Mrs. Jacqueline “Jackie” May Benes

Passed away at Mat-Su Regional Hospital in Wasilla, Alaska, on March 7, 2019, at the age of 88.

Jackie was born on February 23, 1931, in Seattle Washington to Dean and Grace Morris. In 1949, Jackie married Ernest Anderson in Snohomish, Washington, where their four children were born. Ernie passed away in 1966. Jackie remarried to Hugh Dunkin in 1968. They moved with three of Jackie’s children to British Columbia, then to California, and finally to the Bitterroot Valley in Montana, where they raised family and horses. Hugh passed in 1973. Hugh taught Jackie to fly and after his death, she moved to Alaska, where she earned her private pilot’s license, instrument rating, and floatplane rating. In Alaska, she worked for 14 years as a staff member at the Office of Aircraft Services on Lake Hood, where she met her husband Vladmir “Ed” Benes. Jackie and Ed retired from OAS in 1996 and moved briefly to Colorado, but returned to Alaska for good in 1998 to be close to her son, Gene, two daughters, and numerous grandchildren. Jackie and Ed shared a love for family, all things Alaska, and airplanes. They enjoyed many years of camping with their children and grandchildren. After returning to Alaska in 1996, Jackie worked for several years as an in-take specialist at Mat-Su Regional Hospital. She will be remembered for her strength and grace, her kindness towards everyone she met, her sense of humor, and her boundless energy for work, homemaking, and gardening. She loved to share with others her faith in the love and mercy of God. Her deep faith led her to teach Sunday school well into her 80’s. Jackie loved the sight of Pioneer Peak from her home and asked that her ashes be scattered over it when that day came.

Jackie is survived by her husband, Ed Benes; sons, Leon and Gene Anderson; daughters, Shelly Dushkin and Jeannette Peters; 10 grandchildren; and 18 great grandchildren.

Her family will gather this summer to celebrate her life and to scatter her ashes over the mountain as she wished.

The Wasilla Church of the Nazarene will also announce a memorial service in the near future.