Obituaries

BORBRIDGE
Sitka resident and lifelong Alaskan Theodore "Ted" Borbridge, 76, died Feb. 1, 2005, at the SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital after a long illness. Services were held Feb. 4 at the Presbyterian Church in Sitka with Pastor Bob Benton officiating. Mr. Borbridge was born April 6, 1928, to John Borbridge Sr. and June (Morrison) Borbridge in Juneau. At 14, he attended Wrangell Institute, transferring to Mt. Edgecumbe High School in 1947 and graduating in 1949. On Feb. 1, 1952, he married Cecilia. After graduation he worked briefly as a carpenter until his induction into the U.S. Army, in which he served from July 1952 to July 1954. After being discharged, he worked at the Mt. Edgecumbe PHS Hospital warehouse until his retirement in 1984. His involvement in community and regional affairs included serving as a founding director of Shee Atika, Inc., serving on the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Council and serving as tribal judge for Sitka Tribe of Alaska. His family and friends wrote that they "will remember him for his strength, gentle nature, quick smile and sense of humor. He dearly loved his family and enjoyed cooking holiday meals. He was an active outdoorsman and enjoyed fishing, hunting, hiking and bowling." He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Cecilia Borbridge; sons, Jim, Harold, Alan and Donald Borbridge; daughter, Kay Simmons; daughter-inlaw, Elizabeth Borbridge; grandchildren, Rebecca, Jennifer, Walter and Darren of Sitka, Valda, Teddy and Steven of Manakotak, Iona and Alan of Newtok and Michael and Courtney of Washington state; aunt, Virginia Moy of Sitka; brothers, John Jr. and Lloyd Borbridge and Patrick and Ervin Lott, all of Juneau; sisters, Mary Borbridge and Kathy Lott, also of Juneau; sisters-in-law, Janet and Viola of Juneau; and sister, Nellie Bennett of Nebraska. Arrangements were with Prewitt Funeral Home of Sitka.

CASPER
Peter Casper Jr., 83, of Sterling, Alaska died July 29, 1999 at his residence. Mr. Casper was born Dec. 28, 1915 at Pirate Cove, Alaska. He is survived by his nieces Dorothy Fredrickson, Myrtle and Margret Petty, and nephew Peter Diving, Jr.

COBBAN
Gwendolyn "Gwen" Cobban died Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center. She was 95.A memorial celebration of life will be at 6 p.m. Saturday in St. James Episcopal Church in Kodiak. Her ashes will be buried with her husband and son in Kodiak at a later date.Gwen was born March 20, 1915, to Porter Roy Davidson and Nora (Clapp) Davidson, in Wheatland, Ore. She grew up in Wheatland, Bolton and Amity, Ore. She went to school in Amity, where she met her future husband, "Casey" Cobban, when she was 14. They married 5 years later and raised six children. She sewed for the family in her younger days, she knitted and crocheted and in her later years became interested in quilting, which she enjoyed very much. She was a hand-quilter and joined a group of other senior hand-quilters in Concrete, Wash.They came to Sitka in November 1941, where Casey was working as an electrician for Siems Drake at the Navy facility on Japonsky Island. After Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, all dependents were on an Alaska Steamship vessel Dec. 8 to Seattle. Casey stayed with Siems Drake and was working on Rugged Island outside Seward when the family was allowed back into the territory in the summer of 1944. They lived in Seward, where Casey became a fisherman, until 1954. They then moved to Seldovia until 1959, Seward again until 1963, and Dillingham, where she worked for National Bank of Alaska. They moved to Kodiak in 1973, where she continued with NBA until the late '70s. They traveled until Casey's death in 1981 and she subsequently moved to Oregon and Washington for 20 years. She returned to Kodiak in 2000.She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Sonny Peterson; sons and daughters-in-law, Gary and Dodi Cobban of Kodiak, Mike and Joanne Cobban of Big Lake, Robert and Sherry Cobban, of Clarkston, Wash., and Craig and Junko Cobban of Anchorage; 15 grandchildren, 26 grandchildren, and 11 great-great-grandchildren, all of whom but one were lucky enough to know her.Gwen was preceded in death by her husband, Casey; son, Terry Sr.; and great-grandson, River Cobban.

HARPER
Walter Hudson Harper, 80, died March 20, 2005, at Mt. Edgecombe Hospital in Sitka, Alaska. He was born May 1, 1924, in Fairbanks, Alaska. He is survived by his sisters, Mary E. Denton and Constance H. Paddock; and brother, Donald A. Harper.

HOLMES
Former longtime Sitka resident Jay D. Holmes, 63, of Wasilla, died Nov. 8, 2005, in Nightmute. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the First Baptist Church in Wasilla, 900 Leatherleaf Loop. He was born July 24, 1942, in Washington state because his mother had been evacuated from Sitka, along with the town's other women and children, due to fears of a Japanese invasion. His mother, Alice Holmes, returned to her husband, Clint, and the family home in Sitka when Jay was 6 weeks old. He spent most of his life in Sitka. He attended college in Bozeman, Mont., where he met and married Rebecca, his wife of 40 years. 83 Mr. Holmes was self-employed in construction and commercial fishing for many years and was involved in the building of Castle Hill, the current St. Michael's Cathedral, the Totem Park Visitors' Center and Harrigan Centennial Hall. He served Sitka as a Fire Department volunteer as well as sitting on the Borough Assembly as chairman shortly before the combining of the borough and city governments. For the last decade, he and his wife lived in Wasilla, and he had been doing what he truly enjoyed, working with the Alaska Craftsman Home Building Program. He developed and taught classes on the science of building homes for Alaska's climate throughout the state. His family wrote: "Other than five years spent in the rural villages of Alaska's interior, Jay and Rebecca raised their three children in Sitka. His greatest joy in life was time spent with his family, friends and enjoying the outdoors." He is survived by his wife, Rebecca; children and their families, Jody, Korie, Zoe, Orland and Owen Holmes of Sitka, Merry, Kierra and Lacy Holmes of Anchorage, Joel Holmes of Wasilla; and seven siblings and their families.

KASHATOK
Kipnuk resident Daniel Benjamin Kashatok, 31, a commercial fisherman, died Oct. 2, 1990 in Anchorage. A funeral will be conducted Sunday at the Kipnuk Moravian Church. Burial will be in the Kipnuk Cemetery. Mr. Kashatok was born Dec. 17, 1958, in Kipnuk. He was a 1979 graduate of Mount Edgecombe High School in Sitka, and attended Seattle Community College and diesel mechanic training in Denver. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping and mechanical work. Mr. Kashatok is survived by his wife, Elena; his children, Jonathan, Garrett and Clara; his parents, Adam Sr. and Katie; his brothers, Charles, Adolph, and Ernest, all of Kipnuk; his brothers, Adam of Akiak, Joseph of Eagle River, and Grand of Fairbanks; his sisters, Natalie Muller of Anchorage, and Gladys Berge of Stephenson, Wash. Local arrangements were by Witzleben Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Bragaw Chapel.

LANG
December 30, 1987 ¬ Roger Lang, Native leader from Sitka, dies. He held a number of statewide leadership positions, including serving as president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, 1974-75

LOTT
Theodore W. Lott died Jan. 4, 2000, at the Sitka Pioneer Home in Sitka, Alaska. Mr. Lott was born in Akiak, Alaska, on April 24, 1928. He is survived by his sons Gary and Rusty Lott Flory; daughter Colleen Lott Flory; and sister Pollyanna Didrickson

NIELSEN
Arthur Peter Nielsen, 80, died March 4, 2001, at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka, Alaska. Mr. Nielsen was born April 25, 1920, in Sitka, Alaska. He is survived by his daughter, Julie Ann Nielsen; brothers, James John Nielsen and Frederick Archie Nielsen; and sister, Katherine Williams.