ROBERT L. BARRON

Wasilla resident Robert L. Barron, 49, died April 30, 2003, in an auto accident on Knik-Goose Bay Road near Wasilla.

A celebration of his life was held on May 4, at his home in Knik.

Mr. Barron was born Feb. 4, 1954, in Seattle, Wash. He received his high school diploma in 1974 from Fallbrook High School in Fallbrook, Calif. From 1983 to 1985 he attended Clark College in Vancouver, Wash. He served in the military as a U.S. Marine.

He came to Alaska in 1996, and resided in Wasilla. From 1985 to 1989 he was employed by Peebles Plumbing in Camas, Wash., as an apprentice plumber. From 1993 to 1995 he operated his own service company in Washougal, Wash. He worked for a few years with LT Plumbing of Wasilla, until opening Barron's Plumbing Service of Knik in 2002.

He attended church in Knik, was a beautiful guitar player, a loyal fisherman and outdoorsman, a lover of books and an avid poet.

His family said, "He was a lover, a father, a papa, a teacher and our best friend. He will be cherished in our hearts forever and never forgotten."

Survivors are his mother Carole Carpenter of Vancouver, Wash.; daughter Angela Barron of Wasilla; son-in-law Nathan Skalman of Wasilla; grandchildren Amber and Jamie Skalman of Wasilla, Alex Chavez of Vancouver, Wash.; and sister Trish Werth of Boring, Ore.

Arrangements were made by Valley Funeral Home in Wasilla.