Sherman Max Strain of Alley Springs, Missouri, Grants Pass, Oregon, and Sitka, died at the Sitka Pioneers Home on June 13, 2015.
He was 81 years old. He had resided at the Pioneers Home since June 3, 2010. He was physically disabled and unable to speak clearly due to a stroke, but he was mentally aware and alert, enjoying music, watching TV and going for walks along the marina.
Sherman is survived by his son, Brett Sherman Strain of Sitka; daughter, Tamar Lynn Strain of Oakland, California; and three granddaughters, Amber Rose Markley of Sitka, Jaime Paige Strain and Shawna Tamar Strain, both of Anchorage.
He is also survived by five step-children: Patricia Stedman of Sitka, Cindy Landenberger of Reno, Nevada, James Stedman of Juneau, Pam Murray of Kodiak, and Kelly Conway of Seattle, Washington; as well as 14 step-grandchildren and a few-great-grandchildren through both his wife Ann’s family and his son Craig’s family.
Sherman was preceded in death by his wife Alice Ann Harrigan Stedman (2013), his son Craig Shawn Strain (2014), his father (1946), his mother (1985), and his sister (1987).
Losing his dad at age 12 affected him deeply, especially as his doting grandparents died the same year only a week apart.
Sherman, named by his dad for General Sherman of the Civil War, was born Sept. 17, 1933, to Franklin Reuben Strain and Julia Inez Ellerman Strain. The family lived on a farm near Alley Springs and Eminence, Missouri, where he was raised with his sister Greta Rose Strain-Winterbottom. Sherm grew up playing, swimming, fishing, and hunting along the Jack’s Fork River in Shannon County, Missouri. He attended grade school at Angeline and graduated from Eminence High School in 1951.
In May 1953 Sherman drove his mother, sister and niece from Alley Springs to Grants Pass, Oregon, where they made their new home. Soon after the move, Sherm received his ‘‘Greetings’’ for military duty and reported to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, in 1954. From there he was sent to Nome, where he received training and then taught outdoor survival skills. He came home telling stories of skiing and mosquitoes and saying he might go back some day.
After the Army Sherm returned to his family in Oregon. Celebrating his freedom and in search of employment, he traveled by Harley Davidson to the Texas oil fields where he toiled briefly for funds to keep moving. He worked temporarily for General Electric in California and for a while with a Southern California sheriff’s department.
Eventually Sherm returned home to Grants Pass, where he married and had three children. During those years, he did surveying for the Forest Service in Southern Oregon and, in due course, chose an occupation as an iron worker building bridges along the then-new I-5 corridor through Oregon. When the job ended there, he relocated to Sitka where he continued in construction as an iron worker. He left his mark on several local buildings including the O’Connell Bridge and Green Lake Dam project. After more than 30 years of service with the Iron Workers Union, he retired in 1993 from S&S Construction in Sitka.
Demonstrating his artistic talents, Sherman broke records in high school typing 100 words per minute and drawing pictures with the 1940’s manual typewriters. He always had a love for motorcycles and used his design skills to stripe and decorate his buddies’ cars and bikes, as well as painting their emblems and crests on their leathers. He worked free-hand, before tape and stencils were readily available. He continued to draw and sketch as a hobby until Parkinson’s took its toll. He preferred pencil and charcoal. Family members have sketch books, note cards, and stationery with his etchings.
In Sitka Sherman met Alice Ann Stedman. They married in December 1976. Sherman and Ann enjoyed a full and happy life fishing (he caught ‘‘Big Al’’ a 72-pound king salmon), hunting, camping and boating until Sherm became disabled with Parkinson’s Disease. They were a devoted couple until Ann’s unexpected death October 16, 2013.
Sherm’s rural roots, growing up without electricity or indoor plumbing, being taught by his grandmother to spit on the hook before trying to catch a fish, and being the first person in the area to be saved, after a ruptured appendix, by a new drug called penicillin, all led to his having a great sense of humor and a repertoire of good old Midwestern colloquialisms.
He was a fun man to be around, an avid outdoorsman and fantastic fisherman, a gentle, big-hearted man who is well remembered and loved by the many who shared a part of his life.
Arrangements for services are pending.
