CAROLEEN GUTIERREZ WATERFIELD

Lifelong Alaskan Caroleen Gutierrez Waterfield, 68, died at Providence Alaska Medical Center on April 4, 2005, with family and friends at her side.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday, at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 3201 Turnagain St.

Born in Sitka on Nov. 13, 1936, Ms. Waterfield lived the majority of her life in Anchorage and in the Mat-Su. She graduated from Anchorage High School in 1954 and continued her education at Anchorage Community College and AMU, among others.

At 13, she became the first "newsboy" hired by the Anchorage Daily News, selling newspapers in front of the old federal building. This marked the first of many jobs Ms. Waterfield would hold in professions normally occupied by men.

During the 1960s, Ms. Waterfield was the credit manager for Enstar Natural Gas Co.

In 1968, after the death of her first husband, she left Alaska with her children to pursue her credit management career with a large hospital in Los Angeles.

In 1972, she returned to Anchorage and became the first female executive director for the Alaska Retail Association.

Throughout the 1990s, she pursued her passion in the mining industry, assisting her second husband in a family-owned business. She was a member of the Alaska Miners Association, Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo 15, and served on the board of KABN radio. She also enjoyed painting and photography.

Her family wrote, "A feminist by nature, Ms. Waterfield did not require a movement to know her capabilities were equal to those of men. In this regard, she set a valuable example for countless young women, especially her daughter. Despite the many adversities Ms. Waterfield experienced in life, she lived with humor, strength and great determination to be her own person. She was wonderfully unique and a genuine Alaskan character. She will be missed."

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Charles Lewis Gutierrez; second husband, Harry Waterfield; son, Charles Allen Gutierrez, and brother, Gordon Isaacson.

She is survived by her brother, Gus Cazac; son, David Gutierrez; daughter and son-in-law, Carmen Gutierrez and Rodney Bradley, all of Anchorage.

Arrangements were made with Evergreen Memorial Chapel, 737 E St., Anchorage.