John Conover

John Scott Conover, 74, died May 4, 2011 at Providence Hospital due to complications of a massive hemorrhagic stroke, with his wife and son at his bedside.

Memorial services will be held 4 p.m., Wednesday, May 11, at All Saints Episcopal Church, 8th Ave and F Street, with a reception following at the Pioneer Hall, 6th and F Street. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made in John's name to the Disabled American Veterans, 1201 N. Muldoon Rd., Room 2-A-210, Anchorage, Alaska 99504.

John's ashes will be put to rest at the Columbarium Wall at the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery on May 12, 2011 with full military honors, along with those of his beloved schnauzers, Max and Maggie Mae.

John was born November 23, 1936 in Logan, Utah to Wesley and Frances (Garnet) Conover. John enlisted in the Marines, serving in the 1st Marine Div. Recon-CO Korea and onboard the Navy's aircraft carrier, USS Randolph and among other assignments. After medical retirement from the Marines John worked as a structural drafter for Fluor Corp. in California. While in California John married his first wife, Julie and his daughter, Tammy was born. John came to Alaska in January 1964 looking for adventure and new opportunities. Finding employment and housing on his first day in Fairbanks, John sent for the family and the birth of his son, Timothy Scott, followed in December 1964. John started school at UAF in 1967, taking semesters and time off for work as needed, graduating in 1973 with a BS in Civil Engineering. In fall of 1974, John entered Cornell University for graduate work in Structural Engineering. The following year, his first marriage ended and he went back to California to work for Fluor. After less than a year, Alaska called him back home. Over his professional career, John worked for several architectural, engineering and construction companies providing structural engineering design services as well as project management and quality assurance. John held Professional Engineer licenses in Alaska and Hawaii and a Structural Engineer license in California.

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1976, John began his next big adventure, marrying Shawneen (McGahey) Hupprich. In January 1981, John, the family and animals made their permanent home in Anchorage. Their marriage was filled with many more adventures, friends and good memories.

John is a life member of Fairbanks Men's Igloo No. 4 and Anchorage Men's Igloo No. 15 (past president, 2007 and King Regent, 2008), Pioneers of Alaska; charter member of Anchorage Elks No. 2868; Loyal Order of Moose 1534; American Legion, Jack Henry Post 1; Anchorage Senior Center, Alaska Yukon Pioneers and the Real Alaskans, During his career was an active member in several professional engineering and building-related organizations.

John enjoyed all things military, especially anything connected with the Marines, enjoying the company of family, friends and pets, arguing with the TV over politics and news programs, and was an avid reader, usually reading 2-3 books at one time.

His parents and many much-loved pets predeceased John.

John is survived by his wife of 35 years, Shawneen; son, Tim and his wife, Karen; daughter, Tammy Randolph and her husband, Ed; grandchildren, Dylan and Jillian Conover, and Daryn, Katie, and Kyle Colledge; his schnauzers, Kira and Lacey; cat, Kaleigh; and Chico, his talking/singing parrot.