Elmer Kighiktuk Nagozruk

Beloved brother and uncle, Elmer Kighiktuk Nagozruk, 81, died peacefully at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer on Nov. 23, surrounded by his loving family.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., with visitation from 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Wasilla. The Rev. Duane Hansen will officiate. Burial will be at Wasilla Aurora Cemetery.

Mr. Nagozruk was born on Oct. 9, 1928 at Wales to Arthur Sr. and Lucy Nagozruk. As one of six boys and four girls, he had the unique privilege of traveling and living in villages including Pt. Hope, Noatak, Napakiak and Nash Harbor, Wales and Nome. He was the son of the first Inupiat school teacher in Alaska and attended school in one-room school houses with his father as his teacher. He was raised in Inupiat, Cup’ig, and Yupik cultures. He graduated from Mt. Edgecumbe in Sitka.

Mr. Nagozruk held various positions with Chevron and Builder’s Industrial Supply in Nome until his retirement. Elmer’s hobbies centered on his love of electronics. He would spend his time fixing radios and televisions, and use his collection of little electronic parts to repair other items. He set up a microphone connected to the radio stations to broadcast information to the villages. He became the weatherman in Pt. Hope and sent weather information to Kotzebue. His kind and generous nature showed when he would rent movies from Anchorage and broadcast them over the air and at the school for everyone to enjoy. In 2004, Elmer moved to the Northern Living Center in Wasilla. He enjoyed going for a weekly ride with the other residents of the center.

Elmer loved his many nieces and nephews and always let them know how much he cared for them. He was a great uncle and friend and will be greatly missed by all who loved and knew him.

Survivors include his brother, Gordon Nagozruk, and sisters Evelyn Hendrickson and Margaret Trigg, brothers-in-law, Jerry Trigg and Charles Lucier; sisters-in-law, Florence Nagozruk and Deloras Nagozruk, and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Arthur Sr. and Lucy Nagozruk, brothers, Arthur Jr., Howard, Floyd and Walter Nagozruk, and sisters, Laura Baker, Grace Lucier and Bertha Piscoya.