Barbara K. Scanlan

1950 - 2011

Former Fairbanks and Tenakee Springs resident Barbara Kathleen Scanlan (nee Pegues), beloved daughter, sister, mother, aunt, grandmother and friend made her final journey on April 16, 2011, in Burien, Wash., with family members by her side after a brief battle with cancer.
Barbara, a fifth-generation Alaskan, was born in Juneau on Jan. 6, 1950, the first daughter of Don and Elsie Pegues. She attended school in Juneau, Ketchikan and Pago Pago, American Samoa.
During her years in Samoa, Barbara met and married Herb Scanlan Jr. and their daughters, Stephanie and Taimane, were born in Pago Pago. In the mid-1970s, the Scanlans moved to Fairbanks where Barbara worked for Sourdough Freight Lines. In early 1979, Barb and her daughters moved to Tenakee Springs where her parents and uncles had purchased Snyder Mercantile, which Barb managed for many years.
She was a leader in the Tenakee Springs community, loved everyone and was loved in return. She was a dedicated gardener and was affectionately known as "the Teapot Lady," a reference to her collection of many teapots distributed throughout her garden. While sometimes a "white knuckle flyer," she was an aviation enthusiast, having grown up with Pan American Airways and her many years in Tenakee Springs as the local station manager for Channel Flying and Wings of Alaska.
Barbara was not afraid to "go gently into that good night," as she had her deep faith to uphold and guide her. She was confident in the guide that would walk beside her on this final journey to her final destination.
Barbara was preceded in death by her mother Elsie Pegues; uncles Jack, Jim, Terry, Geoff, Dick and Bill Pegues; aunt June Pegues; uncle George and Lois Schnabel; and brother Clarence Valencia.
She is survived by the loves of her life: daughter and son-in-law, Stephani and Bill Tuaua and their children Jacob and Sophia Rose, all of Burien; daughter, Taimane Scanlan of Burien; sisters, Diana Pegues of Vida, Ore., Margaret Pegues of Fairbanks and Shelley Beery of Kent, Wash.; brother, Michael Valencia of San Francisco; father Don Pegues of Tenakee Springs; uncle Bob Pegues of Tenakee Springs; aunt Josephine of Juneau; uncle and aunt Rod and Donna Pegues of Juneau; niece, Nicole Pegues of Portland, Ore.; former husband Herb Scanlan Jr. of American Samoa; and her very special dear friends Tomi Strong and Vicki Wisenbaugh, both of Tenakee Springs.
Her love went out to all of Tenakee Springs, her many cousins in Haines, Juneau and extended family in American Samoa. At her request, no service is planned.