Sally Ann Karabelnikoff

1941 - 2017

Lifelong Alaskan Sally Ann Karabelnikoff died unexpectedly and peacefully at home in her sleep early on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. She was born on Aug. 14, 1941, in Palmer, Alaska, where the hospital was housed in a Quonset hut. Her parents, Arnold R. and Hortense B. Carson, were Colonists who came to Alaska from Milaca County, Minn., in 1935. Sally, her sister Pat Newcomb and brothers Jim and Mike Carson were raised working alongside their parents in the fields of the family farm on Fairview Loop Road in Wasilla, Alaska. She had numerous stories of farm life. Sally had many cats as a girl living on the farm and called herself Sally Cat Carson. The work ethic and farm skills she learned as a child carried through in her own life.
Sally graduated from Wasilla High School in 1959. She was the only girl out of a class of five. While attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a business student, Sally caught the attention of Lee Karabelnikoff by stealing the hockey puck while he was playing at an outside rink. She married Lee in The United Protestant Church, also known as "The Church of a Thousand Trees" in Palmer, Alaska, in 1961. Sally and Lee raised two children: Roberta and Daniel. She was a hockey mom and her loved ones considered her "The heart of their family."
Sally enjoyed spending her winters with Lee K at their condo in Maui, Hawaii, where she was an avid birder. She had shelves full of books on birds and flowers. She loved walking the beaches and smelling the flowers of the island. A gifted, innovative gardener and horticulturalist, she was a founding member of the Wildflower Garden Club and the Alaska Orchid Society. Sally also participated in the Anchorage Garden Club, the Alaska Rose Society, the Alaska Rock Garden Society, the Alaska Native Plant Society and was a Life Member and Accredited Judge of the National Garden Clubs. She was the Superintendent of Crops for the Alaska State Fair from 1995 through 2002 - her family had a tough time keeping track of her at times! As a Master Gardener she was an active and enthusiastic participant in these clubs throughout her life for as long as her health permitted. She especially enjoyed hosting the annual Wildflower Garden Club Plant Sale in her yard.
Living with her was easy. Her Family will always miss her. I lived a sheltered life; with her I was a lucky guy.
Sally is survived by Lee, her husband of 56 years; daughter, Bobby; son, Dan; her brother, Jim Carson; brothers-in-law, Don and Ken Karabelnikoff; and an extended, loving family in Anchorage and Wasilla.
A Celebration of Life will be held in the spring, one of Sally's favorite times of the year. Arrangements will be announced at a future date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Wildflower Garden Club, P.O. Box 240563, Anchorage, AK 99524; or the Alaska Orchid Society, P.O. Box 92544, Anchorage, AK 99509-2544, for a memorial in honor of Sally K.