Chuck Logsdon

Charles "Chuck" L. Logsdon, 76, died of complications related to Alzheimer's disease on August 18, 2025 in Portland, Oregon.

Chuck was born in Minneapolis in 1949. In 1953, at the age of four years old, his parents Charles E. Logsdon and Arloine ("Arly") Logsdon moved the family to Palmer, Alaska. For the rest of his life Chuck thought of Alaska, and particularly Palmer, as home despite several intervals living in the Pacific Northwest.

Chuck fondly told stories of his childhood in Palmer "with the neighborhood kids" playing in the woods, stump rows, and snow drifts. In 1961 and 1962, his family spent a memorable year in Norway where he made many happy memories attending 7th grade and being a Norwegian Boy Scout. Back in Alaska, Chuck attended Palmer High School (Class of 1967) where he played varsity basketball, ran cross country, and was voted Most Dependable. He also sang and played harmonica in the bands "Matanuska" and "Last Ditch Effort."

After high school, Chuck attended Washington State University where he earned degrees in economics and agricultural economics and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy. While at WSU Chuck met Katie Eberhart. After they married in 1979, Chuck and Katie immediately drove to Alaska for Chuck to start a new job at the State Division of Petroleum Revenue. During his tenure, Chuck became the state's chief petroleum economist, a position he held for many years. When oil prices inevitably changed or there was uncertainty about a new North Slope project Chuck would field calls from journalists with forthrightness and often a pithy quote. He once opined that having more oil fields as productive as Alpine would be like finding a "diamond mine in my backyard."

In 1983, Chuck and Katie moved from Anchorage to the valley, settling into a house that had been built for the Matanuska Colony. More than a home, this plot of land and aging house became a lifestyle. Chuck was an avid gardener with his own system-planting onion seeds indoors on Super Bowl Sunday and tomato seeds at the start of the Iditarod. Chuck had two garden plots, a greenhouse, and berry patches and he is remembered for his bountiful vegetable gardens, his home brew and berry wines, barbecued pizza, and a hand-cleared cross-country ski trail through the woods and around the house.

In 2011, Chuck and Katie started a new adventure, leaving Alaska in search of milder winters. Landing in Bend, Oregon, Chuck found a new group of friends who played golf and recruited him to be a singer in the Klassix Ayre Band which performed around central Oregon.

In 2021, Chuck received the devastating news that he had Alzheimer's. With this diagnosis in mind, Chuck and Katie moved back to Palmer where Chuck rejoined the Royal Raccoons' weekly cribbage game and reconnected with his long-time Palmer friends. For two more summers, Chuck grew spectacular vegetables in his north Palmer backyard and walked with Katie along Matanuska River Park trails nearly every day, listened to music and enjoyed life with his family and many friends. Chuck is survived by his wife Katie Eberhart, sons Ben Logsdon and Michael Logsdon, his brother John Logsdon and sister Onnalie Logsdon.

A memorial service for Chuck L Logsdon will be held November 1st at 2 pm at the United Protestant Church, 713 S Denali St., Palmer, Alaska.