Alice Gordon

Longtime Alaska resident Alice Gordon, 84, passed away on Nov. 30, 2015, in Wasilla.

Funeral services will be held from 11-2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, at Valley Funeral Home, 151 E. Herning Ave., Wasilla, Alaska 99654. Interment will follow at Wasilla Aurora Cemetery.

Alice Gordon was born to a commercial fishing family in Dillingham, Alaska. She was raised in the 1930s and 40s in Dillingham with a subsistence lifestyle. Once, at 16, she sailed on a steam ship to Seattle that brought supplies to Dillingham. At 20, she came to Anchorage as a nanny for a family friend and met Harry D. Gordon. They were married for 52 years until he died. Together they raised their family in Anchorage. They had five boys and one girl, nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Mom was so much fun to be with. She made family gatherings wonderful, filling the air with great food smells and laughter. She welcomed everyone, feeding them was a joy. Mom loved to pick berries, flower gardens abound, canning, and driving her new car. She worked in fish canneries both in Dillingham and Anchorage. She loved to process salmon, freezing, salting, canning, and smoking. She loved her sweets, candy was a must for Christmas, cookies which she made by the gross, cake, pies (boy, some good pies), jams, jellies, cinnamon rolls, and what a joy for her to share her fixings!

I would like to finish with “to know her was to love her”.

Mom was always there for us children… She was the true meaning of a homemaker. When our dad decided to build our house, Mom made it our home. As the years went by, and we all got married, one by one she taught our wives how to can salmon, make fresh bread, cinnamon rolls, jam and jellies, and passed down her old family recipes. Once those grandbabies started coming, she was in seventh heaven. She loved her babies. Mom loved spring time, planting her flowers and keeping her flower beds beautiful. We lost our dad 12 years ago, and mom came down with Alzheimer’s a couple years after that. As the disease took its toll, the family stepped in to help with her every need.

Alice is survived by her sons, Bert and Chris Gordon, Ron Gordon, Dan and Anita Gordon, Gary and Pam Gordon; daughter, Linda and Dale Vickers; granddaughters, Vannessa, Heidi and Holly; grandson, Brad Gordon; granddaughter, Mickela Olson; grandsons, Caleb Gordon, Jacob Gordon, Jesse Morgan and Andy Morgan; and 13 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Harry D. Gordon, and son, Mark Louis Gordon.