Florence Robinson Weber

1921 - 2019

Florence Robinson Weber was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 26, 1921. Her father was from England and her mother from Germany. Florence was their only child. In 1936, she visited Germany with her High School German Club and attended the 1936 Olympics Games in Berlin, where she saw Hitler. After high school, she attended the University of Chicago. While there, she met Florence Rucker, who was to be her lifelong friend. Both women studied geology and got master's degrees from UC in 1943 and obtained amateur radio licenses, KL7AZ and KL7DDB. Through the mid 50s, their lives were almost identical. Both worked for Shell Oil in Houston and learned to fly in '45. In '47, they learned to drive a car and made a trip up the Alaska Highway the first year it was open to the public. Both decided to live in Alaska. In '49 they got jobs with the US Geological Survey employed in the early oil exploration efforts in NPR-IV. In 1950, they bought a Cessna 140 and flew all over Alaska. USGS sent them back to Washington, D.C., in '54 (ugh!). In '56, they bought a Super Cub on floats and flew from D.C., across Canada to Mackenzie Delta and finally to Fairbanks. Again they worked for USGS. The 1957 National Geographic Magazine had an article about a 700-mile kayak trip from Whitehorse to Eagle taken by the two Florences, two other female friends and one lone man. During summer of '57, they floated the Porcupine River from Old Crow to Ft. Yukon. Also in '57, Florence Rucker married Richard Collins and their lives took separate paths.
Florence Robinson continued her career with the USGS, which lasted over 40 years. She wrote reports examining the routes for the numerous roads proposed across Alaska. She was co-author on the first geologic map of the Fairbanks Quadrangle in '66, and the engineering geology maps for the trans-Alaska pipeline route in '71. Florence either authored or coauthored over 100 publications on Alaskan geology and often shocked her colleagues with new interpretations of the area. She was proven right most times. Her main area of expertise was the Tanana-Yukon uplands. Florence joined the Geological Society of America in 1950 and was elected to Fellowship in the Society in 1967. In '87, UAF awarded her an honorary doctorate for her Alaska work. A member of the awards committee said they received more testimonials nominating Florence than they ever received for anyone. And in the mid-1990s, she was awarded the U.S. Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award. She was one of Alaska's most dedicated and respected geologists. In '97, at age 76, just months after a hip replacement, she was hiking the hills south of Rampart and doing what she loved.
Florence also had an active nonprofessional life. In August 1959, she married a man she met on the air - Albert Weber - KL7AG. For the first couple years they lived in an old Quonset, and in the '60s they built a home on Grenac Road - with a ham antenna farm and emergency generator. Everything was ready for the '67 flood. Their ham shack was communications center for that emergency - and their floor was littered with sleeping hams. In '68, they were probably the first (with their friends the Klopfs) to canoe from Nome Creek to Beaver Creek to the Yukon River to Tanana. Through the years, as long as they were physically able, the Webers were active canoers, kayakers, square dancers, divers, bicyclists, gardeners, skiers, photographers, world travelers and always willing to try something new.
Florence's last nine years were spent in the Pioneers' Home. She died on Jan 18, 2018, at age 96. A celebration of her life will be at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, at the Palace Theatre/ Saloon in Pioneer Park.