Alaska School Yearbooks by County
Waylon Robert Beard
Waylon Robert Beard died Nov. 2, 2008, at home as he slept. He was 7 months, 29 days old.
He was born March 4, 2008, at the Northern Montana Hospital in Havre, to former Juneau residents Heath and Alicia Beard.
"Waylon was loved by all who he encountered and will be sorely missed," his mother said.
Two days after he was born he was transferred to the NICU in Great Falls, Mont., for a month. Soon after arriving home, he traveled to Wyoming to see his father at work. He traveled every morning to Fort Belknap to work with his mother. When he was 4 months old, he traveled to North Dakota; at 5 months, to Minnesota; and at 6 months, to South Dakota and even saw Mount Rushmore.
Later, he traveled to Alaska to see where his mother was born and raised.
"Everywhere he went, whether as close as Grandma and Grandpa's across the tracks or Grandma and Grandpa's in Alaska, he was so full of joy," his mother said. "His giggle could lighten any mood, and his smile could melt any heart."
"As soon as you laid him down his deep brown eyes would open with one question, 'And just where are you going without me?'" she said. "He liked to be in the action and didn't want to miss a thing. He had a personality that you couldn't help but love, and he was always strong willed."
He was preceded in death by his great-grandparents, with the last names Beard, Gebhardt, Tomaro and Meyers; and cousin, Alec Riphenburg.
He is survived by his parents, Heath Joseph Edward Beard and Alicia Marie (Tomaro) Beard; grandparents, Edward and Joann Beard, of Chinook, Mont., and John Tomaro and Barbara Bechtold, of Juneau; aunts, Heidi (Beard) Riphenburg, Holly Beard, Londi Tomaro, Julie (Moore) Tomaro and Sarah (Linnert) Tomaro; uncles, Reed Riphenburg, Aaron Holmes, Samuel Tomaro and Mark Tomaro; cousins, Brandon, Taylor and Hayley Riphenburg, Amelia and Emily Beard, and Rylee Tomaro; and numerous extended family.
A graveside service will be held today, Nov. 7, at the Kuper Cemetery in Chinook, Mont. Arrangements are being made through Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook.
Joe Leahy
Former Juneau resident Michael Joseph "Joe" Leahy died Dec. 6 at Providence Valdez Medical Center. He was 68.
Born Nov. 3, 1940, in Mason City, Wash., to Patrick and Clara Leahy, he graduated from Grand Coulee High School in 1958 and married Marilyn Mroz on Nov. 25, 1981, in Seattle.
He came to Alaska in 1976 while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard as chief journalist. After his discharge, he worked as the director of the Juneau Mining Museum, then as the director of the Juneau Centennial Museum.
In 1985, Joe and Marilyn moved to Valdez, where he served as the executive director of the Valdez Museum and Historical Archive. Upon retiring from that position, he returned to Juneau for four years at the request of Hoonah Heritage Foundation, serving as the development director of the foundation's proposed heritage center and museum.
His love of people led him to serve on numerous boards and associations such as Valdez United Way, Copper Valley Electric Association, the State Parks Commission, the Alaska Historical Society and the Museums Alaska Association. He was the unofficial town greeter for Valdez, prowling the docks, grocery store and post office and regaling visitors and residents alike with tidbits of history and a gentle wit.
"Joe's greatest enthusiasm was for his family," relatives said.
He was astounded and delighted at the birth of his triplets - Patrick, Elise and Christopher - and then again with his bonus child, Marissa.
In retirement, he was an avid and talented photographer, loved to fish and was an enthusiastic rower, his family said.
He is survived by: his wife, Marilyn Leahy; sons, Patrick and Christopher Leahy; daughters, Elise and Marissa Leahy; and brothers, Bill Leahy and wife, Judy, and Gary Leahy.
Hilda H. See
Lifelong Hoonah resident Hilda H. See died Dec. 8, 2008, at Wildflower Court in Juneau. She was 90.
Born Jan. 24, 1918, near Hoonah, to Robert and Elsie Greenewald, she attended school in Hoonah and worked for the L. Kane Store and Icy Straits Cannery retail stores. She served several years as a U.S. Commissioner, then as state magistrate. In 1954, she bought her parents' general merchandise store and operated it until she sold the store to join her late husband, Frank See Sr., as a commercial hand-troll fisherman.
She was a lifetime member of Hoonah's Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 12 and a shareholder in Huna Totem Corp. Of the Raven moiety, T'akdeintaan Clan, Mount Fairweather House (Tak Hit), she also was a member of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; daughter, Cathy Jean Bean; step-son, Frank See Jr.; brothers, Albert and Robert Greenewald; sisters, Mabel Rollog, Mathilda Skaflestad, Charlotte Underwood, Genevieve Erickson, Rosina Andrews and Janet Robison.
She is survived by her daughters, Jackie Pera, of Glendale, Calif., and Candy Madrid, of Denver, Colo.; son, Kenneth Schoonover, of Hoonah; step-daughter, Francine Perkins, of Juneau; grandsons, Douglas and John Pera, of Glendale, Albert and Earl Schoonover, of Juneau, and Ora G. Schoonover, of Hoonah; granddaughters, Jeannie Marie Pera, of Glendale, Ladonna Dybdahl, of Hoonah; great-grandchildren, Alison and Amy Schoonover, of Juneau, and Ford and Gabriel Schoonover, of Hoonah; brothers, Adam and Karl Greenewald, of Hoonah; sister, Freda Borchick and Marlene Johnson, of Juneau, and Pauline Hinchman, of Sedro Woolley, Wash.; and numerous nieces, nephews and other relatives in Alaska, Washington and California.
A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. A celebration of her life will be held in Juneau in the spring, when she will be interned.
Pallbearers are Karl Greenewald Jr., Gordon Greenwald, Adam Underwood and Jeff, Ken, Gus and Keith Skaflestad. Honorary pallbearers are John Hinchman Sr., Max Robison, Clifford Johnson, Mike See, Mike Miller, Ozzie Sheakley, Lily White, Lillian Austin, Anita Lafferty, Leona Williams, Bertha Franulovich, Roberta Bennett, Esther Greenwald, Cecelia Greenewald and Ladonna Dybdahl.
Donald Bullock Sr.
Ketchikan resident Donald Mackenzie Bullock Sr. died Dec. 7, 2008, in Ketchikan. He was 85.
Born June 6, 1923, in Seattle, to Dewey and Helene (Mackenzie) Bullock, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich., and attended the University of Idaho, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. He married Evelyn Jeanne Larson on July 12, 1947, in Tacoma, Wash. Following their marriage, he became circulation manager for the Daily Idahoan and subsequently was editor of the Hoquiam newspaper and then editor of a newspaper in Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island.
In 1955, Don and Evy moved to Alaska for "a year," to become news director for KFAR radio station in Fairbanks.
He entered the political world in 1957 by becoming special assistant to Alaska's last territorial governor, Mike Stepovich. The appointment moved Don and his family to Juneau, where Don's duties included writing speeches for the governor and traveling the state for special events. While in Juneau, Alaska achieved statehood, and he covered the birth of Alaska's statehood and the new state Legislature for national wire services and several national magazines.
He then accepted the call to ministry in the Episcopal Church and attended the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. After graduating in 1962, he was ordained a deacon at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Juneau and moved to Kodiak, where he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop William Gordon on Jan. 17, 1963, at St. James the Fisherman.
In 1969, they moved to Ketchikan where he became the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, serving there until his retirement in 1985.
In Ketchikan, he also worked and was involved in local radio stations KTKN, KRBD and Rotary. It was in Ketchikan that Don explored his love for the water, often enjoying boating with his wife and children on excursions throughout Southeast Alaska and the western coast of Canada. During his tenure at St. John's, Don started a ministry reaching out to those serving on the water by opening the Ketchikan Seamen's Center.
After retiring from the Episcopal church in 1985, he served as a volunteer priest with the Russian Orthodox Church of Alaska after being ordained in Sitka. In retirement, he and his wife, Evelyn, traveled extensively, enjoying countless hours together on the golf course.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Evelyn Bullock; children, Donald Bullock Jr., of Juneau, Robert Bullock and wife, Eithne, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Susan Stone and husband, Roger, of Ketchikan, Jennifer Bullock, of Ketchikan, Geoffrey Bullock and wife, Ruth, of Juneau, and Lesley Bullock, of Juneau; grandchildren, Geoff Bullock, Tami Green, Tony Morrison, Bobby Bullock, Tiffany Cook, Stacey and Kimberly Stone, Kathryn, Anna, Benson, Martha and Emma Bullock; and great-grandchildren, Joey, Holly, Kylie, Jake, Megan and T.J.
A memorial service will be held sometime in January at St. Nicholas Church in Juneau.
The family requests that donations be made to St. John's Episcopal Church Memorial Fund and the scholarship fund of Rotary 2000.
"Blessed be the memory of Donald Mackenzie Bullock," they said.
David 'Jake' Ramsay
Former Juneau resident David "Jake" Ramsay died Dec. 3, 2008, at his home in Clinton, Wash. He was 68.
He was born Dec. 20, 1939, to David and Grace Ramsay in Juneau.
He was preceded in death by his sons, Mark and Rick Ramsay.
He is survived by his wife, Judi Ramsay; five sons, Tim, Keith, Michael, Brian and David Ramsay; and 17 grandchildren.
Arrangements were made under the direction of Visser Funeral Home in Langley, Wash.
