Longtime Seward resident Frank Dieckgraeff, 75, died June 20, 2009, at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, surrounded by family. A celebration of Frank’s life will be at 2 p.m. July 18 at the Cruise Ship Terminal in Seward followed by a gathering at American Legion Post #5, 402 Fifth Ave., in Seward.

Frank was born Feb. 23, 1934, in Strasburg, Colo., and was raised on a farm near Harrisburg, Ore. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers from 1953-1956. Frank married Barbara Miller on July 21, 1955, after his tour of duty in Korea. He returned to Oregon to work in the logging industry until 1965, when he and Barbara moved their family to Seward. Frank worked all over Alaska for Frontier Rock and Sand from 1965 to 1970, and was at Prudhoe Bay in 1968 when oil was discovered. In 1970, he started Metco Diesel Service and worked on commercial fishing vessels in Seward, Kodiak, Adak, Yakutat and Dutch Harbor. In 1973 he founded Metco Redi-Mix to provide concrete in the Seward area, and in 1975 the business was expanded to include sand and gravel, excavating and construction services. The family business was incorporated as Metco Inc. in 1976 and Frank was active in its operation until his death. His family said Frank “lived his life the way he wanted to and said what he wanted to say. His work was his hobby and he loved to work. He was always thinking about how to do things differently and more efficiently. He was the happiest when he was operating heavy equipment, moving gravel or seeing one of his mechanical ideas realized. “Being a great story teller, he loved to tell about his time ‘on the farm’, logging in the woods, the places he had worked around Alaska and the different projects he was involved with.”

Frank was dedicated to the Seward community. He contributed countless hours of his time plus truckloads of materials for various charitable projects and community improvements. Frank often joked that there wasn’t a block in Seward that he hadn’t worked on. He was well-known for his integrity, his quality of work, and his extensive work with rivers and creeks. Over the past 30 years, he was honored several times for his efforts during floods in the Seward area.Frank is survived by his wife of 54 years, Barbara Dieckgraeff; two sisters in Oregon and an extended family in Alaska, the West Coast, Midwest, East Coast and Germany including children, grandchildren, and a great-grandchild. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Seward Community Foundation, Frank Dieckgraeff Memorial, P.O. Box 933, Seward, AK 99664. Donations will be used to help Seward seniors in need. Arrangements entrusted to Kehl’s Legacy Funeral Home & Crematory.

DUGAN

To fans of the "Deadliest Catch," he was captain Phil Harris, the famous crab-killing rider of the wild Bering Sea.But to those living at the tip of the Aleutian chain, he was just plain Phil, one of the most endearing, demanding - and sometimes downright irritating - men Dutch Harbor ever loved.Harris, 53, suffered a stroke Jan. 29 while the fishing boat he captained, the Cornelia Marie, was in port at St. Paul Island near Dutch Harbor. He was medevacked to Anchorage and appeared to be on the mend Feb. 3, according to reports on the "Deadliest Catch" Web site.He died Feb. 9, 2010, spurring thousands of online comments from fans of the Discovery Channel show that depicts the crab fishing industry in the dangerous waters off Alaska.News spread quickly between fishermen, the docks, bars and businesses of Dutch Harbor and Unalaska."God bless him, he lived life to the extreme," said Walt Dauderis.He and Harris go way back. They worked together two decades ago on the Sea Ern, and before that in rubber boots and rain gear on the decks of the Alaska Monarch. More recently, Dauderis spent a few seasons as engineer and cook on the Cornelia Marie."People who tried to be like him, you'd watch them fail by his side. No one could keep up with him."Dauderis gave up crabbing for a job with the Alaska Marine Highway System, but he and Harris are practically neighbors in Lake Stevens, Wash., where they rode motorcycles together and yukked it up over fishing, Harleys and life in general.Dauderis has lots of stories. But none of them are printable."I'm going to miss him. I just painted a motorcycle and was going to go by his house to show it to him and he was going to give me a bunch of s--- because it wasn't macho enough."Their pain is so new that people in Dutch Harbor talk about Harris in the present tense, like he's about to walk through the door any minute amid a cloud of cigarette smoke and colorful language.He was "friendly," "honest," "strong," "hardworking" "caring." He was the kind of guy who took "Deadliest Catch" T-shirts to sick children in the hospital."He was a one-of-a-kind person," said Al Mendoza, fleet manager for Unisea, where the Cornelia Marie landed millions of pounds of crab over the years. "I don't think he had an enemy over the years I knew him. Not one enemy, ever."All say he loved his sons, Josh and Jake Harris, more than life itself.Then they tell how he used to joke about why lions eat their cubs. The words "brash," "macho," "loud" and "impatient" pop up. By all accounts, he could be a pain in the patoot, but that doesn't mean they loved him less."We're devastated," said Veda Webb. And in the next breath, "I can't count the times I told him to get out and never come back."When Webb started her business, Unalaska Advertiser, a few years back, Harris stopped in to welcome her, then made sure the other fishermen gave her their business.The first week in February, she was working on getting Harris a mini computer for Internet and e-mail onboard the boat. She had a couple on order, but they got stalled in the mail."He'd hound me if he wanted something until he got it. He called me every night, 'Are they here? Are they here?' "His last call was the night before he left for St. Paul Island. The computers were in."He said, 'Well, try to get me a Gateway with Windows 7, for when I get back.' "Typical Harris behavior.When he wanted something done, yesterday was too late, said Don Knoblauch, superintendent for Magone Marine Services, the shop that fixed the Cornelia Marie for the past eight years."Extremely pushy, boisterous expedience, that's how he was," Knoblauch said. "If he was off the boat and not pressured by the fishing, he was a pretty decent guy. I'd see him in the bar and he seemed like a relatively normal person."Crabbers tend to get into town, gear up, go fishing, unload and repeat until the season is over. But there's always time to visit the bar, and Harris made all the stops over the years.The first time bartender Danielle Williams met Harris, she served him his signature drink - a double duck fart."He and his two sons, one had just turned 21, and a crew member came in. His crew guy and he got into an argument, and his crew guy knocked him into the corner of the bar."She was about to boot them all out, but they started laughing."They got over it really fast. They ended up closing the bar."Lionel Silva, chief engineer on the pollock catcher Morning Star, said Harris' death is a blow to the crabbing industry as well as a personal loss for him."He was a terrific captain, and one of the most outstanding people I know."There was far more to Harris than "Deadliest Catch" fame, Silva said."I understand he was on the show and stuff, but they're all going to go away. When everybody forgets about 'Deadliest Catch,' we're still going to be remembering Phil and everything about him."

Hoonah resident Howard “Howie” Harold Knudson died Jan. 5, 2010, in Hoonah. He was 52. Born April 13, 1957, in Juneau, he grew up and lived in Hoonah, where he attended Hoonah Public School. He was a Wooshke’taan, from the Shark house and a Chookaneidi yadi. His Tlingit name was “Doos ke’sut te” after his uncle Andrew McKinley; his second name was Shaw ke’ut te.

He did many things in his life, including working as a seiner, longliner and troller and fishing on a processor at sea near Dutch Harbor.

“He had no fear of working on a fishing boat,” his family said. “He loved to challenge his friends to not be afraid of hard work and did so with a grin.” He also was a bartender. In Hoonah, he worked as a hatch foreman for Southeast Stevedoring for several years, when logging was a local way of life. He spent the past few summers as a crew supervisor for Hoonah’s Icy Straits Point. Of all of the things he did in his life, most of all he loved to fish his boat, the Cheryl Sea, and rod fish off his skiff, his family said. “Howie was a provider and a friend to all who knew him. Fishing was his life and certainly a great source for his pride. Just talking about trolling would get him to say, ‘Woohoo,’ rubbing his hands together vigorously and smiling ear to ear.”

Beside being a fisherman, he was a hunter, subsistence user and provider. He also took great pride in being an uncle to all his nephews and nieces, teaching his nephews work ethic and values to ensure they knew how to take care of themselves and their families.

He looked up to his elders and had the most respect for them, and he held service men in the highest regard. People who knew him agree he had a free spirit and loved his independence and living on his boat.“Howie touched so many peoples lives, he will be missed,” his family said. He was preceded in death by his uncle, Gerald Gray; cousins, Lenny and Larry Gray; aunts, Irene J. Austin and husband, Jim, and Lila Fawcett; grandparents, Howard Gray Sr., and Jessie Gray, and Harry and Amy Marvin; and uncle, Sam Knudson and daughter, Elaine.
He is survived by his parents, Ralph and Harriet Knudson Sr.; sister, Mary Erickson and husband, Jim; brothers, Ralph Jr., and Kelvin Knudson, and Torvald Knudson and wife, Janice; sisters, Irene Knudson and husband, Leo, and Harriet LeBlanc, Ralphenia Knudson; and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. Pallbearers will be Larry Sanders, John Hillman, Jeff Mills, Ernie Hillman Jr., Don Wilson and Thomas Jack Jr. Honorary Pallbearers are Ronald Williams, Ray Wilson, Frank Wright Jr., Lillian Hillman, Ed Kunz Jr., Paul Rudolph, Jake White Sr., Sam Hanlon Jr., Steve Hanlon, Frank O. Williams, George Bennett.

Arrangements entrusted to Alaskan Memorial Park & Mortuary.