MT, and Gloria (Giles) Zollar, Bakersfield, CA, and granddaughter Alexandra Whitecrane, Lame Deer, MT.

Our family would like to thank the wonderful administrator and caring staff in the memory care unit at Edgewood-Lakewood in Mandan, ND. We also want to extend our appreciation to the compassionate hospice nurses at CaringEdge Health Services.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials may be sent to Mental Health America of North Dakota and North Dakota Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health.