This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: TCMitten Surnames: Classification: obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.wisconsin.counties.shawano/16671/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Anchorage Daily News (AK) - March 21, 1999 Deceased Name: Carl M. Gonder Sr. 83, died March 13, 1999, at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Kehl's Forest Lawn Chapel. A graveside service with full military honors will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Fort Richardson National Cemetery. A memorial service will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Big Lake Community Chapel. A potluck will follow in the fellowship hall. Mr. Gonder was born Jan. 19, 1916, in Mattoon, Wis. He graduated from Sheridan High School in Sheridan, Wyo., and attended the University of Wyoming. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Mr. Gonder served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the South Pacific during World War II. He remained in the Air Force Reserves until 1961, attaining the rank of captain. Mr. Gonder came to Alaska in 1958 with the Civil Aviation Agency (now the Federal Aviation Administration) as an air traffic controller. His family joined him the following year, when he was stationed at Woody Island near Kodiak. He transferred to Anchorage in 1961 and worked at the Merrill Field Flight Service Station and later the International Flight Service Station, ultimately becoming chief of the International Notice to Airmen office until retiring in 1978. He and his wife then moved to their Big Lake homestead. Mr. Gonder was a member of the Unitarian Church and attended Big Lake Community Chapel. He held many offices on the Big Lake Community Council and served as liaison with the Department of Transportation on the project to improve and redesign roads for the Big Lake service area. After the Miller's Reach fire, he opened his tree farm and donated trees to anyone who lost landscaping in the fire. Recently, he served as a panelist at the 1998 Alaska Loon Festival and sought to preserve loon habitat on area lakes. Last year, he also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce for developing his tree farm, supporting area roads and for overall community service. Mr. Gonder was particularly fascinated by forestry; his experiments with growing evergreens in Alaska date back to the initial homesteading days during the early '60s. Successful in growing many species, he also experimented with various fruit-bearing shrubs and trees. Knowledge gleaned was eagerly shared, especially with staff at the Experimental Farm in Palmer and the State Division of Forestry, his family said. Mr. Gonder was in the process of publishing some of his findings via the Internet through the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His family said: ''Carl will be remembered as a loving husband and a patient, nurturing father and grandfather. He loved to tell stories, enhancing them with his quick wit and wry sense of humor. A man of high standards and strong values, he believed in doing things right. He possessed an amazing variety of interests and an exceptionally inquisitive mind; he read, he studied, he asked questions, he listened and then he shared his knowledge. He was himself in stewardship of the earth. He cared about people and passing on a rich heritage to future generations. He will live on in the hearts and minds of all who knew him.'' Mr. Gonder is survived by his wife of 53 years, Theda; sons and daughter-in-law, Carl Gonder Jr. and Donald and Carolyn Gonder; daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Joseph Zimmermann; brothers, William and Warren Gonder; sister, Lorene Reith; and four grandchildren. A memorial for Charlie Mae ''Pat'' Berkley will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Hilton Anchorage Chart Room. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.