BARBARA M. LANDIS

Wasilla resident Barbara Mae Landis, 60, died Feb. 4, 2005, at Valley Hospital, from influenza associated with the cancer she had been battling.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 12, at Valley Funeral Home Chapel in Wasilla. Floral arrangements are welcome.

Ms. Landis was born July 7, 1944, in Petersburg. She retired as a fraud investigator for the Alaska Division of Public Assistance and Welfare.

Her family wrote, "Barbara lived most of her life in Alaska and would always remind us that she was born here even before it was a state of the union. She loved life, her husband, her children, her grandchildren, relatives and friends, good food (especially crab), big hugs, smiles and shopping. She was such a good Grandma; she always made it better. Some of her favorite memories include water balloon and squirt-gun fights, ice cubes down the shirt, yummy ice cream when she owned TCBY (well before and after, too), Thanksgiving and Christmas at Grandma's house, the many sleepovers and camping. She will be dearly missed by those who know and love her."

Ms. Landis is survived by her husband, Steve Landis; mother, Betty Mae Ridley; sisters, Alice Lane and Felicia Lewis; children, Jay Iverson, Pamela Thiele, Lesley Nelson, Karen Landis and Josef Landis and her grandchildren, Orion, Tanner, Zackary, Otto G. and Kadin Thiele, Christopher and Kendall Nelson and Katherine and Daniel Kilhoffer.

Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1057 W. Fireweed Lane, Suite 204, Anchorage, AK 99503. Arrangements were made by Valley Funeral Home & Crematory in Wasilla.