John David Cancel

Funeral service for Wasilla resident John David Cancel, 30, will be 4 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, at Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel in Wasilla, with a visitation beginning at 3 p.m.

John was born on Nov. 19, 1980, in Anchorage. He was attending his second year of college at the University of Alaska Anchorage Mat-Su Campus. He had worked as a carpenter and was a published poet. He enjoyed writing poetry, fishing, bonfires and fireworks with his family, four-wheel driving and camping, and loved all that Alaska’s great outdoors has to offer.

According to his family, “Johnny was the type of person who loved life and always lived it to the fullest. He wanted all of his friends and family to celebrate his life and not mourn his death.”

John is survived by his mother, Sandra Shell of Wasilla; father, John Cancel of Tampa, Fla.; brothers and sisters-in-law, David and Teague Coley of Vancouver, Wash., Jeremiah Coley and Jennifer Olah, and Emmanuel Cancel and Cynthia Wagoner, all of Wasilla, Seth and Tracy Cancel of Belen, N.M., and Johnny Cancel of New York; sisters, Danette Chavez of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Regina Cancel of California, Elizabeth Cancel of Belen, N.M., and Amanda Cancel of Palmer.

Arrangements by Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel and Crematory of Wasilla.