Warren C. Pellett Jr. was born May 29, 1950, to Anna Louise and Warren C. Pellett Sr. He passed on April 16, 2026, from a long battle with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a progressive nuerodegenerative disease, at a Veterans Home in New Mexico, where he resided for the last several years.
Warren spent his formative years in Washington before moving to Hollis, Alaska, on Prince of Wales Island. The family later moved to Sitka in 1962 and resided at Goddard Hot Springs until moving to town to attend public schools, where his mother would teach.
He sailed between Sitka and Ketchikan and back in his dad’s Helio Courier, at the age of 16.
Warren served three tours in Vietnam rising to tower chief, handling between 25,000 and 30,000 operations a month. He was awarded an Army Commendation Medal for meticulous service as an air traffic controller. When he returned to the United States the way he was received had changed, and thus, in turn, changed him.
He was married to Colleen Twaddle-Pellett from 1972 to 2005.
He spent time commercially fishing with gillnets on the Alick River out of Yakutat and hand trolling in Sitka Sound. He worked a few years as a teamster for Tub’s Construction, constructing Edgecumbe Drive and other local projects. Later, he was with Wayne Construction, building a boat harbor in Hoonah where he served as “pit boss,” in charge of approximately a quarter of a million CYs of rock taken from the quarries and delivered to the harbor. The Hoonah harbor has been called the finest boat harbor ever built in all of Alaska.
After Hoonah, he entered the petroleum industry, working for Standard Oil, White Pass, and Petro Marine, where he rose to the position of Southeast Operations Manager. He further led the development of the Southeast Alaska Petroleum Response Organization. He served on the board of directors and as president for six years, helping to develop Oil Contingency Response Plans for Southeast Alaska, working with the Department of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Protection Agencies, and the U.S. Coast Guard. He received a legislative citation for his contributions to the petroleum industry and the environment in the state of Alaska. In his later years, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service both in Alaska and in New Mexico, where he moved in 2005.
He contributed to his community and state through public service. Warren served as the president of SEAPRO and Baranof Mental Health. He chaired Sitka’s Local Emergency Planning Commission and Sitka’s Park and Recreation Committee. He was instrumental in getting the state of Alaska to install bike paths along highways. He served as an adviser to the Department of Fish and Game. He worked with the U.S. Forest Service to construct the Seven Fathom Bay cabin.
In his spare time, he enjoyed the green outdoors where he grew up, primarily Goddard Hot Springs and surrounding area, C&B Lake, and Kruzof. He liked to write short stories about his many adventures. Boating, camping, hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, and four-wheeling were his favorite pasttimes.
He is survived by his son, Kelly Pellett: granddaughters, Cyleena McGraw and Rose Case; great-grandsons, Rhett McGraw and Caldor Case; and siblings Carol Cambell, Kathy Miller, Leslie Pellett, Mark Pellett, and Patrick Pellett. He also is survived by numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Edwin Pellett.
At Warren’s request, no memorial service will be held.
