SANDRA KNUDSON-HINCHEE

Wasilla resident Sandra Lou Knudson-Hinchee, 70, died June 20, 2008, from complications due to neuro-fibromitosis at Heidi’s Place Assisted Living Home in Wasilla.

A memorial service was held June 26 at the Mat-Su Resort in Wasilla.

Knudson-Hinchee was born March 30, 1938, in Woodland, Wash. She came to Alaska in 1959. In the early 1960s, she was an active member of the Lions Club and held several elected positions. She was also active in her church prior to being disabled.

Knudson-Hinchee was an avid reader. She loved knitting, crocheting and collecting yarn and patterns. She loved animals and gave many a safe and loving home. She also loved watching Animal Planet.

Her family wrote, “Sandra came from a long line of hard-working, hard-living people who made a living from the land and grew up in several areas of Oregon and Washington. She graduated from Centralia High School in 1955 and spent a lot of time in Cougar and Yale as a youngster. She always had animals and was a nature lover.

“After she graduated, she went to work at the Washington State Capital in Olympia, where she drove an MG, which she was so proud of. She moved to Anchorage in the late ’50s and met the love of her life, Rufus Hinchee Jr., and had her two children. After they separated, she made her way to Grays Harbor, Wash., and worked within the logging industry and at the Satsop Nuclear Plant as an office manager.

“After recovering from a near fatal car accident on July 4, 1981, she came back to Alaska in 1984 and went to work in Dutch Harbor, which indicates her adventurous nature. Sandra was an independent, strong-willed and, at times, feisty woman who was well-liked by her friends and associates. She was diagnosed with neuro-fibromitosis in the early ’80s and was unable to work after the disease disabled her in the ’90s. Her son Rufus was instrumental in her comfort until she entered assisted living in Wasilla at Heidi’s Place two years ago.

“The family would like to express gratitude to Heidi and her assistants, as well as Sandra’s dear friend Karolyn Wolfrom, who kept her safe and well until her passing. For Sandra’s last birthday she met her 25-year-old granddaughter Carly, who was adopted in 1982, and it meant the world to her.”

Survivors are her son, Rufus C. (Skip) Hinchee of Wasilla; daughter, Pamela K. Hinchee of Wasilla; granddaughters, Carly McNeil of Portland, Ore., and Tashaunna Lee Goss of Browning, Mont.; grandson, Lance (Boo) Griffith Goss of Browning, Mont.; and step-father, John Bloomer of Oregon.

She was preceded in death by her, mother Marie Bloomer; father, George Dobson; husband, John Knudson; and ex-husband, Rufus Charles Hinchee Jr.

Arrangements are with Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel & Crematory.