Violet Willson

1933 - 2015

Lifelong Alaskan Violet Willson, 81, passed away on Jan. 15, 2015, at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. A service was held on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, at Legacy Funeral Home Heritage Chapel at Angelus. Another service will be held on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, at 1 p.m. at Naknek Community Church in Naknek, Alaska. Daniel J. O'Hara will officiate. Pallbearers will be Everett Thompson, Justin Ryan, Ryan and Colton Roehl and Zackary and Kvichak Aspelund. Interment will be at Bristol Bay Borough Cemetery. Violet was born on Aug. 22, 1933, in Nielsen Bay on Iliamna Lake. She lived most of her life in the Iliamna Lake and Bristol Bay area, mainly South Naknek and Naknek. She spent most of her life commercial fishing in summer until retiring in 1994. She owned and operated "The Little House" bed and breakfast. She was a member of Naknek Community Church. Violet was awarded the Salty Dog Award in 2004 and Winterfest Queen 2005. Her hobbies included cooking, baking, putting up fish, visiting, crocheting, playing cards, telling old-time stories and taking pictures. Her family said, "Violet enjoyed being married but was widowed three times. Violet was very generous and helped a lot of people. Every potluck she always had rhubarb pie or pickled fish. She loved to cook and feed people. She lived the days of dog teams to self-driven cars, seen the era of radio to the first televisions and all the way to these magic little boxes we call computers. She was a self-made person and lived through so much love and loss. She was so strong for so long. She was a great advocate for our fisheries. She cared about our natural resources and knew that our health of our ecosystem was greater than ourselves and our lifetime." Violet is survived by her daughters, Betty Bonin, Carolyn Ryan and Candy Aspelund; sons, Guy Groat III, Kenneth Groat and John Roehl; sisters, Nellie Roehl, Ruth Monsen, Clara Angasan and Ann Quapaw; brother, Donald Nielsen; granddaughters, Rhonda Wayner, Izetta Chambers, Bridget Baumgarte, Marcia Clemons, Adele Rahman, Casey Groat, Lynsey Groat, Valli Peterson, Carmill Goldsberry, Amber Herrmann, Andrea and Kimberly Stogner and Violet Groat; grandsons, Everett Thompson, OT Daniel Stogner, Paul Groat, Ryan and Colton Roehl, Zackary and Kvichak Aspelund and Justin and Cory Ryan. She also leaves behind 24 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Arrangements entrusted to Legacy Funeral Home Heritage Chapel at Angelus.