Jerome L. Marostica Sr., one of the true, original Alaska pioneers, passed away on Monday, June 30, 2008.

 A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 5, at Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel in Wasilla, with Father Stan Allie officiating.

Born on June 3, 1923, in Sterling, Colo., Marostica led a full and adventurous life. After serving 33 months with the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific during World War II, Marostica moved to Alaska to hunt and fish. He was a Bush pilot, guiding hunters for moose, polar bear, grizzlies and caribou. One time he and his flying partner were fishing on a remote river when a plane landed nearby. A couple of military officers asked him if he would teach their passenger how to fish. He agreed and spent the next few hours teaching Werner von Braun how to catch salmon.  An electrical contractor, Marostica brought power to all parts of Alaska, including a transmission line from Valdez to Glennallen for the pipeline. He loved to build, create and tinker with just about anything, and always had a plan for something, his family wrote. He received a patent for the Backhoe Boom he created in the 1970s.

 In the early 1980s he bought an old miners’ cabin and moved it to a place just outside of Wasilla. He added on to it, built a meat house, started the coffee flowing and became the central point for countless friends, family, avid hunters and fishermen. He was always ready and willing to help someone out, his family said.

“The termination dust has fallen for the last time for this Alaska original and he will be truly missed,” his family wrote.

 Survivors are his wife, Teresita, of Wasilla; sons Jerome Jr. of Wasilla and Michael of New Plymouth, Idaho; daughter Janet L. Bryant of Elgin, Ore.; grandsons Jerod of Wasilla and Nathan Clark of Elgin, Ore.; granddaughters Melissa and Sophia of New Plymouth and Kelcey Clark of Elgin; sisters Julia Robinson of Bakersfield, Calif., and Rose Marie of Redding, Calif.; and brother Angelo of Parma, Idaho.