Jerome Fife Sheldon

Jerome Fife Sheldon, who owned and published The Palmer Frontiersman, died on Alaska Day, Oct. 18, 2013.

Sheldon was born in Shanghai, China, to Sidney and Eunice (Fife) Sheldon on April 25, 1919. His father was then professor of Electrical Engineering at Nan Yang College. The family moved to Seattle in 1927, where he became a paperboy for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, editor of the Roosevelt High School newspaper and graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Washington in 1940.

Jerome Sheldon first came to Alaska in 1942 with the U.S. Army’s 18th Engineer Regiment. He worked on the building of the Alaska Highway and also helped build an air base on Shemya Island in the Aleutians. He wrote for Stars and Stripes during this time.

Sheldon returned to Seattle in 1945 and married Kathryn (Jane) Hasemeier. In 1954, the family, which now included a son, Stephen and a daughter, Mary, moved to Fairbanks. Jerome was news editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. After two years he moved to Anchorage and became public relations officer for the Alaska Railroad. Sheldon later returned to the Fairbanks newspaper to be night editor for the News-Miner, later becoming editor of Jessen’s Weekly. He was the Alaska correspondent for Newsweek. His big story for Newsweek was the Alaska Earthquake of 1964. He also worked for the Ketchikan News.

In 1974, he and his wife Jane bought the Palmer Frontiersman, which they managed until 1979. They bought a newspaper in Heppner, Ore., before eventually retiring in Seattle. In retirement, Jerome wrote freelance articles on Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

Surviving are his children, Stephen Sheldon and Mary Torgan; his sister, Janice Baumback; and three grandchildren. His wife, Jane, preceded him in death in 2002. Memorial services are pending.