Violet Coghlan

Violet Coghlan died peacefully Oct. 4, 2007, at Wickersham House in Wasilla. She was 92.

Coghlan and her husband, Gene, homesteaded at Jacobsen Lake near Wasilla in the late 1940s, where they raised their three children and spent the rest of their lives.

Coghlan was born Violet Prevenas Sept. 15, 1915, in Chicago into a family of Greek restaurateurs. She met Eugene Coghlan when he was sent to the Chicago area for military training during World War II. They were married there, and she accompanied him when he returned to Wasilla in 1945.

Coghlan was well-known for her work in various Matanuska Valley offices. She worked as secretary to the Matanuska Electric Association board of directors and at Matanuska Valley Bank. Those in the farming industry, however, will remember her best as office manager for the state Division of Agriculture. Serving from 1955 to 1970, Coghlan provided continuity for the transition from territorial rule to state government and bridged the terms of several directors for the agency.

The Coghlan home was a lively spot in early Wasilla, always open for hospitality and free-flowing conversation. Children, too, were welcome there when weather or circumstance kept them from their more distant homes.

Coghlan was preceded in death by her husband, Gene, in 1992 and by a granddaughter, Sally Ann Coghlan, in 1972. She is survived by her children and their spouses: G.T. “Skip” (Ann) Coghlan of Big Bend, Wisc.; Kathy (Dick) Webb of Jacobsen Lake; and Bonnie Coghlan and her husband, Bill Buchanan of Fairbanks. Surviving grandchildren and their families include: Joanna “Josie” (Bryan) Menning and children Mark and Jake; Cassandra “Casie” (John) Samz and daughters Rachel, Meghan and Lauren, all of Wisconsin; Valerie Webb of Anchorage; Rick Webb of Cambridge, Mass.; and Mary Buchanan and children Alexis Rose Lawrence and Veronica Violet Lawrence, George Buchanan, Charles Buchanan, Michael Buchanan and Laura Buchanan, all of Fairbanks.

Memorial services will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at Christ First United Methodist Church, located at the corner of Knik-Goose Bay Road and Fairview Loop. The family requests in lieu of flowers memorials be made to Wasilla-Knik Historical Society, 300 North Boundary St., Wasilla, AK 99654.