FLYING FRONTIERSMAN
HARMON "BUD" HELMERICKS
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| COURTESY TEENA HELMERICKS | |
Harmon Helmericks lost count after logging 27,000 miles of airtime in small Cessnas above Alaska’s wilderness. The Arctic explorer, Bush pilot and author died on Jan. 27. He was 93.
Helmericks was born on a farm in Illinois and studied engineering at the University of Arizona. He moved to Alaska in 1940 and worked for the Alaska Railroad and served in the Army Corps of Engineers. He had two daughters, Jeanie and Annie, with his first wife, Connie.
During his flying career he hauled fish to Barrow, carried freight and mail, moved hunters and fisherman throughout the Arctic and guided for numerous industrial pursuits. The Territory of Alaska recognized Helmericks with the Award of Merit for “special service in the arctic regions.”
His inspiration came from the writings of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an early Arctic explorer. Like his hero, Helmericks began to write and co-author books. His most famous, titled The Last of the Bush Pilots, is about Alaska’s flying frontiersmen and their daring and courageous exploits to bring improved transportation and services to a vast and wild land.
Helmericks establish a homestead on the Colville River Delta with his second wife, Martha Morland, where the couple raised three sons. He established a flourishing commercial fishing operation and became a successful big-game guide. Because of his arctic knowledge and experience, he became a consultant for companies like Eastman Kodak and Eddie Bauer. During Alaska’s early oil exploration he guided the Northern Transportation Company barges. British Petroleum sought his counsel during its first push into the Prudhoe Bay region.
Helmericks built homes on the Colville River, in the Brooks Range and Fairbanks. In the early 1950s he established Arctic Tern Fish-Freight Company and provided guiding, air taxi and environmental services. He was a longtime member of the Explorers Club, received the Alaska Professional Hunters Associa- tion Andy Simon-Hal Waugh Award in 1999 and was a Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award honoree for the Fairbanks Flight Standards Office in 2004.
Helmericks documented each day in a journal and published many magazine articles. He lectured throughout the Lower 48 and produced movies for his lectures, contributing some of the footage to major films, including one produced in 1970, Edge of the Arctic Ice, about the Helmericks family and life in the Arctic.
JOHN CAMERON ASP, 83, died Oct. 13. Originally from Hawaii, he was raised in Tenakee Springs, where his parents owned a cannery. After com- pleting 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.
LAURENA J. BLANDOV, 71, died Feb. 11. She was born on Annette Island, where she married Hans Buster Blandov and worked for the school district for 21 years. Blandov enjoyed crocheting, baking and spending time with her family.
CHARLES LEWIS BUCK, 93, died Jan. 14. After graduating from Cordova High School, he joined the U.S. Army and served with the Alaska Communication Service. Then he and his wife, Dona, raised three daughters and built the first standard radio broad- cast station in Cordova, KLAM. After statehood, he became Alaska’s director of communications.
SHANNON DALE CLARK, 68, died Jan. 31. He was raised in Tenakee Springs, where his father taught him to hunt, fish and operate fishing vessels and tug boats, which he skippered for more than 40 years in Alaska and Washington.
LENORE ALICE DALTON, 89, died Feb. 11. She spent most of her life in Ketchikan, where she worked for the police department for 22 years and attended the Episcopal church. She was active with the Tsimshian tribe, Sealaska and Ketchikan Indian Community.
HAZEL HOPE, 68, died Feb. 12. She was born in Hoonah. Hope worked for the state of Alaska be- fore retiring to raise her sister’s children, and later served as president of Grand- ma’s Inc. an organization to support local grandchildren in need.
FRED N. KIRKES, 67, died Feb. 17. He worked as Alaska man- ager for American President Airlines, first based in Dutch Harbor, then in Seattle. He loved humor, science, math, history and intellectual conversation.
BENNY LINGLE, 82, died Dec. 13. In 1961 he married Bea Hillery O’Daniel. Lingle worked at Skag- way Hardware and later purchased the business, expanded it, and passed it on to his family. In 1964, he established Skagway Air Service with Eric Selmer and Gil Meroney, eventually took over the business and retired in 2007.
ELIZABETH TUTTLE LYMANN, 91, died Jan. 29. She moved to Juneau in 1941 and married Bob Lyman. They moved to interior Alaska where they mined gold and mercury, and had four children.
MILES MURPHY JR., 76, died Feb. 7. He was born in Juneau and served in the U.S. Army. Murphy was a commercial fisherman, and worked with Tlingit and Haida Electrical and Bureau of Indian Affairs Roads. He served as mayor of Hoonah from 1975 to 1987.
JOHN MURRAY, 72, died Feb. 4. He worked for the Federal Aviation Administration for 29 years in Anchorage, Farewell, Woody Island, Northway, Juneau, Valdez and King Salmon.
ANNA NOTKONG PEELE, 89, died Feb. 20. She was born in Hydaburg and was a member of Alaska Native Sis- terhood, Hydaburg Cooperative Associa- tion and local corporations. She taught Haida language, as one of the last remaining fluent speakers, and spoke Tlingit as well.
CERMEL D. ROBERTS, 63, died Dec. 18. She was born in Ketchikan where she graduated from high school and college. Roberts worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 27 years and she was a member of the Native Sister- hood, Sealaska Corp., Presbyterian Church, America Legion Auxiliary and the Moose Club.
MARRY ROMINE, 85, died Jan. 23. He married Lola Hale in 1948, and moved to Ketchikan where he worked for The Alaska Sportsman. They bought the Downtown Press, and later started Romine’s Locksmith.
FLO ALICE TRYCK, 78, died April 11. In 1935 she moved to the Matanuska Valley. Tryck was a past presi- dent of the Pioneers of Alaska Auxiliary 15, a Sons of Norway member for 54 years, 4-H Club leader and Denali Elementary duty for 36 years.
WILLIAM OSCAR TRYCK, 94, died May 29. He was born in Ruby. Tryck was a Pioneeers of Alaska Igloo 15 mem- ber since 1960, Sons of Norway member for 54 years, a World War II veteran, and a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Arctic Motor Mushers.
Notices are limited, because of space, to names of those who have achieved pioneer status through many years in the North, or who have made significant contributions to the state. Submissions for End of the Trail may be sent to eot@alaskamagazine.com