Fairbanks resident and long-time Alaskan Harriette Edith Allen Belanger died on Sunday, June 15, 2003, at the Denali Center due to complications from a massive stroke. She was 75.

She was born on Feb. 3, 1928, in Lincoln Center, Maine. She was the youngest of eight children. She and her best friend first moved to Alaska "for the adventure" in the fall of 1952, arriving in Sitka. After returning to the Lower 48, she moved back to Alaska in the spring of 1954, arriving in Anchorage. She lived all over the Mat-Su Valley and Kenai Peninsula, but primarily in Palmer.

Mrs. Belanger worked in Mt. Edgcombe Hospital in Sitka and later in the Anchorage hospital for Alaska Native Services (ANS). Because she had a way with children, she was assigned to work in postnatal or pediatrics. She met and married Herbert Belanger in October 1954 and settled in Palmer to raise three children. She worked at the Palmer Pioneers' Home as a nurse's aide and at the Palmer Hospital. Over the years, she's helped to raise several other young children (one at a time) while their mothers worked. While being cared for at the Denali Center in Fairbanks, she "adopted" one of the male nurses as her "No. 34 son." She enjoyed dressing up at Halloween, first to entertain the kids who came to her door for a home-made treat, and later she dressed up to entertain the Pioneers' Home staff and guests. Many friends and family members received hand-knitted or crocheted blankets from her over the years as gifts for themselves or for their new babies. A voracious reader, she read everything she could, but mystery novels were her favorite. She was also known as an excellent cook; her pie crusts are raved about to this day. However, her family will remember her best for the merry twinkle in her eye when she teased, for the gift of her laughter and her unconditional love.

She is survived by her three children, Kathy Hill and husband David of Fairbanks, David Belanger of Seattle, Wash., and Sherry Cruse of Seward; her two granddaughters, Keana Cruse and Tyler Washburn; her sister Ruth Aldrich of Lee, Maine; and her brother Roger and wife Velma Allen, also of Maine. She is also survived by her many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews all over the world, plus so many who felt like family because of the way she treated them with kindness, respect and love.

Arrangements were made by Fairbanks Funeral Home & Crematory.