Longtime Alaska resident Runar "Ron" Hendricks, 75, of Anchorage, died on Feb. 28, 2008, after a yearlong battle with cancer. At his family's request, he had returned to his home, where he was surrounded by loving memories and family.
He was born Dec. 28, 1932, in Portland, Ore. He arrived in Alaska in 1954 with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and after completing his time in the service was employed as a mechanical engineer with Crews MacInnes & Hoffman and various other architectural companies. He was responsible for designing the plumbing systems for many of the rural and Bush schools. He went into semi-retirement in 2000, although he continued to design plans for friends and coworkers.
His favorite pastime was watching the car races every weekend, and he spoke weekly to family members in the Lower 48 as the "Alaskan Elder" about his favorite racers, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt.
He was always available to help others, and others were happy to help him in the end.
"Dad's biggest accomplishment was probably the love he had for all of us kids and our friends," his children recalled. "When we were growing up there were many nights we spent playing snow machine tag at Big Lake, boating, hanging out at the cabin or fishing at the Little Su. The door was always open for one of our friends who needed help or just someone to talk to."
He was preceded in death by his mother, Millicent Hendricks, and by his wife, Peggy Hendricks.
He has four children: John Hendricks, Kelly Eggleston, Lee Hendricks and Leslie Hendricks; 11 grandchildren, Mike, Brian, Jessica, Aubrey, Sarah, Nicole, Joshua, Ian, James, Trevor and Stacia; and four great-grandchildren, Michael, Jordan, Lance and Alexis.
The family plans to scatter his ashes along with those of his wife at an undisclosed location sometime this summer.