Steven Conatser, Former Sitkan, Dies in Fairbanks
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- Created on Monday, 12 June 2023 14:03
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Steven R. Conatser
Former Sitka resident Steven R. Conatser passed away at home in Fairbanks on April 28, 2023. He was 61.
Steve was born in Florida before his family moved to Oregon. When he was 3, the family moved to Alaska and spent time in Sitka and Yakutat before moving to a homestead at Eagle Island on the Yukon River.
Steve stayed out on the Yukon as a commercial fisherman, dog breeder, and trapper and even ran the Iditarod in 1980. He liked to boast that he was the youngest person ever to scratch from the Iditarod.
Steve and his family have hosted the Iditarod checkpoint for the Southern Route of the race at Eagle Island since 1975.
Steve became a private pilot in 1985, and in 1991 he arrived at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to attend the Aviation Maintenance program. He’s been happily wrenching on Super Cubs since.
He is survived by his wife Loni, Fairbanks; son Mike Hathaway of Fairbanks; and siblings Glenda (Chris) Klumper of Kettle Falls, Washington, and Ron (Karmon) Conatser of Rice, Washington.
He’s also survived by nieces and nephews Stephanie (David) Stroud of Salt Lake City, Utah; Travis (Linda) Conatser of Sitka; Tamara (Frank) Kyle of Sitka; and some very important people including Thomas Pauling of Fairbanks, Ben Harper of Talkeetna, Emma Epasitch of Talkeetna, and Grady and Atlee Allen of Casper, Wyoming.
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20 YEARS AGO
October 2004
Photo caption: Historian Bob DeArmond sits next to a July 4, 1913, photograph of Alaska Territorial Gov. John F.A. Strong at the dedication of the Pioneers Home. DeArmond, who attended the 1913 ceremony, will give a talk on the Pioneers Home Saturday.
50 YEARS AGO
October 1974
Andrew John Hope III, 24, has been selected as one of three Alaskans named as Outstanding Young Men in America for 1974. Hope, the son of Mrs. Christine Littlefield of Sitka and John Hope of Juneau, was graduated from Sitka High in 1967. ... He is presently attending Sheldon Jackson College.
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