June Patrice Roripaugh Tull

June Patrice Roripaugh Tull, 76, died May 22, 2012, in Palmer.

She was born April 15, 1936, to Marian and Leo Roripaugh in Temecula, Calif.

June and her older brother, Jack, grew up on their parents’ cattle and wheat ranch in Temecula. The farming country in and around Temecula did not have a high school, so she attended one in the neighboring town of Lake Elsinore, where she reigned as Miss Elsinore.

June came to know Palmer by way of her aunt and uncle, who owned a potato farm across from the George McNeese farm on Fairview Loop Road, where she worked during the summers.

After graduating from the University of California-Santa Barbara, where she was an active member of Alpha Delta Pi, she arrived in Palmer in 1959 to teach high school. Before she hardly knew what happened, she had married Bill Tull, a bank teller at Matanuska Valley Bank.

Full of romance, the couple homesteaded along an unnamed lake in the Meadow Lakes area, now officially named “June Lake.” They lived in a 10-foot-by-14-foot cabin without water or electricity while building their eventual homestead cabin measuring 18 by 24 feet, with electricity.

She made the best moose stew in the Valley. Always adventurous and spirited, they completed homesteading and set out to send Bill through law school while she worked as a teacher. With law school completed, they returned to Palmer, where she quickly continued her lifelong interest in children and their education. She brought her years of experience with 4-H Clubs and quickly became one of its state leaders.

A petting zoo at the Alaska State Fair was one of her early projects. She was re-elected to the school board, became chairperson of an educational foundation based in Temecula, was an enthusiastic member of Kiwanis, a very active member of her book club made up of her friends she referred to as the “bookies,” and tried to read a book a week, passing her latest read on to others.

Her calming smile and sincere passionate interest in every child was unmatched. She was generous to a fault and nonjudgmental. Never too busy for a kind word and deed, she led by example. She loved Palmer and instigated, prepared and donated to the city of Palmer its first banners that hung from street lamps. Her community spirit was continuous and substantial.

June is survived by her husband, William Tull; children and their spouses, Rori and Jim Draper of Rice, Wash., Jon and Vanessa Tull of Camarillo, Calif., and Sarah and Chris Cimino of Lampasas, Texas; and eight grandchildren.

A celebration of her life is at 2 p.m., June 3 at the Presbyterian Log Church in Palmer.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent to the 4-H Club of the Valley, 809 South Chugach St., Palmer, AK 99645.