Dorothea Mae Taylor

Dorothea Mae Taylor

Dorothea Mae Taylor passed away at home in Willow on December 27, 2020. She was with her husband of 48 years, George Murphy.

Whether she was driving off attacking moose with a grain shovel, crashing her raft on a solo trip on the Hayes River, losing all her gear in the process and building a makeshift shelter to wait days for rescue, or helping to stitch the family airplane back together after an inquisitive bear decided to taste test it on Kodiak Island, Dorothea was the reference Webster’s dictionary used for “Alaskan Adventuress”.

Dorothea Taylor was born on January 28, 1926, to parents Clarabelle Phillips and Robert Bickerstaff in Sugar Grove, PA. As a teenager, she dropped out of school to marry and have children. This was only a minor detour in a life dedicated to education, both personal and public. By the time Dorothea first came to Alaska in 1962, she had raised her children, earned her diploma from the Sugar Grove Joint Educational and Vocational school as well as a degree from Edinboro University.

While still studying at Edinboro, she began her teaching career in Tidioute, PA, before moving on to teach at Youngsville High school. A teaching opportunity brought her to Petersburg, AK, in 1962. After a short return to Jamestown, NY, to teach English, she came back to Alaska for good in 1964. She attended graduate classes at UAA while living in a camper as she wove her love of the outdoors into a lifelong passion.

That fall she accepted a position as an English and American Government teacher and guidance counselor for Fort Yukon, just above the Arctic Circle, beginning a twenty-year career teaching in Alaskan villages, often far from larger communities. These locations included Kodiak, Port Wakefield, Larsen Bay, as well as Port Lyons, where she met her future husband, George Murphy. After an eight-year “whirlwind” courtship, these Alaskan treasures were married in 1972.

Both Dorothea and George were soul mates in their shared excitement and love for Alaska, especially the outdoor adventures they created. Dorothea continued teaching until 1983, when she elected to complete a dual Doctorate in Education at the University of Montana.

After her teaching career, Dorothea continued to consult as well as becoming a major partner in her and George’s business—Alaska Bush Expeditions, where they planned and guided adventure expeditions for customers all over Alaska. They were both pioneers in the Iditarod Air Force with the Jr. Iditarod being a specific passion for Dorothea.

Dorothea will be sorely missed by the thousands of children she mentored, her community members whose public lives she gave spark to, as well as her extended family and friends who will miss those blue eyes.

Dorothea is survived by her husband, George Murphy of Willow, AK; daughter, Sandra (Sydde) Kiedrowski of Sugar Grove, PA; son, Robert Taylor Jr. of Willow, AK; 7 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren, 4 great-great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Clarabelle (Phillips) and Robert Bickerstaff; sister, Anita Moon, Erie PA; brother, Robert Bickerstaff Jr., Enid, OK; sister, June Nielsen, Anchorage, AK; sister, Betty Albright, Sugar Grove, PA; brother, Rodney Bickerstaff, Sugar Grove, PA; and sister, Jean Liffner, Ft. Walton Beach, FL.

Personal services are pending. Memorial donations can be made to the Jr. Iditarod, Edinboro University, UAF, or to the Warren County Historical Society of Warren, PA.