I have set my default document measurements to inches and save my serttings as a template.   I open a new project using the template I created.    The defaults are great and showing inches.    But when I open an image file then it reverts to px.     How can I get that part to be in inches also?

A document's units can be changed in the document properties panel at any point.

Another option is to open a document from the inches template and import the image file.