Georgie Lantz

1928 - 2015

Georgie Lantz, born May 27, 1928 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, died at home on Saturday, May 23, 2015, just a few days before she would have been 87 years old.
She homesteaded in Alaska in 1953. In a car filled with four adults and four children, she traveled from Nebraska to Seattle. The airlines held the flight for them to arrive. The men headed up the Alcan. Later, when she was on the homestead with no electricity and no running water, she would wonder why she packed her iron and ironing board all that distance.
They homesteaded in North Kenai, and Georgie worked in the canneries. One day when they were told the cannery owners did not have the funds to pay them, Georgie and her sister-in-law Sharon went upstairs to the office and told the owner, "We know you have the money and we are not leaving until you pay everyone."
Everyone got paid that day. One day she needed a ride home from her waitressing job. A friend was going the same direction and offered her a ride if she didn't mind the bear on the seat. She thought he was joking but sure enough, a black bear was chained to the seat. She sat close to the door out of reach of the chained bear, because otherwise, it was a long walk home.
She was a tough but loving lady with an infectious sense of humor and a laugh that few people will forget.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Harlan Lantz, her daughter, Kerry Salazar, grandson, Grant Johnson, and great-granddaughter, Emmalyn Hunt.
She is survived by her children, Ronda, Susan and David, and grandchildren, Blaine and Aaron Johnson, Mica Zehnder, Ben McKean, Travis and Abe King, Tonya Broadfoot, Aimee Benavides, Sabrina Hunt, Renee Ma, Stephen Soutas, Dustin Lantz, and their families.