John Everson

1950 - 2019

John Matthew Everson

DOB-July 6, 1950 - DOD-December 31, 2018

John Matthew Everson, a longtime resident of Sitka, Alaska, passed away peacefully in Seattle on December 31, 2018, surrounded by his family.

John was born in San Francisco, CA on July 6, 1950 to Joseph and Virginia Everson. He was the forth of ten children. He attended St. Gabriel's Elementary School in San Francisco and the Salesian High School in Watsonville, CA. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Psychology. He spent many years in Northern California. There, in Fall River Mills, he met his future wife Marnie Chapman and began his medical career by working as an EMT/ambulance driver. He and Marnie lived in Round Mountain, Eureka and Trinidad. Health care, especially emergency medicine, was his calling. He returned to school, attending College of the Redwoods, Foothill College and Stanford University to become a physician assistant (PA). His work as a PA brought him and Marnie to Alaska in the 80s, first to Bethel then to Skagway where he ran the health care clinic and was elected to city council. He moved to Sitka in the 90s to work with the SEARHC Community Health Aide Program Training Center. He was a UA faculty member and later became director of the Training Center, taking great satisfaction in helping people from throughout Alaska become community health aides and practitioners in their own communities. John retired at the age of 62.

John was devoted to his family; they were the joy of his life. Laura was born in 2000 and Sally and Theo were born in 2006. John enjoyed camping, fishing, daily walks with the dog, reading, traveling and other adventures with his family. His greatest pleasure was simply being with his kids, supporting them and helping them go about their daily routines. John and Marnie shared their love for over thirty years, and his memory will live on with Marnie and with his three children, Laura, Sally and Theo; brothers, Martin Everson, Daniel Everson, Thomas Everson, Timothy Everson and Reverend Joseph Everson III, M.M.; sisters, Jane Everson, Joan Everson, Mary Garner, and Theresa Everson; brother-in-law Dennis Garner; sisters-in-law Lucille Everson, Sharon Everson and Li Ping Everson; mother-in-law Toni Diaz; brother-in-law, Marlon Sloan; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Memorial services were held in Sitka on January 20, 2019. John's wife and children are forever grateful to the many family members and friends who stood by them and supported them throughout John's long, brave battle against myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).