RICHARD VICTOR PASTRO

Palmer resident Mr. Richard Victor Pastro, 79, died at his home of cancer Oct. 13, 2003.

A visitation will take place at Valley Funeral Home Chapel, 151 E. Herning Ave. in Wasilla at 11 a.m. Monday with burial to follow at 1 p.m.at Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery in the Pioneer section. His friend, John Kriegelstein, will officiate. Family and friends will serve as pallbearers.

Mr. Pastro was born at the railroad hospital in Anchorage on Aug. 24, 1924.

In the late 1920s, he lived with his family at the Premier Coal Mine in the Matanuska Valley. In the early 1930s they moved to Anchorage where they owned and operated the Lido Hotel.

After graduating from Anchorage High School, Mr. Pastro served his country in the United States Army Air Force. At the end of World War II he was a B-29 mechanic in Texas.

He returned home to Anchorage and continued his aviation career as a mechanic with the Federal Aviation Administration. Over the next 30 years he was a flight engineer, co-pilot and pilot, and was one of the chief pilots with the organization at the time of his retirement in 1979.

Mr. Pastro met his future wife, Lois Hrdina, at work and they were married in 1951. They raised two sons in the home they built on O'Malley Road in Anchorage.

Mr. Pastro was a member of the Elks Club, The Pioneers of Alaska, the VFW, the Anchorage Museum and neighborhood organizations.

He was involved in the Anchorage city band and sports. Aviation was of special interest to Mr. Pastro.

He was an active member of the Catholic Church.

After retirement, Mr. and Mrs. Pastro moved to the Mat-Su Valley to a home they built on King's Lake. He remained active in aviation through the Alaska Museum of Transportation and Industry where the planes that he once flew were on display.

In 1994 he received the Charles Tayler "Master Mechanic" award for dedication to his profession.

Mr. Pastro is survived by his wife Lois Pastro; sons and daughters-in-law Jim and Debbie Pastro and Tony and Chris Pastro; brother Eugene Pastro and grandchildren Ezra, Josiah, Nicholas and Mary.

Memorial donations may be sent to Hospice of Mat-Su, 3051 E. Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Wasilla, AK 99654.

Arrangements were made by Valley Funeral Home & Crematory in Wasilla.