Mom read the obituaries, I thought it was weird. I started reading them last fall when we subscribed to the Anchorage Daily News (ADN). So now it isn't weird anymore.
Obituaries can be really interesting. Reflected in them are bits and pieces of history and culture. They give life to dry facts I've picked up about Alaska from visiting museums and validate descriptions of Alaskan culture and history found in books written by my favorite Alaskan author, Dana Stabenow.
Matanuska Valley Colony
Remember that I am a Virginian and attended William and Mary, which is located next to historic Colonial Williamsburg. My first thoughts when reading the words settler or colonist go to the people that came to Virginia in the 1600 and 1700's. I learned last fall that 203 families from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan settled in the Matanuska Valley in 1935. These families became the experimental farming community known as the Matanuska Valley Colony, one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal plans. Families often mention being one of these settlers or the child of one of these settlers in their loved one's obituary.
Kent Sandvik
Jun 24, 1933 - Mar 16, 2023
One of the early settlers of the Matanuska Valley from the mainland United States, Kent Sandvik, 89, passed away peacefully on March 16, 2023.
Kent was born on June 24, 1933, in Moose Lake, Minn. When he was just one year old, his family along with 202 other families settled in the Matanuska Valley in Palmer, Alaska, as part of Roosevelt's New Deal. His was one of 20 families to remain long-term in the valley.
Alice Elizabeth (Chmiel) Dial
Sep 26, 1945 - Feb 6, 2023
Born in Anchorage, Alaska, to Gladys Larson Chmiel and Stanley Chmiel, Alice graduated from East Anchorage High School in 1963. Gladys, along with siblings and parents Fred and Laura Larson, were original Colonists in the Matanuska Valley, arriving in 1935. The family had a potato farm in Palmer, where Alice spent many childhood summers planting, tending crops and harvesting.
Charles "Chuck" Weiler
Apr 26, 1937 - Oct 11, 2022
Chuck was born on April 26, 1937, in Palmer, Alaska, to Matanuska Valley Colonists Nicholas and Elsa Weiler.
The 1964 Alaskan Earthquake / The Great Alaskan Earthquake / The Good Friday Earthquake
The earthquake occurred on Good Friday March 27, 1964. We watched a great film about it when we visited the Alaska Public Lands Visitor Center in Anchorage. BB and I also listened to recordings of survivors describing their experiences of the earthquake when we visited the Seward Community Library and Museum.
See BB's 02-09-2023 post, An Alaskan Nugget - The Good Friday Earthquake, for more history on the earthquake.
The family that wrote this obituary had to have a sense of humor:
Lois Beyer
Jul 19, 1935 - Mar 1, 2023
Patrick Mahoney
Mar 24, 1938 - Mar 11, 2023
Pat perfected his homestead claim on Fish Creek by Big Lake and was granted his deed on March 9, 1964, under the May 20, 1862 Homestead Act. He and Jean raised their family at the homestead until moving to Eagle River, Alaska, in the 1960s, and the family continued to enjoy many happy times at their first home.
Mary Jean Yenney
Oct 1, 1931 - Feb 26, 2023
In 1955, they homesteaded in Homer, Alaska, on Ohlson Mt. Road. Jean loved the homestead as it reminded her of Nome. She worked as a bookkeeper in Homer, among a variety of other jobs. In 1992, Jean brought reindeer down from White Mountain to the homestead on a cargo plane and started the Kaguna Reindeer Ranch.
(FYI: Reindeer are also called caribou in North America. They are a deer species that are specialized for living in the cold climates across the Arctic. Reindeer and Caribou are technically the same species with some differences. Reindeer are predominantly in Europe, and are often domesticated.)
WWII Attu POWs
I recommend author Dana Stabenow and her series of books featuring Kate Shugak. This description of Kate is copied from an Amazon review:
Kate Shugak is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's five foot tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat, and owns a half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine – and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her.
In several of these books Kate describes how forced relocation during WWII brought the Aleuts to Southcentral Alaska. The Museum of the North in Fairbanks has an informative display that describes how the Aleuts from Attu were taken POW by the Japanese and transported to Japan. The display also describes the suffering the Aleuts endured after they were relocated to Southcentral Alaska.
Elizabeth Kudrin
Feb 16, 1941 - Feb 19, 2023
Elizabeth Olean (Golodoff) Kudrin, 82, fell asleep in the Lord on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, at 7:37 a.m. May our merciful God grant her rest in blessed repose and make her memory to be eternal.
Known to those who knew and loved her as "Liz," she lived a truly remarkable and extraordinary life. Liz was born on Feb. 16, 1941, in the village of Attu, an island at the far western end of the Aleutian islands of Alaska. She was only a year old in 1942 when Japanese troops invaded the village of Attu during World War II and all the villagers were captured and taken to Japan as Prisoners of War, where they remained for three years. After their return to Alaska, the United States government and military denied the Attuans' return to their island. Liz and her family were among the Attu survivors who were relocated to the village of Atka in the Central Aleutians, which would become her new home village.
Potlatch
Wikipedia's definition of potlatch:
A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States
In Stabenow's books, Kate Shugak attends several potlatches. Kate organizes one in memory of her Grandmother after her Grandmother's death. People gather to celebrate, feast on great food, dance and receive gifts.
Roxy Ann Venner
Nov 2, 1946 - Feb 6, 2023
Roxy Ann Venner, a member of the Chitina Village Tribe, Udzisyu clan, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Feb. 6, 2023, after a brief illness.
A memorial service for Roxy is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, from 2-4 p.m., at the Anchorage Funeral Home. A second memorial service will be held at the Kluti-Kaah Multi-use Complex on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, at 1 p.m., to be followed by her burial and then a traditional Ahtna Athabascan potlatch.
There are lots of private planes in Alaska. Planes are an important mode of transportation here. Bush pilots are trained to fly into remote areas. Bush pilots are essential for transporting supplies, food, and people to hard-to-reach places across Alaska.
See 09-30-2022 post 'Alaska - Interesting Facts' for more on the importance of planes in Alaska.
Merrill Wien
Apr 4, 1930 - Jan 8, 2023
On Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, notable Alaska pilot Merrill Wien, a loving husband, father and grandfather, passed away, at age 92, with his family at his side.
Merrill was born on April 4, 1930, to Noel and Ada Wien and into a famous flying family in Alaska. He flew in the bush in Alaska, as well as WWII trainers, bombers and transports in the Air Force, and later airliners as a pilot for Pan Am and Wien Air Alaska. He ushered in the jet age to Alaska and later flew wide-body aircraft all around the world.
After retiring, he flew sightseeing flights for his friend Lowell Thomas Jr. over Denali, worked as a test pilot for the Soloy Corporation in Olympia, Wash., and flew freight in a C-46 out of Fairbanks, Alaska, for Evert's Air Cargo as a "retirement job."
Sal
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