Patty Ann Blach Metzler

Patty Ann Blach Metzler was born to Perry and Teresa Blach in Yuma, Colo., March 6, 1952.

The life Patty wanted and deserved was interrupted April 1, 2007, by multiple

sclerosis.

Despite her decades-long struggle, she always shared with others her abundant graciousness and selfless courage.

When she finally had to let go, word spread like prairie fire. People who love her called from every corner. We needed to talk about her. We needed to embrace her again. She brought us together.

She brought us back to our roots.

Of course she would, growing up on the family's farm and ranch operation nine miles north and east of Yuma. Not far from Blach School where she learned her ABCs and probably some of her Ps and Qs.

Her spirit was never far from the hardpan, the place she found her love, Don Metzler. They were 9 years old when they first met, judging dairy cattle together at Harold Olsen's place. That's the day, in 1961, they started being best friends forever.

Sometime before they graduated from Yuma High School in 1970, they fell in love. A few years later, children arrived.

The prairie isn't always a good provider, so Don started working in Alaska's oilfields on the North Slope. They moved their young family to Palmer in 1987.

Don and Patty eventually bought a home at the foot of Lazy Mountain. The Matanuska River poured through its braids a few hundred feet below. On a clear day, she could see the Alaska Range and its dominating peak, Denali, from their back porch.

She lived among the mountains and rivers and trees. But those things seemed to block her view. She was a girl and a woman of the High Plains, always seeing out to that vast, flat foreverness where the edge of the Earth bends out of sight and possibilities are endless.

As a senior at Yuma High School she helped organize a powderpuff football game to raise money for a school activity. She was the quarterback. Of course her team won - just like she won the car races to school on Highway 59. It made her happy to play a sport her dad and brothers and Don excelled at.

After the game, she was exhilarated. Then, for a moment, she turned off her magical smile, &#8220I could've done better.”

She took that attitude everywhere. Including Colorado State University, where she studied childhood development and pitched for the softball team. She was proud, as is her entire family, to be a Ram.

But most of all, she liked being a mom and a wife.

Patty left no surviving relatives or friends, because nobody had to survive her.

Among the ones who are blessed to have been in her life are her parents, her girlhood sweetheart and lifelong husband, Donald Jay Metzler, and their children, whom she loves to no end, Sarah, Katie, Hannah, Maggie and Caleb.

Sarah and Dan Hogan live in Windsor, Colo. They have a son, Connor. Katie lives in Denver, where she's a graphic artist. Hannah and Brian Long live in Las Animas, Colo., with their son Cimarron. Maggie is an interior designer in Seattle, and Caleb is a marketing student in Greeley, Colo.

Siblings and their loved ones are Bernie and Cindy Blach; Tom and Brenda Blach; Tim Blach; Dan and Mary Kay Robertson; Chris and Nancy Curtin; Bob and Lisa Blach; Randy and Karen Blach; and Ed and Darci Blach.

She will also be remembered fondly by Don's parents, Sue and Ben Metzler, and his brothers Dean and Blair.

There are many nieces and nephews who will miss her and so will her extended family and countless friends.

Mass was held at St. John's Catholic Church in Yuma. Colo., on April 4, 2007.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to The Patty Metzler Memorial Fund, and sent to Baucke Funeral Home, 128 South Ash St., Yuma, Colo., 80759.

Karl Embach

Palmer, Alaska, resident Karl L. Embach, 56, died April 2, 2007, at his home from pancreatic cancer. No services are planned.

Mr. Embach was born January 8, 1951, in Dearborn, Michigan. He completed 2 years of college. A former resident of Adrian, Michigan, he moved to Alaska in 1988, and was employed by Seward Ships Chandlery from 1988 to 1990, and at Bay City Motors from 1990 to 1993 (both in Seward, Alaska), by K & K Mobile Automotive in Palmer, Alaska in 1996, and by Fisherman's Finest Mobile Bait Company in Big Lake, Alaska, in 1996 and 1997. He lived in Seward from 1988 to 1994, in Eagle River from 1994 to 1996, and in Palmer since 1996.

His hobbies and special interests were fishing, hunting, row boating, collecting silver coins, woodworking, auto mechanics, and E-Bay. His family wrote: &#8220Our father was looking forward to the birth of his fifth and sixth grandchildren in April and September. He was a son, father, and grandfather and loved by many. His family and friends were with him when he died in the comfort of his home. He will be missed.”

Survivors are daughters, Clarissa Embach of Tucson, Ariz., Kathy Kidrick of Big Lake, Alaska, Karla Embach and Karri Embach of Wasilla, Alaska; granddaughters, Karolyn Kidrick and Kim Klein of Wasilla; grandsons, Chance and Chase Klein of Wasilla; sisters, Mary Mapes of Reading, Mich., Pat Button of Hudson, Mich., Marie Leinhop of St. Louis, Missouri, and Elly Arnold of St. Joseph, Missouri; and brothers, Edward Embach and Jim Embach of Pittsford, Mich. His wife, Kim L. Embach died in 2004.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made to Mat-Su Regional Homecare & Hospice in Karl's name, 3051 E. Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Wasilla, AK 99654.

Arrangements are with Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel of Wasilla.