Joseph "Joe" Alcantra

March 1958-September 2023.

Alaska lost a gentle giant of a man on Labor Day. Joe, died doing what he loved, going for a drive on a beautiful summer day with his beloved wife, Marina, by his side. Born in Anchorage, Alaska on a cold March morning, the sixth child of John and Patricia Alcantra.

Joe grew into a man with a deep booming voice that soothed any baby placed on his chest to be rocked. As soon as they heard him talk, they immediately quieted and listened as if entranced. He could tell them stories until they fell asleep in his arms as content as could be, feeling safe being held in his big warm hands.

He lived by very definite principles. A man whose word was his bond. If he said he would, he did, no question. Joe was always the first person to call or stop to offer help. He could see what needed to be done and did it. He never suffered fools gladly and was famous for his lack of patience for whiners.

Joe was a great story teller of his life in Alaska. He was tall for his age and he went to work at a cannery in Kodiak, saying he was 18 but was only 15. He worked hard and his boss ended up renting him a house so he wouldn’t lose Joe, who was living in a tent, when the rains started. One time he was out with one of his best friends and they came upon a cave to explore. However, a very large bear had found it first. “Never poke a sleeping bear” was a lesson he never forgot. Joe was like the sleeping bear, always mellow and everyone’s friend, unless provoked.

Joe was well renowned for being able to sum up most of life with just two words. When something positive happened, he would just smile his big warm smile and say ‘Killer.” Yet, if life took a turn toward the bad, he could commiserate with the word, “Bummer”. His expressions, and either of those two words, spoke volumes.

As a builder, he helped create airports in Alaska villages, establish homesites, and build roads. He learned to set dynamite on road construction projects using his math skills, not a computer. His first day in his college English class he wrote the best opening line for an assignment on meeting extra-terrestrials by simply stating: “I am, Joe Alcantra, from Earth.” The professor stated ‘that is how you write’. A superb pool player, Joe rarely had to buy a beer at his favorite watering holes throughout the Matanuska Valley or the state, and he loved to play poker and cribbage.

More important than anything in his varied life, Joe was a family man. He loved his wife, children, and grandchildren beyond any human measure. He was happiest to be around his extended family and hosted many amazing barbecues that were called “Joe Fest”. He had just hosted, Joe Fest Five, at a sister’s house, in July.

His love of car travel and exploring the back roads of Alaska and the rest of the USA had him knowing more about places than the people who lived in the area. He was the epitome of the old song, “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man”.

He was a big man who lived large, but simply. The pleasures of life for him were his family, his many friends, road travel, good food, and music, and just being in love with his wife and life. Never flashy, always generous with anything he owned.

He was a proud union man and a member of Laborers Union 341 (retired), making his passing on Labor Day, all the more poignant.

Joe leaves his wife of 42 years, Gail “Marina”, his son, Joseph (Ashley) Alcantra, daughter, Kelli (Nick) Barkov, and two grandchildren, Olivia and Isabella, mother, Patricia Alcantra, siblings: Barbara (Les) Hermon, Ramona (Steve) Van Cleve, Laura (Ray) LaFrance, Dianna (Bill) Comer, Neva (George) Cobian, John (Rosetta) Alcantra and Cameron Alcantra, along with numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, John R. Alcantra, his son, Kenny Alcantra, his brother, Daniel “Danny” Alcantra, sister Theresa (David) Badger, two nephews and three nieces.

Even though, Joe, left us way too soon, the family wishes to thank all who tried to save him. Especially, the first on scene Good Samaritans, EMTs, and troopers that worked to revive him, giving their all to help a good man who had always helped so many.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be held at the Palmer, Alaska Moose Lodge, next summer, where he and Marina celebrated their marriage years ago.

Mortuary Services by Peninsula Memorial Chapel