Alaska School Yearbooks by County
Jon Robert Leigh-Kendall
Former Juneau resident Jon Robert Leigh-Kendall died Jan. 1, 2009, in Seattle. He was 62.
Born in 1946 in San Fransico, Calif., he attended Juneau High School, collage in Fairbanks and was drafted in to the U.S. Army, serving in Kent, Wash. He served in Vietnam as a medic.
His grandfather, A.W. Hackwood, brought his family to Alaska in 1922. As the years went by, they all ended up in Juneau. He was a resident there for 20 years. His father, Edward Leigh-Kendall, lived in Fairbanks for more than 20 years. His mother died 10 years ago in Seattle.
He was a member of the Disabled American Veterans.
He is survived by his aunt, Mary Jean Hackwood; brothers, Thomas A Leigh-Kendall, Richard E Leigh-Kendall and Dr. Curtis Mark Jensen; and sister, Kathryn Lewis.
George Cornell Schwaderer
Former Juneau resident George Cornell Schwaderer, of Wasilla, died peacefully Dec. 21, 2008, at home surrounded by his family. He was 85.
He was born Aug. 19, 1923, in Saginaw, Mich., to James H. and Estella (Cornell) Schwaderer of Caro. He graduated from Michigan Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1948.
A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he served as a petty officer on the staff of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
He was a professional civil engineer and professional land surveyor in Michigan, Alaska and West Virginia for more than 50 years. He was a fellow and life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a life member of the Alaska Society of Professional Land Surveyors.
In 1960, he moved his family to Juneau, where he worked for the Alaska Department of Highways. He became chief construction engineer after the earthquake in 1964.
In 1968, he moved to Beckley, W.Va., where he was assistant vice president for civil engineering at Gates Engineering.
He returned to Alaska in 1970 and was a partner in the Anchorage firm of Bomhoff & Associates, and Arctic Surveys. In 1976, he organized his own firm and formed a partnership with George R. Budka of Tonsina. In 1984, he moved his home and office to Wasilla, where he worked until retirement in 1999.
He was preceded in death by his brother, Robert W. Schwaderer, who lived in Big Rapids, Mich.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Geraldine Schwaderer, of Wasilla; daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Doug Dickinson, of Anchorage; son and daughter-in-law, Fred and Leslie Schwaderer, of Willow; daughter and son-in-law, Patty and Jim Robar, of Anchorage; grandchildren, Bridget and John Atchison, of Anchorage, Kevin and Christy Robar, of Ormond Beach, Fla., Cheryl and Kris Hartbauer, of Fairbanks, Hilary Schwaderer, of Palmer, and Gillian and Chris Wright, of Wasilla; and great-grandchildren, Lily and Tacy Atchison and Alexia, Colton and Baylor Wright.
No funeral is planned. Interment will be in Indianfields Township Cemetery in Caro, Mich.
Donations may be made to Mat-Su Regional Homecare and Hospice or to the charity of the donor's choice.
Frederick Kohls
Longtime Alaska resident Frederick "Fred" Fay Kohls died Jan. 1, 2009, at the Juneau Pioneers Home after an extended illness. He was 85.
Born March 16, 1923, to William Ray and Altha Marie (Baker) Kohls, at the Oliver Place, 3 miles north of Ennis, Mont., he was named in honor of his father's brother, who died of malaria after returning from the Spanish-American War.
In high school, his activities were principally academic, although he played bass horn with the first Ennis High School band and was a skier.
After enrolling at Montana State University in 1941 to study mechanical engineering and play the bass horn in the Bobcat Band, he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army Corps in April 1943. He spent the next 2½ yars in B-29 bomber groups in the Pacific, including service in combat intelligence units at Saipan and Iwo Jima.
After his discharge the day before Christmas 1945, he returned to Ennis. On Aug. 10, 1946, he and his lifelong friends, Jeff Jeffers and Gill "Buster" Saunders, sailed from Seattle to Alaska to enroll in the University of Alaska.
A year later, he and five college friends dropped out of school for a year to drive the Pan-American Highway in two Jeeps from Fairbanks to Patagonia at the tip of South America. They reached Buenos Aires, Argentina, before he returned to Fairbanks to resume his college studies.
After graduating in 1951 with a degree in general science, he joined several Alaska colleagues who formed the Geo-Science Corp., in Maryland, to study the physics of the upper atmosphere, marketing low brightness photometers and research in sodium flare and twilight. In April 1957, he returned to Alaska, joining the Territorial Department of Public Works and Highways as a traffic engineer in Anchorage.
In 1962, he moved to Juneau and later served as the supervisor of data processing for the Department of Transportation's road design. He retired in June 1983 after more than 26 years service.
On Feb. 19, 1966, he married Juneau attorney Shirley Meuwissen. Her friend, the late Marjory Huizer, was matron of honor, and Jeff Jeffers was his best man. Their son, Kevin Kohls, born Nov. 15, 1967, died in 1983 at the age of 15 from a cancerous brain tumor.
In addition to his son, Kevin, he was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Merle Rae Naylor.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Shirley Kohls; younger brother, Henry X. "Heinie" Kohls and wife, Virginia, of Las Vegas; nieces, Cheri Rae Sayer, of Kent, Wash., LeeAnn O'Donnell, of Laurel, Mont., Eva Marie Balanag, of San Diego, and Angel Ann Kohls, of Seattle; and nephew, Frederick Peter Naylor, of Billings, Mont.
A memorial service will be held in Juneau in April and his ashes will be spread near the family's place at Tenakee Springs. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Juneau Public Libraries in memory of Kevin Meuwissen Kohls.
Carlotta Francisco
Former Juneau resident Carlotta Marucia Francisco died Dec. 28, 2008, in Mount Vernon, Wash. She was 74.
Daughter to Nicholas Kupoff and Emaline Torgerson and stepdaughter to Charles Patton, she was born on Oct. 23, 1934, in Juneau. She grew up in Fairbanks and graduated from Fairbanks High School. In September 1960, she moved to Palmdale, Calif., where she worked as a newspaper distributor for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and was manager of B-Dalton bookstores.
She moved to Seattle in 1988 and then moved to the Methow Valley in October 1990. She was an alfalfa farmer during the 14 years she lived there, in addition to working as an information receptionist for the U.S. Forest Service. She moved to Mount Vernon in July 1994 and transferred to the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie District Office of the Forest Service.
She enjoyed reading, anything to do with the Iditarod, listening to music, playing the piano, going to the theater, watching television, going to the movies, gardening, doing crossword and jigsaw puzzles, traveling and visiting with her children and grandchildren.
She is survived by her children, Nick Francisco, of Littleton, Colo., Julie Bodeau, of Spokane, Wash., April Sudol, of Henderson, Nev., and Rebecca Francisco, of Deming, Wash.; cousins, Joan Melcher, Virginia Dayrel and Diane Peters; and 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Services were held Jan. 3 at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mount Vernon, Wash.
Martin Pardes
Juneau resident Martin Pardes died peacefully on Jan. 5, 2009, at his daughter and son-in-law's home after an extended illness. He was 82.
Born in 1924 in Bronx, N.Y., he was a veteran of World War II and earned his living as a floor-layer in New York City.
An avid outdoorsman and fisherman, he retired to Florida in 1988 and moved to Juneau in 2008, due to his illness. Before moving to Alaska, he would visit Juneau in the summer to go fishing in Gustavus and Elfin Cove and stock up his daughter's freezer with fish for the entire year.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Evelyn Pardes, who lived in New York and Florida.
He is survived by his daughters, Joan Pardes and husband, Doug Sturm, of Juneau, and Fern Dittmar and husband, Bill, of New York; and son, Michael Pardes and wife, Betty, of New Jersey; granddaughter, Eva Sturm, of Juneau; and grandsons, Aaron and Noah Pardes, of New Jersey.
A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at Congregation Sukkat Shalom, at Cordova and Foster streets on Douglas Island.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Hospice and Home Care of Juneau.
