April Lynn Hackney

1964 - 2018

April Lynn Hackney slid (uncharacteristically) quietly out of this world at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Providence Hospital with her husband Arthur holding her hand.
April was a shining light who had a powerful impact on every person she met – and she met people all over this planet. Whether it was a President of the United States, a U.S. Senator or a person cleaning the streets in New Orleans, La. – she wanted to know what made them tick. April had a way of making people share stories that even family members had never heard.
April was born April Lynn Newlun in Sitka, Alaska, on Feb. 23, 1964, to Bruce and Lydia Newlun (Panamarkoff). She was born after older sister, Tracey (Scharstrom); and brother, Wesley; and before younger sister, Joelle (Fuller); and brother, Jared, who all survive her. She was of Tlingit, Russian, Anglo heritage. She is also survived by her beloved Australian terrier, Maximilian.
April graduated from Sitka High School in 1982, and worked for the Forest Service before driving to Anchorage, Alaska, in 1985, in her Mustang with only $100 in her pocket.
Her path led her to Holden Hackney & Holmstrom advertising agency, where she went from Receptionist to Administrative Assistant to Production Manager to wife and business partner of company President Arthur Hackney.
April and Arthur were together for over 30 years. They were married on April 1, 1990, in Anchorage and renewed their vows on the roof of Treetops Lodge in Kenya, where, in 1952, Princess Elizabeth learned that she had become Queen. Major R.J. Prickett, who had guided the Princess into the remote lodge in 1952, and then welcomed her back as Queen in 1983, performed Art and April's renewal of vows.
April and Art remained business partners (Hackney & Hackney) and best friends from the time they met until her death. April was involved in fundraising and the organization of countless community projects like Anchorage Town Square, Three Virtuoso's concerts, Cyrano's Eccentric Theatre, the Alaska Basketball Development Program and the Mayor's Charity Ball. She was voted one of the Top Forty Under Forty business people in Alaska in 1999, served on George W. Bush's National Finance Committee and was selected as a Whip for the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pa. As a major donor to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, April's name is on a plaque in the Center's courtyard in Dallas, Texas, at Southern Methodist University. Clients included Senators Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski, Congressman Don Young, Mayor George Wuerch, many State Representatives and Senators and Assembly members and some of Alaska's largest businesses.
April and Art lived in Washington, D.C., for four years, and were at their office on Capitol Hill on Sept. 11, 2001, watching morning news as the second plane flew into the World Trade Center. April sat with a prayer group on the grass overlooking the Pentagon while it was still smoldering.
April was a member of the American Association of Political Consultants and the International Association of Political Consultants and helped to put together major yearly events for both. In 2012, she was Co-Chair of the IAPC's 45th Annual Convention in New York City, just two days after the Presidential election.
April loved travel and she and Art went all over the country and around the world many times, always venturing off the beaten track to fully experience the places they visited. She was a walking work of art in her fashion and a noted artist with her paintings. She dearly loved Art's daughters, Heather of Seattle, Wash., and Alexis of Tucson, Ariz.
April petted a rhinoceros, helped remove a spear from the side of an elephant on the Laikipia Plateau of Kenya, swam with sharks and dolphins, rode camels, fished, zip-lined, hang-glided, kayaked, snorkeled, climbed tall trees and enjoyed life – a life that ended far too soon. Her memory will be carried by hundreds of people.
There will be a Celebration of Life for April on Saturday, March 24, 2018, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the home of Governor Bill Sheffield.