Daily Sitka Sentinel

Fred H. Hope, 84, Dies; Services to be on Aug. 1

Fred H. Hope

    Fred Howard Hope, a lifelong Sitkan, passed away July 20, 2019, surround by family and friends. He was 84.
    Services will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, at Sitka National Cemetery. Following a luncheon an Alaska Native Brotherhood service will be held at the ANB Founders Hall.
    Fred was born Dec. 30, 1934, in Sitka, one of 14 children of Andrew and Tillie (Howard) Hope. His Tlingit name was Shaaxhwaa Shaay Eesh, and he was of the Kiks.adi Raven clan, Point House.
    After graduating from Sheldon Jackson High School in 1954, he fished on the Neva, his father Andrew Hope’s purse seiner.
    He then joined the U.S. Army Infantry, serving with the 11th Airborne Division. After his honorable discharge, he met, and in 1960 married, Katherine Lott. They had two children, Shirley and Loren.
    Fred held various jobs, including as a taxi driver and a laborer, before going to work fulltime for Alaska Lumber and Pulp. He continued working there until it closed, in 1993, retiring as department supervisor.
    Afterward he worked on a log ship with his son Loren, in Hoonah.
    While attending an Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood convention, he met Margaret Gross. They married in Hawaii in 1984, and ran a bed and breakfast inn on Monastery Street for several years. She died June 3, 2016.
    Fred was active in the Alaska Native Brotherhood, and held several offices.
    He and a brother, Herb Hope, documented and organized a Kiks.adi survival march in 1994 and again in 1996, reenacting the one the Kiks.adi took to Chichagof Island following the 1804 battle at Indian River between the Tlingits and Russians.
    Fred was a lifelong Presbyterian. His family had ties to the Cottage community.
    Fred also enjoyed painting, drawing fishing boats, fishing, hunting and hiking. He also liked to ride a bike and within the last year was still riding around town, looking at the boats and even going so far as to Starrigavan.
    Fred was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret Gross Hope; his parents; and all his siblings – he was the last of the 14 children.
    He is survived by his daughter Shirley Littlefield (husband Pat) and their son, Loren Littlefield, of Sitka; and son Loren Hope (Priscilla Jordon) and their children Carrie Hope, Ruby Hope, Jessica Hope and Jason Hope, of Juneau.
    Numerous nieces and nephews also survive.