Walter Francis Baldwin

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Category: Obituaries

Created on Wednesday, 14 January 2015 13:40

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Walter Francis Baldwin, an Alaskan, died Nov. 26, 2014, at age 77.

Qaniitaq (Walter) was born on Oct. 6, 1937, to Carlton and Olinga (Vaska) Baldwin at Arularrkurviaq (Paimiut), Alaska, on the Yukon River. Walter was raised there and in Kalskag, Aayanuuciarr, and Aniak. He also lived in fall, winter, spring and summer camps along the southern tributaries of the Kuskokwim River between Kalskag and Aniak, and in the area north of Kalskag from Paimiut to Russian Mission. Today he would be considered a Nukallpiaq (ultimate provider) who provides food, shelter, clothing, comfort and companionship for his family by hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering. 

Walter was educated in Western “school houses” in the BIA Kalskag Day School, Holy Cross Mission and the Aniak Territorial School. He attended Mt. Edgecumbe High School   from Sept. 1952 through May 1956, when he graduated as Valedictorian. While at Mt. Edgecumbe in 1956, Walter joined the track team, which won first place that year.  Team members are listed on a trophy at the school.  

In September 1957, Walter enrolled at Western Washington College in Bellingham, Wash. From there, he transferred to and graduated in 1961 from the University of Alaska in College, Alaska, before it became the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with a degree in business administration specializing in accounting. While at college, Walter helped two of his friends, Ron Cosgrave and Bruce Kennedy, create and maintain mobile home parks in the Fairbanks area. After moving to Kodiak, he served on the administrative staff of the Alaska Packers Association. He moved to Juneau in 1967, and was an administrative aide to Gov. Walter Hickel and Gov. Keith Miller. 

In 1968, Walter met Dawn Chapman and her five children while she was a waitress at the Imperial Café in Juneau. They married Dec. 26, 1969. Walter moved his new family to Anchorage in 1972, to work for RurALCAP. He also spent time with his friend Hank Ostrosky, developing fishermen co-ops in Western Alaska villages.  In 1975, Walter took a job as a carpenter at Pump Station 5 of the Alaska Pipeline. 

Walter was a professional seal hunter and fisherman.  He would hunt deer and seal in southeast Alaska to provide for elders and relatives.  He told stories of how he spent summers seal hunting and living off the land in and around Kodiak and other places along the south shores of the Alaska Peninsula.  Walter fished southeast Alaska – Yakutat, Sitka, Elfin Cove and Hoonah.

After his wife Dawn passed, he moved his boat to Hoonah, where he spent time with his friends Marjorie and Floyd Peterson, then to Sitka where he fished until he became too ill. Walter leaves many friends in Sitka who will miss seeing him walking his 3-8 miles per day and sometimes cross country skiing when and if it snowed. 

Walter loved holiday meals with his family and many friends.  His hobbies included reading, acrylic painting, drawing friends and family, and creating drums and ulus. 

Walter was preceded in death by his wife, Dawn; his parents Carlton and Olinga (Vaska) Baldwin; his stepchildren Jerry and Tim Wood; his half-brothers Joseph Gregory, George Gregory; stepbrother Willie Gregory; and half-sister Mary Frances Gregory. 

Walter leaves behind his siblings Joseph (Rachel) Baldwin, Nicholas (Patty) Baldwin, Clara (Baldwin) Morgan, Clyde (Baldwin) Vaska; his half-brothers Peter (Elena) Gregory, James (Helen) Gregory, and Larry (Merium) Gregory; and his adopted sister Beverly (Nick) Nicoli; his stepchildren Robin (Rick) Woodsmith of Florence Ore., Cathy (Rick) Stitt of Ferndale, Wash., and Mike Wood (Alice Bagoyo) of Juneau.

His are grandchildren are Sabriena Michaud of Corvallis, Ore., Shauna Ross of Juneau, Mery Blilie of Haines,  Rebecca Fisk of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Kevin Wood of Las Vegas, Nev., Corey Wood of Ft. Worth, Texas, Rachel Wood of Kamloops, B.C., Michael Wood of Vernon, B.C., Rhiannon Ferrie of Searcy, Ark., M. Justin Wilson of Cleveland, Tenn., and Michael T. Wood and Alicia Wood of Juneau.

Walter is also survived by numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, great grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.  His father was from Minnesota, so many relatives are there; and his mother was a Vaska, with many first cousins and relatives in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

He was loved by many and will be missed.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 18, 2015, at Northern Light United Church, 400 West 11th Street, Juneau, Alaska, followed by a reception.

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