JANET B. LUSTER

Janet (Jan) B. Luster of Chickaloon passed away peacefully Oct. 29, 2002, at the age of 90 at Valley Hospital in Palmer. Mrs. Luster was born Sept. 8, 1912, on the Shoshone Indian Reservation in Guernsey, Wyo. She came to Alaska in 1938.

At her request there will be no services held. She will be interred at the family burial plot in Wyoming.

She is survived by her daughters Susan Donley and Nancy Marchetti and longtime caregivers/grandsons, Buddy Sherfield and Thom White.

Mrs. Luster was also a mother to 11 stepchildren. She had 37 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and seven great, great-grandchildren. She loved her family and especially being a grandmother.

She was an excellent rider even into her '70s. In 1932, she was all-around Cowgirl Champion Rodeo Queen in Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyo.

During World War II she worked making radio crystals. She was the camp cook for the family business, "Chickaloon Outfitters & Guides." She baked bread, pies and cinnamon rolls over a bed of coals in a Dutch Oven when in camp. She also cooked over an open fire. She cooked and baked pies for the King Mountain Lodge in the '60's and early '70's. She was an excellent cook and was well known for her cinnamon rolls. Her cinnamon rolls were taken along on the first two Iditarod races.

Mrs. Luster's family remembered, "Jan made many beautiful crocheted Afghans for family and friends through the years. She also had a love of sewing and used a treadle sewing machine.

Jan had a very compassionate heart for people down on their luck. She accepted people for who they were. She loved horses, cats and helping take care of her husband's many sled dogs which they used on their trap line.

She was an excellent shot with both a rifle and a hand gun. Janet was the family matriarch and is truly missed by all of us who loved her."

Janet was preceded in death by her husband John A. Luster.

Memorial donations may be made to Anchorage Rescue Mission, P.O. Box 230510, Anchorage AK 99523-9988.

Arrangements were made by Valley Funeral Home.