Winnona Gay Petro-Stroupe

Winnona Gay Petro-Stroupe passed away peacefully at her home in Wasilla, Alaska, April 26, 2020 at the age of 80.

She was born the fourth of five sisters in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on January 17, 1940 to Guy and Gertrude Peoples. Gay was a beloved mother to her four children: Patrick, Kathleen, Royal, and Chris and her two stepdaughters Tiffanie and Stephanie. She was the proud grandmother to 10 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

In 1983, Gay and her youngest son moved to Alaska and fell in love with the last frontier. She worked as a real estate agent and nurse in Anchorage, and in 1985 she took a job in Bethel, Alaska at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Correction Center where she met her soon to be husband, Don, who was working as a probation officer. They married in August of 1995 and spent their lives together traveling and enjoying time with the family.

Gay’s passion for helping people sent her to college at the age of fifty, where she completed the MEDEX program at the University of Washington. She completed her studies and went on to have a successful career as a Physician’s Assistant with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, where she traveled the villages of western Alaska assisting Health aides in the village clinics. She later managed the Bethel Family Clinic for many years.

After retirement, you could find Gay working away in her garden, volunteering and singing at her church, enjoying a good book, or spending time with friends.

She will be remembered by those lucky enough to have known her as a wonderful example of kindness, generosity, and compassion.

A celebration of life will be held at the Lamb of God Lutheran Church on Church road in Wasilla on June 28th at 1:00. A potlatch will follow the celebration.