Services for Mary May (Watson) Whitcomb, a Sitka resident for 68 years, will be 1 p.m. Thursday, July 9, at Sitka United Methodist Church, 303 Kimsham St., with a reception at the Elks Lodge.
A viewing will be held prior to the service.
Mary died July 1 at Sitka Community Hospital, at the age of 98, 16 days before her 99th birthday.
She was born July 17, 1916, in Kouts, Ind., the daughter of Elmer “Tone” and Daisy (Mitchell) Watson. Elmer was mostly a farmer and Daisy was an excellent seamstress and housekeeper. She would bake 12 loaves of bread at a time.
Raised on the Indiana farm, Mary and her 12 brothers and sisters were a very close-knit family even though there was a 20-year age difference.
She lost her left arm at age 8 in a farming accident but it never seemed to faze her. She learned to drive, got a teaching degree, married and raised two children.
Mary graduated from Central Norman College with a teaching degree in 1938. Her college roommate was Evelyn Whitcomb, who introduced her to her brother, Gordon. When Evelyn’s fiancee’ died in a plane accident, Gordon came to pick up Mary to be with his sister, but he had a broken arm and was riding a motorcycle. Mary’s sister, Irene, refused to let her get on the motorcycle but offered to take her over to the house.
When Gordon went to Alaska in 1939 he corresponded with Mary and eventually asked her to marry him. She accepted but then had to travel across country alone. Her Aunt Mable gave her a long hatpin and said “just use this and everything should be fine.”
Mary went by train to Seattle and steamship to Sitka, arriving Sept. 19, 1940. She and Gordon were married the next day at the Sheldon Jackson chapel.
They had two children, and in 1951 the four traveled back to Indiana for the winter. They returned to Ketchikan in 1952 for three years for the pulp mill construction. This required moving onto the 48’ fishing vessel, Tulip King, as there was a housing shortage. They moved to Kake in 1955 for six months, then to Juneau for a year and a half before returning to Sitka in 1957 for another pulp mill construction.
In 1958 the Whitcombs homesteaded the property on Halibut Point Road, where she still resided at the time of her death. She was co-owner and manager for their businesses, GM Whitcomb Co. and Whitcomb Trailer Court.
Mary was a charter member and treasurer of the Sitka Emblem Club, and a recorder for the Women of the Moose. She was a voter registrar and served as an election official for many years. She was a member of the Democratic party, Pioneers of Alaska and the United Methodist Church.
In 1961, her son, Bruce, told her she needed to get her driver’s license as he was enlisting in the Army. She took the test and passed on the first try. From then on she was the designated driver for all her friends.
She also had her Saturday lunch group, which included Bea Hanlon and Anna Baggen, who visited the Pioneers Home, went to lunch, shopped at Sea Mart and had tea afterwards.
Mary also enjoyed reading, music (especially the opera tenors like Mario Lanza and Pavoratti), and politics.
“We never thought Mary was adventuresome until we realized what a pioneer she was, leaving family and friends, living on a boat for six years and homesteading property,” her family wrote. “She was a very intelligent person and a great sounding-board when you needed someone to talk to. She was generous and loving to her family and friends.
“She will be missed for sure but we will remember all the good times and be thankful for the time we had with her.”
Immediate survivors include her son Bruce (Betty Joe) Whitcomb, grandson Joel (Vivian) Whitcomb, and granddaughters Destiny May and Carrie Bishop-Whitcomb, and Kelly (Cliff), Whitcomb Tincher; and great-grandson Shane, all of Sitka.
Her daughter Nancy (Wayne, deceased) Whitcomb Young; granddaughter Anne (Brian) Haggerty, Villa Hills, Ky.; great-granddaughters Katie (Chris) Unkraut and Jennifer Haggerty, both of Kentucky; great-grandson Ben Haggerty, of Kentucky; grandson Randy Marx, of Wasilla; great-granddaughter Savannah O’Neill Marx, Juneau; granddaughter-in-law Leslie Young (Tom, deceased), Sitka; great-grandsons Wayne and Jason Young, Sitka; and granddaughter Melinda Young, Kahului, Hawaii, also survive.
Others surviving are siblings Irene Krause, 100, of Hobart, Ind., Rose Merkel, 95, Walkerton, Ind., and Edward James Watson, 83, Valparaiso, Ind.; and 38 nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 39 years, Gordon Whitcomb; brothers Gerald, David, Charles, Earl and Julian Watson; and sisters Joanne Watson, Goldean Personnette, Lova Watson and Evelyn Whitaker.
Pallbearers will be Bruce and Joel Whitcomb, Cliff Tincher, Frank Hartley, Wayne B. Young and John Rodgers.
Honorary pallbearers are Foy and Todd Nevers and Robert Schell.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Emblem Club Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 275, Sitka, AK 99835.
