| ANDREW PETERSON SR. |
| South Naknek resident Andrew Olaf Peterson Sr., 80, died March 31, 2006, at Kanakanak Hospital, of complications from prostate cancer. |
| A service was held at 3 p.m. Friday, April 7 at Valley Funeral Home in Wasilla. |
| His ashes will be spread in the Naknek River, where he loved to fish. |
| Mr. Peterson was born May 13, 1925, in South Naknek to Andrew and Mary Peterson. He married Alice Kraun on April 8, 1950, in South Naknek. |
| He was raised in the Jesse Lee home in Seward and Nenana until he ran away. On Oct. 2, 1942, he joined the Alaska Territorial Guard at the age of 16. In 1945, he joined the U.S. Army and was trained as a military policeman and diesel mechanic and stationed at Dutch Harbor as an equipment mechanic. He was in charge of the big guns on Mount Ballyhoo near Dutch Harbor. Mr. Peterson earned the Asiatic Pacific Theater ribbon and the World War II Victory metal. |
| After his military service, he moved back to South Naknek, where he learned to fly and started Peterson's Charter Service. He also fished commercially all his life, starting in sailboats, and was considered a high-liner in the trade. |
| He retired from the Operating Engineers 302 and continued to commercial fish until the age of 77. |
| His family wrote: "Andrew had a big heart and never asked for a handout. Whenever someone was sick, he flew them to the hospital, whether they could pay or not. He never asked for payment." |
| He is survived by his wife, Alice Peterson; daughter and son-in-law, Vickie and David Alto of South Naknek; sons and daughters-in-law, Elliot and Lois Peterson of Sammish, Wash., and Andrew and Ruth Peterson Jr. of Wasilla; sister, Katherine Atkis; grandchildren, Valli, Dwena, Vanessa, David, Thomas, Andrew and Bennett; and many great-grandchildren. |
| Mr. Peterson was preceded in death by his brothers, Nick and Ernie, and sister, Freda Aspelund. |
| (Published: April 5, 2006 - Anchorage Daily News) |