L. Vernon Moore

L. Vernon Moore, 85, died Feb. 21, 2013 in Wasilla. At his request, there will be no service.

Vern was born March 21, 1927 in Pocatello, Idaho, and grew up in Spokane, Wash. After high school, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard, and then became a telephone lineman. He married Billie Thurber in 1948, and in 1952, with two small children, they packed up their vehicle and drove the Alaska Highway to Alaska to fulfill a dream of adventure in the Last Frontier. They arrived with $5 in their pockets, a nonexistent promised job and no home because the house contractor took off with their down payment.

And so began the adventure!

Vern shoveled snow and Billie pinched pennies until he found employment in telecommunications. He traveled the state extensively for many years, installing communication systems in remote areas that extended from Barrow to Attu Island and many points in between, including the D.E.W. line and White Alice Station.

In 1959, Anchorage had grown too populated for him, so he purchased part of an old homestead and moved his family of now three children to Eagle River. He then worked in Anchorage until his retirement in 1983 from what is now called Alaska Communications Systems.

Vern loved the outdoors and beautiful scenery of Alaska. He also enjoyed reading, camping, fishing, hunting, hiking, skiing, listening to music and dancing the jitterbug with Billie in the living room. His wife and children were always his first priority, although he was also very involved in the growing community and made himself available to anyone who needed a helping hand.

He had a warm smile and firm handshake for everyone he met.

His children write, “It’s impossible to condense a lifetime of love into just a few sentences. Dad was lovingly committed to making us independent, self-sufficient, responsible and considerate of others. We were never allowed to watch our mother work without jumping in to help until the job was finished, and he always did the same. We worked together and then played together. Our dad could do anything, from cooking to carpentry to plumbing to electrical wiring and gardening. He insisted that each of us spend at least a year out of the state after high school so we could ‘see how the other half lives,’ and thus gain a greater appreciation for home and family. He helped all three of us build our homes and there was never a time in our lives that he wasn’t available for loving support. How grateful we are that God blessed us with this wonderful man for our father.”

Preceding him in death was his beloved wife, Billie.

Surviving are his three children, Katie Mangelsdorf of Palmer, Linda Kile of Eagle River and Daniel Moore of Big Lake; sisters, Jackie Carlisle of Spring, Texas, and Jean Wood of Spokane, Wash.; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Arrangements by Kehl’s Palmer Chapel.