Tamara Von Gemmingen
Story Created:
Sep 5, 2007 at 8:10 AM AKDT
Story Updated:
Sep 5, 2007 at 8:10 AM AKDT
Ethel Komakhuk, 88, a longtime resident of Nome, died of natural causes Sept. 1, 2007, at Joanie's Place, an assisted living home in Anchorage.
A funeral will be at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Convenant Church in Anchorage. A second service will be held in Nome at Our Savior's Lutheran Church.
Ethel was born July 4, 1919, in White Mountain to Pete Daliluk & Helen Chickaluk.
Her family wrote: "Ethel attended school up to the third grade, having to stay home to take care of her three younger siblings after her mother passed away. At the age of 19, Ethel married her husband, Sam Komakhuk, after he asked her father for his permission. They were married until his death.
The family wrote: "Ethel lived in Nome her entire life.
"She was an Alaska Native artist by trade, an expert skin sewer. As a homemaker she loved to provide for her family. She loved her Lord, and her subsistence lifestyle, always spending all her summers at Bonanza fish camp drying fish and gathering berries for the winter. She was selfless in giving, always urging her children to help others. She loved her family and friends, always expressing her gratitude, saying 'Quyana' often."
Ethel is survived by her children, Molly, Maggie, Clara, Hansel, Carrol, Kenny, Sammy, Myrtle, Eddie, Jonathan, Janette, Gabe and Chad. She is also survived by 57 grandchildren, 75 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Sam Komakhuk; and children, Sammie, Roy, Johnny, Gabriel, Ethel and Minnie.
