OBITUARIES OF ALASKA'S PIONEERS (M - R) As extracted from "END OF THE TRAIL" a feature article of Alaska - The Magazine of Life on the Last Frontier William Morris III, Publisher and Ken Marsh, Editor Editorial and Advertising Main Offices 4220 B St., Suite 210 Anchorage, Alaska 99503 Extracted and contributed by Melanie Cox , with permission expressly granted by Ken Marsh, Editor - Beginning April 5, 1997 USGenWeb Project NOTICE In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, nor for commercial presentation by any other organization. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express written permission from the author, or the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist. For specific word searches, use the "Find" or "Search" feature of your browser. End of the Trail Courtesy of Alaska - The Magazine of Life on the Last Frontier Founded in 1935 as The Alaska Sportsman Notices are limited, because of space, to names of those who have achieved pioneer status through many years in the North, or who have made significant contributions to the state. (Items in parenthesis added by Melanie Cox to indicate year of death and edition date of magazine in which the extracted article can be found.) SURNAME INDEX: MACKAY thru RUYANT MACKAY, NEIL 71, was found dead on Sept. 24 (1994) in his Honolulu apartment. He moved to Alaska in 1951 and opened a mortuary. Before starting his law practice in an office in the mortuary, he was vice president of First National Bank of Anchorage. He owned many properties during the `60s, `70s and `80s, including the 14-story MacKay Building. (2/95) MACLEAN, EILEEN PANIGEO 46, died April 24 (1996) in Barrow. A lifelong Alaskan and schoolteacher, she was on the board of the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Utkeagvik Inupiat Corp., and served on the North Slope Borough Assembly. In 1983, she organized the statewide rural meetings of the Alaska Native Review Commission. She also served as a representative in the Alaska State Legislature, cause of ill health. (9/96) MALONE, FAY WINIFRED 91, an artist, activist and Anchorage's first female city bus driver, died May 31 (1995) at her Anchorage home. According to a friend her first job in Alaska was cleaning airplanes. At a time when the Anchorage City Transit wasn't hiring female bus drivers, she solicited signatures on a petition and until the company relented and hired her. Malone was awarded a community service award for her many volunteer hours with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and for teaching craft classes all over Anchorage. (9/95) MARKGRAF, RICHARD GRANT 80, who once owned Purgatory, died Jan 27 (1995) at his home in Salcha. In 1944 Markgraf and his wife traveled down the Yukon River to Fairbanks in a small boat he built in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Along the way he bought three cabins and their contents in a place called Purgatory, which had been a tourist stop for sternwheelers in the 1920s and ‘30s. Markgraf never returned to the property, homesteading near Fairbanks instead. He was the designer of a popular 24-foot fiberglass riverboat that he sold through the Salcha Sport Shop. (7/95) MATTSON, INEZ 102, a professional singer, died Feb. 20 (1995) in Fairbanks. She had lived in Alaska since 1919, moving in 1934 to Fairbanks. Mattson had a woman’s program on the fledgling KFAR radio. Her last trip Outside came when she was 93. "She got on the plane and made everyone listen to her sing," said her niece, Neva Edwards. "She did love center stage." (7/95) MAY, CHARLES PHILLIPS 90, a long time Alaskan, died May 25 (1996) in Fairbanks. Born in Kansas, May began his many treks to Alaska aboard fishing vessels in the late 1920s and early 1930s. May joined the Army in 1942 to serve in the Aleutian Campaign. After the war, he returned to Fairbanks to work for the government. He enjoyed spending time at the family homestead near Chena Hot Springs. (9/96) McDONALD, WILLIAM S. 73, died Dec. 7 (1995) in California. The longtime Seward resident operated tugboats and barges covering Alaska's coastlines. His company Alaskan Barge and Salvage, specialized in remote beach landings and salvage, and was heavily involved in the early development of the west side of Cook Inlet. (4/96) MERRIMAN, EDNA 79, who operated the Silver Fox Roadhouse for many years, died Aug. 22 (1994) at the Fairbanks Pioneers' Home. She first came to Fairbanks in 1943. In 1946 the Merrimans purchased the old Taylor Fox Farm property, 50 miles out the Richardson Highway, and built the Silver Fox Roadhouse, where they gained a reputation for pan-fried chicken dinners and catered to the truckers. (2/95) MEURS, RENA DELIAH 84, died July 6 (1996) in Juneau. Meurs moved to Alaska in 1953 with husband Don; the couple owned Don Meurs Logging Co. After Don died, Meurs went to work for Ketchikan General Hospital, then for the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, retiring as an accountant in 1981. Meurs graduated from the University of Alaska Southeast in 1989 at the age of 77. (11/96) MILLER, WAYNE L. 80, died Jan. 6 (1996) in Anchorage. He came to Alaska in 1946 and homesteaded on the Kenai Peninsula. He worked as a bacteriologist for the state for 25 years. He made 32 violins during his lifetime. (5-6/96) MINTER, ROY 79, died Feb 8 (1996) in Canada. Born in London, he moved as a child to Vancouver, British Columbia, with his parents. In 1955 he moved to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, as a captain with the Canadian army, and chose to remain in the Yukon and Skagway area. He was an author, historian, photographer and film producer. He won international awards for his two films, "Brave New North" and "Take Four Giant Steps." He was also appointed to the prestigious Order of Canada. (7/96) MOORE, CHARLIE MAE 67, died July 15 (1996) in Anchorage. Moore moved to Chevak in 1955 to work as a teacher for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She also taught in Unalakleet and Bethel, and worked as a special education teacher in Juneau. Moore developed the state's first handbook of guidance and counseling while working for the Alaska Department of Education. (11/96) MORAN, ALPHAMAE 87, died Jan. 17 (1996) in Ketchikan. She moved to Alaska in the '30s, working as a beauty shop operator, territorial police dispatcher, and secretary for the state Division of Social Services. She also was dispatcher and business manager for Alaska Pilot Service and Revilla Tug, business that she and her husband operated for more than 20 years. (5-6/96) MORAN, WILLIAM "BILL" 79, died July 9 (1996) in Anchorage. Moran came to Alaska in 1954, and worked as a U.S. Commissioner until 1957. He was general counsel for Chugach Electric Association at the time of his retirement in 1980. Moran served as a member and president of the Anchorage School Board and was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1967 to 1972. He was president of Anchorage Civic opera Association and director of Anchorage Community Theatre. He also was active in the Elks, American Legion and Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo 15. (11/96) NEILSON, CHARLES H. 60, a medical doctor with the U.S. Public Health Service for 30 years, died May 10 (1995) in Anchorage. His early days were spent treating patients in Arctic villages. He had served as deputy director and chief medical officer of the Alaska Area Native Medical Service, and as medical director of the Alaska Native Medical Center. He also developed a medical student training program in Alaska's rural hospitals. He received Outstanding Federal Employee of the Year for 1981, and was honored for reducing tuberculosis in the Native population and infectious diseases among infants born in Alaska. (9/95) NICK, SOPHIE 91, a much-loved Yup'ik elder, died March 19 (1995) in Atmautluak, near Bethel. At Christmas she liked to give gifts to near babies and the unfortunate. (8/95) NORDALE, LADESSA -- Pioneer Adventurer "A Fairbanks resident for 72 years, LaDessa Hall Nordale, 95, died Feb. 2 (1995) at the Fairbanks Pioneers’ Home. Nordale arrived in Fairbanks in 1923 to teach business administration at the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, now the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Friends say she was a warm, loving woman who was not afraid of anything. In 1924, she returned to the states and brought back her car on the steamship to Valdez. As the first woman to drive along from Valdez to Fairbanks over the primitive Richardson Highway, her progress was telegraphed ahead by U.S. Signal Corps operators. One wire read, "She just went by here driving like hell. She must have been doing 20 miles an hour!" In 1929 she went to work as a teacher at Fairbanks High School. Former students recall her as having a tremendous sense of humor, loving to go to parties, a competent teacher, and a confident person who would stand up to authority. Nordale served on various state boards and commissions, and in 1952 was appointed U.S. Territorial Commissioner for Alaska. Donna Hupprich, who worked in the recording office, recalled the day two local prostitutes came to the courthouse arguing over ownership of a poodle. They had just given each other hair perms, and the solution was dripping all over their faces. With the dog on the counter, each was loudly trying to prove ownership of the dog by putting him through his trick routines. Soon Nordale threw open her door and asked what the commotion was about. Stifling her laughter, Nordale settled the case by telling the women they must share the dog. In 1963 Nordale became Alaska’s Commissioner of Revenue. Of all her achievements, Nordale was said to be most proud of her honorary doctorate of law from the University of Alaska, and of being the only woman listed among Famous Alumni by the University of Idaho at Moscow." Mary Fenno, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (7/95) NYSTROM, WARREN J. 83, who liked to fly vintage airplanes, died Jan. 14 (1995) in Anchorage. He lived in Alaska since 1927, working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 20 years. In 1947 he and his family had a fishing day with Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. He and his wife collected antique dolls, and after her death, the collection was donated to an Anchorage museum. (7/95) OLANNA, ALFRED W. 80, died Dec. 15 (1994) in Shishmaref. His family said, "Alfred was blessed with the gift of traditional healing with his hands. Many sought his help to put into place sprained ankles, fingers and others joints." (7/95) ORSINI, LARRY 85, died the weekend of Nov. 11 (1995) in his Fairbanks office. While working on Wall Street, Orsini mete Alaska industrialist Capt. Austin "Cap" Lathrop, who offered him a job running Lathrop's bank in Fairbanks. Orsini took the position in 1941 and worked for Lathrop for a decade. He later owned a business and tax-consulting firm. (3/96) PANNICK, HARRY A. 84, died Dec. 16 (1995) at home in North Pole. Born in Candle, he had delivered mail by dog team in northwestern Alaska, was a guard in the Territorial National Guard, and was a heavy equipment operator on construction of the Parks Highway. He worked at Fairbanks International Airport and helped build Ladd Air Force Base, now Fort Wainwright. (4/96) PARSONS, WILLIAM LAWRENCE 87, died Nov. 23 (1995) in Ketchikan. Moving to Alaska in 1946, he married Ruth Brown. The couple lived in Nome and Fairbanks, then in 1953 moved to Ketchikan, where he worked as a carpenter and longshoreman. He loved dancing, traveling, driving his cars, gardening and eating breakfast at the Moose Lodge. (3/96) PEELE, SYLVESTER H. Sr. 75, died July 18 (1996) in Seattle. Born in Hydaburg, Peele loved the ocean and was a fisherman for more than 60 years. He was a member of the Fisher Advisory Board, and was involved in the Alaska Native Brotherhood, Indian Reorganization Act and the Hydaburg Town Council. he also was mayor of Hydaburg. Peele was a lifetime member, deacon and elder in the Presbyterian Church. (11/96) PERATROVICH, IVY C. 86, died Dec. 3 (1995) in Ketchikan. She and her husband, Robert, celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary in 1995. As the wife of a teacher, she moved and lived in different places in Alaska. She enjoyed preparing food for different community functions. (3/96) PERATROVICH, ROBERT J. Tlingit Chief, civic leader, historian and educator Robert J. Peratrovich Jr., 88, died June 23 (1996) in Ketchikan. Peratrovich was born and raised in Klawock, but going away to college was always his dream. There were no grants or scholarships for Natives in those early days, so Peratrovich saved enough money to attend the University of Washington, the University of Alaska and Alaska Methodist University. He earned two degrees: a bachelore of arts in education and a master of education. After college, Peratrovich took teaching jobs in Klawock and Anchorage and served as school superintendent in Kake in the 1960s. Peratrovich was certified to teach all grades, designing an Alaska history curriculum for middle-school grades in the 1970s. He also taught several courses at the university level. Peratrovich served two terms as mayor of Lkawock, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and was serving when Klawock Totem Park was built. Peratrovich also met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington D.C., when Peratrovich was chairman of the March of Dimes for the Territory of Alaska. Peratrovich was a Tlingit chief of the Chum Salmon Clan, Raven Division. He also was a member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood of Camp No. 9 in Klawock, the Retired Teachers Association and the alumni associations of the University of Washington and the University of Alaska. --Ketchikan Daily News (11/96) PETERS, FRANCES M. 77, died Jan. 25 (1996) in Anchorage. Arriving in Alaska in 1949, she worked in and managed clothing stores. In 1964 she received the Pillsbury award as one of the 10 Best Bakers in Alaska. (5-6-/96) PIKE, LLOYD 84, formerly of Fairbanks, died Feb. 13 (1995) in California. He set out for Alaska in 1937 alone in a boat, arriving in Fairbanks via the Yukon River. Pike homesteaded the area known today as Pike's Landing, where in 1967 he built Pike's Landing Bar and Restaurant. (8/95) PILLSBURY, HAROLD W. 84, a horticulturist and author, died May 31 (1995) in Palmer, where he had lived at the Pioneers' Home for the past four years. He came to Alaska in 1957 and worked at the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a horticulturist. He also lived in Soldotna and Seward while working with the university. He wrote many newspaper articles on horticulture under the pen name of the Sourdough Gardener. He was working on his doctorate at UAF at the time of his death. (9/95) POINDEXTER, CHARLES "CHUCK" 73, who homesteaded in Seward in 1947 died Nov. 17 (1994) in Homer. In 1962, he moved to Anchor Point, where he taught agriculture at Homer High School and started the Anchor Point Greenhouse and Fishy Peat Potting Soil Co. (3/95) POPE, THELDA I. 76, longtime Fairbanksan, died May 1 (1995) in Idaho. She and her husband built Badger Road Grocery and Cold Storage, which they operated for more than 25 years. When year-round work was scarce in the 1950s and 1960s, they were known to carry Badger Road families on credit throughout the winter. During the 1967 flood, they housed neighbors in their above-the-store home. She had a special love for their vacation home at Summit Lake. (9/95) RAMSTAD, JOEL S. 92, died Feb. 8 (1996) in Anchorage. Born in Minnesota, he moved to Alaska in 1934 to work as an accountant, and in 1938 founded the Yukon Mining Co. In 1942 his company, Ramstad Construction, secured a contract to build a section of the Alaska Highway, using the first Alaska State Contractor License every issued: A000001. (7/96) RANDALL, ROY 74, died Feb. 14 (1996) in Anchorage. He and wife Marylyn, both ministers, came to Alaska in 1947 to begin their pastoral work. Their 50-year ministerial adventure took them around the state by dogsled, and later by plane. He held memberships in many organizations, including the Pioneers of Alaska and Sons of Norway. (7/96) REIMER, JOHN G. 88, died March 30 (1995) in Washington. In 1926 he was sent to Alaska on the Revenue cutter Bear and manned the Coast Guard station in Nome for three years. In 1946 he and his family moved to Anchorage. (8/95) RICHARDS, DINAH T. 85, died Feb. 4 (1995) in Fairbanks. Born in Nenana, she was educated at St. Mark's Mission. In addition to raising five children alone, she had worked as a trapper in Old Minto, a nurse's aide in Fort Yukon, and a housekeeper in Fairbanks. She was a skilled skin-sewer, and many old photos show her family dressed in the fancy fur clothing she crafted for them. (8/95) ROBERTS, LLOYD 85, died Nov. 23 (1995) outside his Washington farm, killed in a hit-and-run accident. A retired heavy equipment operator, he came north in 1937, working in Juneau and Fairbanks. After retirement to the Lower 48, he tended a small farm, built spinning wheels, and coordinated food distribution to needy elders. He returned summers to Alaska's Interior to visit his four children and to keep active with the Pioneers of Alaska. (3/96) RODERICK, JOSEPH 88, who went to sea in 1918 and trained aboard the U.S.S. Constitution, the last three-masted vessel in service in the U.S. Navy, died Dec. 5 (1994) in Homer. A 25-year resident of Homer, he painted hundreds of Alaska scenics, especially sunsets. (3/95) ROGERS, LAWRENCE P. "FUSS" 81, died Feb. 10 (1995) in Anchorage. In 1994 he was awarded the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award from the Federal Aviation Administration for holding an aircraft mechanic's license for more then 50 years. (7/95) ROGERS, RACHEL L. 82, died Nov. 21 (1995) at her Soldotna home. She moved to palmer in 1932. In her earlier days, she cooked at the Wishbone Coal Mine in Palmer, and owned and operated a casino bar in Kenai. Rogers was one of the first women to have an Alaska setnet site, and she worked her Cook Inlet site until the past year. She was proud of her skill as a hunter, having shot a Kodiak brown bear and a polar bear. (3/96) ROSER, ANNE MARIE 65, A Soldotna businesswoman, died Oct. 25 (1994) in Soldotna. She and husband Charles L. Roser Sr. homesteaded in Soldotna, where they owned and operated the Central Department Store, and she co-owned Peninsula Ford. She was an 18-year member of TOPS Alaska No. 20. She also was the "assistant-assistant" football coach at Kenai Central High School from 1988 to 1994, and was an area election judge for 30 years. (3/95) RUYANT, MAX 75, a Roman Catholic priest who served in northern Canada for many years, died Dec. 1 (1995) in Edmonton. He worked from 1964 to 1959 as an administrator of the school and hospital in Aklavik, and spent 29 years in Inuvik, where he was administrator of a student residence. His last assignment was pastor in Tuktoyaktuk. Ruyant was known as an extremely hard worker, known to unload a barge by himself, and who worked six days a week for nearly 30 years. (4/96) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As extractions are added to these pages, they will be kept in alphabetical order. When the volume of data becomes too large for the current pages, it will be divided into additional pages, as size dictates, and an alphabetical index will be maintained as part of the AKGenWeb Archive Table of Contents.