STELLA (IRWIN) ODSATHER

Mary Estella Irwin Odsather, 92, died peacefully on July 23, 2010, in Anchorage.

A Celebration of Life and reception will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7 at the First Presbyterian Church in Anchorage.

“Stella” was born to Don and Amy Pearl Gould Irwin, on Dec. 5, 1917 in Basin, Wyo. Her family arrived in Alaska on June 21, 1934, settling into their home in Palmer where her father became the director of the Matanuska Experiment Farm, and was later appointed by President Roosevelt as the first director of the Colony Project. She graduated in 1935 from the one-room school, near Palmer.

Stella attended the Alaska College of Agriculture and Mines in Fairbanks from 1935 to 1937, studying home economics.

Stella’s future husband, Louis Odsather, was hired by Don Irwin in 1935 and became the manager of the Colony Project’s Trading Post. On Sept. 16, 1937 Louie and Estella were the first couple married in the United Protestant Church of Palmer known as “the church of a thousand trees.”

In 1938 they moved to Anchorage where Louie went into partnership in Lucky’s Grocery. In 1950 they sold their interest in Lucky’s, securing an interest in the Parsons Hotel and the Coffee-Simpson Insurance Co., which later became Odsather-Simpson Insurance Inc.

They raised their family in Anchorage. In 1976 they moved to their “cabin” on Wasilla Lake. Stella remained at the cabin after Louie’s passing until 2008 when she moved into the Anchorage Providence Horizon House.

In 1964 Stella started working for the Anchorage School District in the food service program at West Anchorage High where she trained at-risk youth, retiring as food services manager in 1974.

In1991 her keen interests with Alaska’s senior citizens led to Stella’s appointment by Governor Hickel to be a member of the Pioneer Home Advisory Board and the Older Alaskans Commission until her retirement in 2002. In 1991 she was the Mat-Su delegate to the Conference on Aging in Washington, D.C. In 1990 she was a charter member of the Circumpolar Health Board, spearheaded by the first Matanuska Colony doctor, Dr. Albrecht.

Stella was a member of the Pioneers of Alaska Anchorage and Palmer Igloos, Real Alaskans, Alaska Yukon Pioneers, Anchorage Emblem Club #329 and the First Presbyterian Church in Anchorage and Wasilla.

With a beautiful singing voice she was one of the original members of the Anchorage Community Chorus. Her activities included past president of Beta Sigma Phi; active supporter of the Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts; leader for the Campfire Girls; secretary for the Salvation Army’s Booth Memorial Home; Past Worthy Matron of the Order of Eastern Star #4 and Mother Advisor of the Rainbow Girls.

In 1974 she was president of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Pioneers of Alaska and the following year she and Louie served as Queen and King Regent at the Alaska Fur Rendezvous. In 1979, they were selected as the National Civilian Leaders for the Military by the YMCA for their tireless efforts as serving as “Mom and Dad” to the Outstanding Military for the Fur Rendezvous.

Stella was preceded in death by her father and mother, Don and Amy; husband of 52 years, Louis; and her brother Don Irwin.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Shirley of Fairbanks; son and daughter-in-law, Kenneth and Gay of Anchorage; daughter, Kathy of San Francisco. Grandsons Jon (Missy) Odsather, Erik Odsather, Norman (Kristin) Odsather, Martin Odsather; great-grandchildren, Taylor Littell, Mason and Aislynn Odsather, Alec Solvang and Ryan Odsather. Sister, Ina Belle Irwin Boss Kennedy of Bellingham, Wash.; and special friends Ed Walker of Palmer and Sandy Johnson of Anchorage.

Her family wrote that “Stella loved Alaska and, through her friendships with many throughout the state and nation, cherished her relationships with all she knew.

“Stella and Louie had a remarkable gift of greeting old friends and effortlessly making new ones. While socializing at events, our parents would with all the joy and gusto, recollect names and something very special about each individual they met. We imagine they are up there right now getting reacquainted, ‘working the crowd’ and waiting for us to follow.”

Arrangements by Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel in Wasilla.