Jeffrey Maurer

Jeffrey Lynn Maurer, 60, died at Providence Extended Care on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, due to complications that arose from a sudden illness.

Mr. Maurer requested no service and that his ashes be scattered at a location to be determined at a later date

Mr. Maurer was born Oct. 14, 1949, in Rapid City, S.D., to D.L. and Beverly Maurer. He eventually traveled with his parents and siblings to Oahu, Hawaii, in 1960 and graduated from Leilehua High School in 1967. In 1975, he came to Alaska to work as a construction laborer on the trans-Alaska pipeline and made Alaska his home.

During his formative years in Hawaii, he became an avid swimmer, surfer and diver, eventually using these skills to work as a lifeguard for the U.S. Army beach club in Haleiwa, Hawaii. He also worked for the local dairy, which enhanced his lifelong love of cowboys, horses, cattle and rodeo.

In 1968, Mr. Maurer attended and graduated from the Honolulu Police Academy and later was employed as an officer in their communications department. In 1970, he moved to the Big Island of Hawaii, where he worked as a patrolman with the Hawaii county police department. During that time he acquired some property, cattle, a horse and began honing his ranching and rodeo skills. He eventually competed in the Makawao Rodeo on the island of Maui and fulfilled his dream to be a paniolo,or Hawaiian cowboy.

In 1975, looking for a new adventure, Mr. Maurer traveled to Anchorage to find work on the trans-Alaska pipeline. Although he continued to visit the islands, Alaska had now become his new frontier.

He began working for NANA security in Prudhoe Bay and eventually joined the Laborers Union. When the construction of the pipeline was concluded, he worked for the Hotel Captain Cook as an engineer and later as a maintenance foreman at the Holiday Inn on Fourth Avenue. During the 1980s, he again began working in construction out of the Laborers Local 341. He worked on numerous construction projects around Anchorage and Alaska until his retirement from the Laborer's Union in 1999. From 2000 until 2010, he drove a cab, off and on, for Checker Cab in Anchorage.

Jeff loved anything involving Westerns or cowboys, animals, fishing, antiques, camping, surfing, swimming, woodworking and carving. Over the years, at Christmas, he donned his alter ego and was known as "Santa" to numerous friends, relatives children and grandchildren. At other times he dressed as an old sourdough and was know to tourists as "Klondike Jeff." He will be remembered and missed as a good son, brother, uncle and friend.

He is survived by his father and stepmother, D.L. and Dorothy Maurer of Henderson, Nev.; sister and brother-in-law, Beth and Daniel Ward, Waialua, Hawaii; sisters, Linda Maurer of Wasilla and Candace Aoki of Haleiwa; brother and sister-in-law, James and Sandoz Maurer, Anchorage; brother, Jon Maurer, Anchorage; nieces, Cathy and Carrie Aoki, Haleiwa, and Cara Coloma-Oga, Jenna and Madelynne Maurer, Anchorage, and Leslyn Maurer, Waialua; nephews, Ryan Aoki of Waialua and Jarred Maurer of Anchorage; and life partner, Cassandra DelReal.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Beverly A. Maurer; and niece, Alyssa L. Maurer.