GEORGIA MAY STEWART

Longtime Excursion Inlet resident Georgia May Stewart, 74, died Dec. 11, 2004, in Palmer, after a short battle with cancer.

She was born April 23, 1930, in Anchorage, to Edith and George Small. They moved to Palmer and built a home on S. Gulkana St., which is still there today. Mrs. Stewart graduated from Palmer Territorial High School and married Bert E. Stewart in 1948. She made friends in the many places they lived in Alaska, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, Missouri and Indiana over the next 56 years.

They lived 32 years in the Excursion Inlet, where they winter-watched the Wards Cove Packing facility. They eventually built two homes, including their own log cabin home at the head of Excursion Inlet, near the site of the Old Pacific American Fisheries Cannery.

Enjoying the subsistence life style, Mrs. Stewart fished, canned and gardened.

Her family wrote, "Gardening was more than producing vegetables and flowers to Georgia. It was about her love of and care for the earth. She was an avid reader and a wealth of information on the medicinal use of local plants and herbs. She loved to sew, knit and crochet. She made many garments and gifts for her family and friends. She even kept a stock of handmade gifts, out of which her family could give gifts to their friends and acquaintances. Above all, she distinguished herself as a woman wise and faithful in her relationships, especially as a wife and mother."

She is survived by her husband, Bert E. Stewart; children, Memory C. Ames, Melody L. Kischner, Wiley S. Stewart, Tyke S. Stewart and Troy H. Stewart; grandchildren, September Dawne Ames, Gable and Brooke Ames, Rachel Ames and Toby Cooper, Mandy M. Ames, Natalie and Mark Powers, Adam F. DesRosiers, Norman and Sarah DesRosiers, Brooke and Chris Eves, Travis and Shane Stewart, Chandler and Cory Stewart; great-grandchildren, Gaeden, Hailey, and Trinity Ames, Warren Cooper and Isaac Powers.

She is preceded in death by her mother, father and brother, Frank A. Small, and her great-granddaughter, Jameson M. Eves. Please send any condolences to P.O. Box 396, Soldotna, AK 99669. Arrangements were made by Kehl's Palmer Mortuary.