Community Leader

OSCAR AVELLANEDA

Betti Cuddy, 85
Betti Cuddy devoted her life to two things: family and community. Surrounded by her loved ones, she died Jan. 13.

Cuddy was born in Nebraska, where she graduated from Doane University and taught high school biology, English and Spanish.Later, she moved to Seattle and, on a blind date, met Dan Cuddy, whom she married in 1948. They drove the Alaska Highway for their honeymoon and settled in Anchorage.

Cuddy’s legacy of community service began when she was a young mother, volunteering as a Girl Scout leader and serving as secretary and treasurer of the Anchorage Women’s Club.She also held a seat on the organizational committee for Alaska Methodist University— now called Alaska Pacific University.

In the 1960s, she organized the Treasures of Sight and Sound program that initiated local theater productions, and made it possible for thousands of Anchorage schoolchildren to engage in activities such as gymnastics, music and singing.TOSS received the Gold Pan Award from the Greater Anchorage Camber of Commerce.In the late ’70s, Cuddy sat on the Alaska Board of Education and helped raise the standards of Alaska schools.

In honor of her efforts as a supporter of the Cuddy Family Midtown Park in Anchorage, a landscaped area of the park was designated, “Betti’s Garden.” She also played a major role in the renovation of the Lucy Cuddy Center on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus and helped develop a renewed focus for the university’s culinary arts and hospitality programs.

With the Anchorage Women’s Club, she helped form a grass-roots political advocacy effort that brought legislative attention to the concerns of Anchorage women.She was named honorary chairwoman of the YWCA Anchorage Academy of Women Achievers.

John Cameron Asp, 83,
Died Oct.13.Originally from Hawaii, he was raised in Tenakee Springs.After completing his education he moved back to Honolulu and became a successful commercial artist and art director.Later he returned to Alaska and worked on his brother’s fish packer, then moved to Douglas to resume painting.

James W. Canary, 78,
Died Nov. 30. He was a teacher at Ketchikan High School, where he helped establish the Sea Ed program, a nautical vocational course. He also taught at Ketchikan Community College, raised three children with his wife, Willa, and commercial fished.

Donald E. Craig, 85,
Died July 15. He graduated from Anchorage High School and served in theU. S. Army during World War II. He married Mary Jerden, and they opened Craig’s Family Footwear in 1962. They closed the shop in 1986 and retired.

John C. Grys, 88,
Died Sept.2.He was stationed in Healy as a section foreman for theAlaska Railroad for 28 years. He retired in 1982.

Clarence Eugene Herman, 92,
Died Oct.19.In 1945, he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army and earned a Purple Heart.With his closest friends, he took a barge to the area of Ninilchik where they homesteaded and raised their families.He worked for the Alaska Department of Highways for 30 years.

Hazel LuCart, 82,
Died Dec.2.She moved to Alaska in 1970 and lived for 27 years in various locations in Southeast Alaska, including Auke Bay, where she worked for the University of Alaska,and Angoon, where she owned a hunting and fishing lodge.

George W. McGee, 91,
Died Nov.12.He came to Alaska on a steamship in 1940 and got a job with the Alaska Railroad.After serving in World War II, he graduated from the University of Alaska in 1949.For 25 years McGee was a civil engineer at Ladd Field, later renamed Fort Wainwright.

Rose Marie Ragone, 79,
Died Dec.19.She was a Juneau resident, mother and wife, described by her loved ones as funny, intelligent, beautiful, an excellent cook, and great storyteller with a beautiful voice.As a young woman she was a lead soprano in several well-known operas.

John Sexton, 77,
Died Oct.3.He moved to Alaska in 1950 to work on the Distant Early Warning line.Sexton owned the Nevada Bar with his brother Gus, and later owned the International “Big I” Bar.Both were in Fairbanks.