Sonny F. Hayes

Sonny F. Hayes, 31, died May 28, 2012, at home in Sunshine. Sonny was born April 5, 1981, in Anchorage to Bonnie (Saccheus) Mencer and Sonny R. Hayes.

A celebration of life in honor of Sonny is at 3 p.m., June 23, at West Valley Family Church of the Nazarene, 1300 S. Ridgecrest Rd., Wasilla.

A potlatch will follow the services and the family invites those who attend to please bring a dish to share. Sonny’s wishes were for cremation, and his family will honor his request to scatter his ashes at a later date.

Sonny graduated from East High School in Anchorage and worked as an Alaska Native artist weaving baleen baskets, as taught by mentor John F. Hank.

Sonny will be missed by all the artists he met and especially by his family and friends. His family wrote, “We all loved you, Sonny.”

Surviving are his mother, Bonnie, and step-father, Davis Miller of Sunshine; daughter, Melina Hester of Palmer and Lubbock, Texas; brother, Robert Mischa Saccheus of Elim; uncles, Mike, Issac, Abel and Carl; aunt, Sonya Faraci; many cousins, nieces and nephews; and his loyal and loving friends.

Preceding him in death was his father, Sonny; grandfather, Fredolf Saccheus; and grandma, Margaret Saccheus.

Arrangements were by Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel and Crematory in Wasilla.