OBITUARIES OF ALASKA'S PIONEERS (S - T) 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: SANUITA thru TWEET SANUITA, CASIMIR 77, an Alaskan since 1955, died Oct. 8 (1994) in Anchorage. He traveled the world with the Merchant Marine and worked as a cook in Hawaii, Alaska and San Francisco. He worked as a laborer on the trans-Alaska pipeline until retiring in 1987. From 1955 until his death, he was a photographer of judges, governors, congressmen, military and friends. His family said, "Casimir could never be bought, would never lie and would never cheat." (2/95) SCHALLENBERG, MILDRED E. 85, a licensed beautician who ran the C Street Beauty College, died Nov. 2 (1994) in Anchorage. She moved to Anchorage in the early 1950s and practiced as a manicurist, beautician and licensed cosmetology teacher. (3/95) SCHOONOVER, MARGARET 76, a teacher and author, died Sept. 17 (1994) in Anchorage. From 1950 to 1960 she and her husband lived in southeastern Alaska, where they lived in a tent and worked on mining claims. She taught school in Anchorage, receiving the Anchorage Teacher of the Year award. She published more than 50 articles in the Lapidary Journal Magazine of San Diego, Calif. She also served as head guard at the Port of Anchorage after her retirement in 1969. (2/95) SCHRADER, GERTRUD 86, died Nov. 17 (1995) in Ketchikan. Born in Latvia, she was a displaced person in Siberia, Manchuria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia, until she emigrated to the United States in 1950. She moved to Ketchikan in 1956 to work at the hospital. She will be remembered for her parties: the gingerbread house parties; 12 days of Christmas open houses with her candlelit Christmas tree; her egg-rolling parties at Easter; and the May pole dances every weekend in May, where she provided the music on her accordion. She actively exercised her U.S. freedoms, and became involved in causes and changes she thought necessary. "She was a treasure in this town," a friend said. (3/96) SHAW, JANET CORLISS 61, died Nov. 17 (1995) in Arizona. Born in Seward to a pioneer Alaska family, she had lived in Cordova since 1938. She was a bookkeeper with North Pacific Fisheries, and she and her husband were partners in two fishing boats. (4/96) SHELL, OPEL A. 92, An Anchorage homemaker, died Nov. 3 (1994) at the Anchorage Pioneers' Home. She and husband David Shell settled on an Anchorage homesite in 1950, living in a tent while they started a cabin. She attributed her longevity to fried chicken, oatmeal and beans. (3/95) SHEPHERD, EDWARD R. "TRADER ED" 86, a trader and master furrier, died Jan. 28 (1995) in Palmer. He established The Alaska Fur Factory, reported to be Alaska’s first year-round manufacturing and retail fur business. He also established a trading post at Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. Shepherd was a big-game guide and served as chief technical advisor to French explorer Jacques Cousteau during filming of Cousteau’s Bering Sea television special. (7/95) SHERMAN, IRENE 84, the self-proclaimed "Queen of Fairbanks," died Feb. 20 (1995) in Fairbanks. Her home for 40 years was her castle, barricaded behind mounds of rock, cardboard and junk. Sherman was a familiar figure on downtown streets, as she traveled along, stopping to visit and chat with anyone who would listen. (7/95) SHERROD, DOROTHY A. 86, A Matanuska Valley colonist, died Jan. 8 (1995) in Palmer. Sherrod and her husband, Max, both worked as nurses for the Colony Project, and then in 1939 they moved to their farm, which operated as Sherrod Gardens for years. (8/95) SIAH, MARY Longtime Fairbanksan and community activist Mary Virginia Siah, 72, died Nov. 19 (1995) in Fairbanks. Siah was best known for her crusade to save the old community recreational center and swimming pool it held. Mary Siah was a born organizer who talked to people, made phone calls, wrote letters, cajoled politicians and generally gave her all to the causes she took hold of. She didn't like to hear the word "no," and more than a few government officials would have rather not heard from her as often as they did. She once told me that sometimes she would return emptyhanded from trips to the grocery store because she would get so busy talking she'd forget to buy food. The oldest of 15 children, Siah arrived in Fairbanks in 1952. She came north, like many Alaskans, in search of "better opportunities," family members said. The old swimming pool was a candidate for the wrecking ball in the late 1970s, but Siah thought that the borough needed the small pool to provide a service to handicapped people, children, senior citizens and families. She had been swimming every day at the pools as part of her rehabilitation from a 1970 car accident. To save the center, Siah gathered 2,406 signatures on a petition that led to renovation of the building. Siah had many interests. She continued to petitions for community projects, took up painting, and was an avid fan of the Fairbanks Gold Kings hockey team. "Every day that I wake up is one of the best days I've seen yet," she told me in 1985. "If you have a problem it doesn't do any good to complain. You'd be surprised what you can do for yourself." - Dermot Cole Fairbanks Daily News-Miner [photo] (3/96) SIMMONDS, SAMUEL Revered elder, minister and community leader, Samuel Simmonds, 73, died May 26 (1996) in Barrow. He was a towering figure with a shock of white hair, thick black, expressive eyebrows and a smile like a ray of sunshine in December. Simmonds spent his life caring spiritually for others, leading by example with his moral approach to life. Born in Barrow, Simmonds took up reindeer herding as a teenager in Tigaluk, near what is now the village of Atqasuk. It is said that he used to ride around on a reindeer, traveling like Santa Claus. At age 42, Simmonds became a lay preacher for the Urqiagvik Presbyterian Church in Barrow in 1954. Upon his ordination in 1961, he was named associate pastor at that church, and in 1968 he became its pastor. Simmonds traveled throughout the state to spread God's word, and served as pastor at Olgonik Presbyterian Church in Wainwright for 16 years. Simmonds also wrote several hymns, one of which, "Oh How Joyful," was sung at his funeral. Simmonds was honorably retired from the Presbytery of Yukon in 1988. He became a master ivory carver, crafting realistic figures that depicted the subsistence life of his Inupiat people. Most of his carvings are held in private collections. He once said, "The reason I do these human figures is I try to preserve the things I have seen as a boy." The city of Barrow declared April 10, 1996, "Samuel Simmonds Day," and on April 11, Urqiagvik Presbyterians celebrated the 35th anniversary of his ordination. Simmonds married twice and raised 12 children. "I don't know how I raised all of those kids, but it was fun." Simmonds once said. "No regrets." The Rev. William Findlay said at Simmonds' funeral, "He taught by example how to live a holy life." Quoting from the Bible, the book of Matthew, Findlay observed, "Well done, though good and faithful servant." -- Dimitra Lavrakas The Arctic Sounder (9/96) SIMMONS, SHELDON B. "SHELL" 86, a pioneer aviator renowned for daring rescues, died Nov. 16 (1994)in Juneau. He turned a one-plane fleet into a regional carrier that helped form Alaska Airlines. In one of his celebrated rescues, he located the wrecked plane of a just-married Seattle couple, lost on their way to Ketchikan on a honeymoon trip. The couple later was found safe on the beach. "They were huddled up together to die," Simmons said. "What a hell of a honeymoon that was." (3/95) SMITH, EVA O. 85, an Alaska pioneer known to many Alaskans as "The Stanley Lady," died Oct. 27 (1994) in Anchorage. She and her family homesteaded in the Houston area during the 1950s. (3/95) SOUTHALL, DORIS 91, died Dec. 4 (1995) at the Fairbanks Pioneers' Home. The senior activist, retired nurse and historian first traveled to Fairbanks in 1953. She was instrumental to the funding and construction of two senior-housing complexes: Golden Towers and the Southall Manor Apartments, which bear her name. A highlight of her life came when she was 88, when she was given an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks for her work with the Alaska Nurse's Association historical project. (3/96) SPARCK, HAROLD Well-known Bethel fisheries and subsistence activist Harold Sparck, 51, died April 27 (1995) in Anchorage. Sparck came to Bethel in 1968 as a teacher at the local public school. He soon left in a dispute over policies that he felt discriminated against Yup'ik students. After marrying a young Yup'ik schoolteacher from Chevak named Lucy Jones, who challenged him to turn the system around, Sparck put down his roots and embarked upon a remarkable quarter-century of activism. Sparck helped lobby for a federal subsistence preference for Yup'ik and other rural Alaskans. He plotted strategy that helped push the Japanese driftnet fleets out of the North Pacific and usher in an era of record Alaska salmon harvests. And he was one of the early proponents of a federal program that now endows western Alaska villages with shares of the billion-dollar North Pacific bottom- fish harvests. In all his efforts, he sought to first safeguard subsistence values and then helped develop new sources of income for the Yup'ik people. He helped design a strategy that won the support of the trawl fleet and ushered in a new era of partnerships that has put village people to work on the Bering Sea factory ships. The plan also funded small-boat fleets that villages use in coastal harvests. "He was recognized as the key person that had to be contacted whenever there was an issue that might impact the west coast (Alaska) people," said Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. "Harold really believed in what he was doing, and put his heart and soul into it seven days a week." Said Harold Napoleon, a Yup'ik leader. "I think he became a Yup'ik. He out-Yup'iked the Yup'iks." Hal Bernton, Anchorage Daily News (9/95) SPRINGHILL, BETTY CARTER 78, a teacher and tireless supporter of causes in Kodiak, died April 1 (1995) in Anchorage. She and her late husband, John, owned a Kodiak jewelry store. After the 1964 tidal wave, they rebuilt their store on skids--so it would float if another disaster occurred-and renamed the business "Dad's Ark." (8/95) STATON, NORMAN EWELL SR. 72, died Sept. 13 (1995) in Sitka. After serving in the military in Alaska during World War II, he married and settled in Southeast. The couple owned various businesses in Sitka, including many restaurants and, most recently, the Log Cache Gift Shop. (3/96) STICKMAN, ROMEO C. "WALLY" 80, a hunter, trapper and fisherman, died Oct. 18 (1994) in Fairbanks. Born in Nulato, he served his community as a village chief and councilman. Stickman was a member of the Alaska Territorial Guard in the early 1940s, and a lifelong member of Our Lady of the Snow parish in Nulato. (3/95) STROECKER, ELEANOR STOLEN 82, died Feb. 5 (1996) in Fairbanks. Born on a farm in Washington, she moved to Fairbanks in 1936. Widowed in 1951 with five children, she took over her husband's wholesale business. She remarried in 1957 and became a flight attendant that same year. She was a member of many clubs including the Emblem Club, Fairbanks Garden Club and the Pioneers Auxiliary. (7/96) TAGUCHI, ISAMU "SAM" Juneau resident Isamu "Sam" Taguchi, 77, died Dec. 20 (1995) in Juneau. His City Café was an important gathering place for generations of local politicians, tradesmen and fishermen. Taguchi came from Seattle in 1935 to work in a fish cannery at Shearwater Bay on Kodiak Island before coming in the late 1930s to Juneau, where he worked at the Juneau Laundry. In Juneau when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, Taguchi was asked to help with the evacuation of Japanese Americans to an assembly camp in Puyallup, Wash. He later was reunited with his family at the Minidoka Camp in Hunt, Idaho. He then moved to Minnesota. Returning to Juneau in 1949, he was offered a partnership in the City Café, eventually assuming full ownership. The restaurant moved to its present location around the time the downtown ferry terminal was built. In 1982 Taguchi sold the business, later opening "Taguchi's Fine Chow" with his brother, Gim. He retired several years ago. Taguchi was a lifelong sports enthusiast, his family wrote. At age 10, he appeared on two Seattle Times sports-quiz radio shows, in which he placed first both times. While living in Chicago during the 1940s, he organized and coached the Chicago Huskies basketball team, made up of former Seattleites. Taguchi also sponsored a successful Juneau basketball team, the City Café, in the '50s. He also was an avid bowler and sponsored a City Café bowling team. During the 1960s, Gov. Bill Egan appointed Taguchi as Alaska's Commissioner of Athletics. - Chris Russ, Juneau Empire (4/96) TAYLOR, OLGA A. 95, died Dec. 28 (1995) in Anchorage. She had lived throughout Alaska with her husband, a U.S. marshal. She helped in caring for prisoners and had been involved in a gold mining operation in Interior. She became a seamstress after her husband's death. In her later years she made blankets for premature babies at Providence Hospital and was a member of the Anchorage Mothers Club for more than 50 years. (5-6-/96) TAYLOR, RALPH JOHN 80, died Jan. 6 (1996) in Ketchikan. He retired in Ketchikan from the Immigration and Naturalization Service after 36 years of public service, during which he had helped naturalize more than 300 citizens. (5-6-/96) TEMPLE, HENRY I. 85, of Bethel, died Oct. 14 (1995) in Anchorage. He raised his family in Napakiak, and worked as a commercial fisherman. Temple loved to carve and build sleds. (3/96) THIELKE, BEATRIS "STEVE" STEVENS 84, a longtime Alaska, died Nov. 15 (1994) at the Sitka Pioneers' Home. She and husband Lindsley Thielke homesteaded in Sitka in 1941. Their homestead was expropriated by the U.S. Army at the outbreak of World War II. A reading advocate, Thielke was a longtime member of the Sitka Public Library board, and spent years organizing and documenting thousands of library items for Sheldon Jackson College. (3/95) THOMAS, ANTHONY W. "TONY" 79, died Dec. 30 (1995) in Juneau. Arriving in Alaska in 1938, he retired from the U.S. Forest Service after 39 years. He took part in many search and rescue activities, and was awarded two silver lifesaving medals. An Eagle Scout, he was active in Boy Scouting. He also participated in the early years of the Territorial Sportsmen, and the Juneau Icefield Research Program. (5-6/96) TOCKTOO, GRACE MANNIQ 90, a lifelong Alaskan, died May 2 (1996) in Anchorage. Born in Shishmaref, she went by dogsled to Teller to marry Eddie Tocktoo in 1923. They were married nearly 60 years and had eight children. Tocktoo worked as a cook at Shishmaref Grade School and was a midwife. In the summer months she provided snacks for fishermen. Tocktoo sang in her church choir and taught Sunday school. She enjoyed skin sewing, knitting and beadwork. (9/96) TOLOFF, JAMES ANDRES 71, died July 10 (1996) in Anchorage. Born in Anchorage, Toloff was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1944 and participated in the Aleutian and Pacific campaigns. In 1947, he moved to Seward where he began his career as a longshoreman, retiring in 1985. Toloff was an avid hunter and fisherman. (11/96) TUREK, RAYMOND SR. 75, died Jan. 14 (1996) in Missouri. A Ketchikan resident for nearly 60 years, he owned several businesses, including Western Auto and Ketchikan Key Co. Turek played first chair violin for Ketchikan's Shoestring Symphony, and was an active member of many community organizations. (5-6-/96) TWEET, MARY MONICA 93, a lifelong Alaska, teacher, postmaster and businesswoman, died Aug. 31 (1994) in Anchorage. Born in Juneau, she taught at Hope, Circle, Eska, Woodrow and, finally, at Teller, where she married and lived for 50 years. (2/95) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.