Florence Nagozruk

1926 - 2015

Florence Nayauk Ahlalook Nagozruk, 89, passed away on Nov. 29, 2015, in Anchorage, Alaska. A visitation will be held at Janssen's Evergreen Memorial Chapel, 737 E Street in Anchorage, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, with service and potluck to follow at 12 p.m. Burial will be at 2 p.m. She was born on April 23, 1926, in Pt. Barrow, Alaska, to Margaret Autloakshoak Ahlalook and Ralph Ahlalook. Her sisters are Catherine Tuckfield, Dorcus Okamailuk, Esther Toomey and Sarah Panik; and her brothers are Samuel, David, Billy, Allen, Jonathan, James, Ronald and Timothy. Florence grew up in a time when her family slept on reindeer skin mattresses. Their pillow covers were flour sacks whitened with Clorox and filled with duck feathers. They used kerosene lamps and heated with coal and willows. Their sustenance came from the land and traditions were strong. She fondly remembers when her father would use skis and pull her on a sled. She completed school to the 8th grade. Florence had an incredible memory for details of events that occurred. Florence was 9 years old, on Aug. 14, 1935, when Wiley Post and Will Rogers landed at their camp at Walakpa, and spent the night. She and her family witnessed the plane crash into the water. In 1940, her father, Ralph, moved his family by dogteam to Wainwright, Alaska. On May 6, 1950, she married school teacher, Arthur Nagozruk Jr. Doctor Harold W. Griest officiated. They had six children: Sharon Jane (who died at birth), Arthur III, Sharon Elizabeth McClintock, Barbara Florence Chmiel, Walter Ralph and Karen Laura Desalernos. Florence went with her husband to remote rural Alaska villages. She helped to move the people of Elephant Pt. to Buckland after the flood of 1951. They taught in Buckland, Solomon and Pt. Lay. She taught sewing classes, baked, sewed all the family's parkys and mukluks and gathered and put away subsistence foods. She loved her children unconditionally and was always thankful for everything. The family settled in Nome in 1960, where she resided until 1997, to live with her daughter Sharon in Eagle River, Alaska. She then resided at Randel House, where she was lovingly cared for until her death. Florence is survived by her brothers, Allen (Dorothy) and Timothy Ahlalook; sisters, Dorcus Okamailuk and Sarah Panik (Peter); children, Sharon Elizabeth McClintock (Bill), Barbara Florence Chmiel (John) and Karen Laura Desalernos (Dano); grandchildren, Josie Wilson, (Steve), Monique Chmiel (Gorby), Sara Johnson (Paul), Elizabeth Silvernale (Kevin), Erin Ballantyne (Kelly), Billy McClintock and Julianna Moeller; and great-grandchildren, Eliza and Natalie Hagstrom, Mailey and Sara Gorbulev, Alvanna and Levi Ballantyne, Dorothy Johnson and Todd Silvernale. She was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur Nagozruk Jr.; son, Arthur III; son, Walter; and daughter, Sharon Jane. Arrangements are with Janssen's Eagle River Funeral Home.