George Shepard Crowther

George Shepard Crowther, 89, passed away on Sept. 12, 2014.

He was born Feb. 28, 1925 in Rigby, Idaho, the first born of George Harold and Rita Crowther.

George was born into a Mormon family who mainly subsisted by farming potatoes and raising livestock. George had six siblings. In 1937 the family moved to a government farm tract that was part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in Tulelake, California. When not working on the potato farm, he spent his childhood fishing and hunting game and fowl. After graduating from high school George joined the Navy. He spent two years in college.

In 1951, George took a job as a vegetable inspector in Palmer and moved north to Alaska from the San Joaquin Valley. Being an inveterate hunter and fisherman, he immediately knew the Last Frontier was the right place for him. And he stayed.

George met Betty Kreutz at the Colony Inn in Palmer. They married on June 1, 1952, at the United Protestant Church. They bought a partially developed 40-acre Colony farm in the Springer System. George knew how to grow potatoes, and did so until 1975. He was a seed potato farmer, who provided certified stock to other growers in Alaska. George also grew lettuce, cabbage and other vegetables.

In 1963, George went to work as the manager of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Cooperation, the ARRC. That organization provided loan service to the agriculture community around Alaska. The ARRC later provided rural housing loan services. He retired from the ARRC in 1990.

After retiring from potato farming, George took up the sport of golf, and he pursued it fervently. He once shot par at a course in Hawaii, had 13 birdies, three eagles, and one hole in one.

George has four children: Pamela, Susan, Scott and Paul. Pamela is a retired Registered Nurse who lives in Sacramento, California. Susan is a retired cost accountant, married to Ed Gage and lives in Stanberry, Missouri. Scott is a self-employed civil engineer who lives in Anchorage. And Paul is an Internet developer who lives in Anchorage.

Preceding him in death was his wife, Betty, in September 2008.

His memorial service is at 7 p.m., Sept. 18 at the United Protestant Church in Palmer. The family requests that all memorial donations be made to Hospice of the Valley in Palmer.