Sharelle "Shelly" Call

Sharelle ("Shelly") Call died on Nov. 10, 2022, at the age of 80, after a long illness. She is survived by her loving husband David, whom she married on Aug. 26, 1961. She is also survived by her son Blake Call, of Anchorage (wife, Charlotte), son Steven Call, of Eugene (wife, Andre); five grandchildren, Learen Wolfe, of Big Lake, Alaska, Brendan Call, of Anchorage, Nicholas Prosak, of Anchorage, Shannon Jones, of Santa Cruz, and Ander Call, of Mesa, Arizona. She is also survived by six great-grandchildren, Eden, Faelyn and Titan Wolfe, of Big Lake, and Atlas Gehm, Meadow Sharelle Jones and Zion Blake Jones, of Santa Cruz. Shelly and David's daughter Leah, mother of Nicholas, died in 2005.

Shelly and David met in Arcata, California, during the summer of 1961. They eloped to Reno six weeks after they met. After David's three years of law school, they piled all of their earthly belongings in the back of an International pickup purchased with $2,000 borrowed from David's parents, and drove to Anchorage, where David worked a year for a law firm.

The initial plan was to live and work in Alaska for a couple of years and then return to California and settle into a staid life in Palo Alto or San Francisco. After a year in Anchorage, they moved to Fairbanks, extending their Alaska adventure by a couple of years, and David became the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fairbanks. They loved it there. After two years as Assistant U.S. Attorney, David worked a year for a Fairbanks attorney and then opened his own office in Fairbanks. He operated that office until they moved to Eugene in 2002. Shelly served more than 20 years as his office manager. Shelly led an active and interesting life in Fairbanks. She became an expert canoeist, a canoe instructor (all 4 foot, 11 inches of her) and a river guide. There were many summers when she slept more nights in a tent than at home. Shelly and David enjoyed taking long fly-in canoe trips each summer, flying to a remote river site and paddling back, often seeing no other people on the river for as long as a week.

Shelly's many talents extended to the kitchen. She was a master cook who loved to cook and did it with grace, imagination and finesse. For many years, she hosted at our home after-performance receptions for artists performing at Fairbanks Concert Association concerts. She and David made many foreign trips. Shelly was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother whose great love and respect for her family was always evident. She was a good, kind, generous person who will be sorely missed.