DARRIS LEO MASON

Palmer resident Darris Leo Mason, 67, died Aug. 30, 2004, at Providence Extended Care, after a long illness.

Following Mr. Mason's wishes there will be no viewing or funeral services. All friends and family of the Masons are welcome to come and share in a celebration of life at Del Rois on the Old Glenn Highway, Monday, Sept. 6, from 2-5 p.m..

Mr. Mason was born June 25, 1937, in Fort Collins, Colo.

Following his graduation from Cheyenne High School in Cheyenne, Wyo., in 1955, he took a job as a short-order cook, knowing nothing about cooking at the time, so he could make enough money to buy a one-way ticket to join his parents in Alaska in 1956.

After arriving in Alaska, he went to work at Western Geophysical, where he worked for more than 20 years. He traveled around the world looking for oil in far-off and exotic places. The place he loved best while working at Western Geophysical was Bath, N.Y., where he met the love of his life, Janet, whom he later married in front of Dorothy Saxton in Palmer.

He also worked at Gulf Oil in Rollins, Wyo., Penn Yan Boats in Penn Yan, N.Y. and H & H Lounge on Muldoon, in Anchorage. However, his last and favorite job was working at the Palmer Senior Center as a cook.

His family said, "Darris had a very calm and peaceful spirit. He enjoyed fishing with his brothers on Thompson's Charter as well as always winning the bet on catching the largest fish. He had a great love for animals."

He is survived by his wife, Janet Mason, of Palmer; their four children, Annette of Davisboro, Ga., Kevin and Keith Duby of Penn Yan, N.Y. and Kenneth Duby of Massachusetts; three brothers, Ronald "Ivan" Mason and Stan Mason of Anchorage and Arnold Mason of Oregon; one sister, Elsie Acres, of Palmer, and many nieces, nephews and other family members too numerous to mention.

He is preceded in death by his parents, John and Lucille Mason, and brother, Ernest Mason.

Arrangements were made by Kehl's Palmer Mortuary.