C
Craig Taylor
Guest
I just got word that Oro Stewart passed on in Sept of last year. I met with her
a few years ago at her photography studio and saw a wonderful collection of her
photos from the Amphicar trip down the Yukon. She was a very friendly woman and
still owned the Amphicar at that time.
Here is a copy of the obit from the Anchorage Daily News.
Anchorage pioneer Oro Stewart dead at 85
Longtime reindeer keeper was a city icon.
Tataboline Brant
Anchorage Daily News
Staff
Anchorage lost a pioneer Thursday. Oro Stewart -- best known as owner of a
series of reindeer named Star and of Stewart's Photo on Fourth Avenue and for
feeding hundreds during Anchorage's annual Fur Rendezvous celebration with her
Wild Game Barbecue -- died of congestive heart failure at 2:45 a.m. at the age
of 85.
Stewart checked into Alaska Regional Hospital Sept. 4 and was surrounded by
friends ''around the clock,'' said Stephen Ellis, a longtime friend and executor
of Stewart's estate.
Oro and her late husband, Ivan, arrived in Alaska in 1940. They homesteaded in
Potter Valley in the 1950s.
Tami Delaware, who helped Stewart around the house since 1992, said Thursday she
felt like she had lost her mom. ''She was the most wonderful person I think I've
ever known. She's a huge part of Alaska history. She's a strong woman. I know
her history, she came over here on a steamboat.''
Delaware said one of her favorite memories include helping Stewart decorate her
Christmas 8tree and house with lights. ''You take her hand and walk her out
front, and she's standing there in her sweater with her cane in the freezing
cold and (when you show her the lights) she'll clap her hands like a little girl
and say, 'Oh, goodie!' ''
''She's just so special,'' Delaware said.
Neil Tysver met Stewart when he joined the Chugach Gem & Mineral Society 12
years ago. Stewart had been membership chairwoman ''forever,'' he said.
''(Stewart is) responsible for the city having the reindeer. She sponsors that
wild game feed -- all kinds of things that make Anchorage a more interesting
place,'' Tysver said. ''Who knows if those things will continue now.''
Stewart kept the reindeer in a pen at 10th Avenue and I Street for years. When
one would die, she replaced it with another. The animals, which were walked on
Delaney Park Strip and other places downtown, became a favorite sight among
tourists and locals alike.
Tysver said Stewart can never be replaced. ''It's kind of like Alaska's losing
its flavor. We're losing all these old Alaskans; we might as well be living in
Bellevue, Washington,'' he said.
A funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at All Saint's Episcopal Church.
Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Evergreen Memorial Chapel
downtown.
Craig in Alaska
Red 66 Amphicar(FLATLK)
a few years ago at her photography studio and saw a wonderful collection of her
photos from the Amphicar trip down the Yukon. She was a very friendly woman and
still owned the Amphicar at that time.
Here is a copy of the obit from the Anchorage Daily News.
Anchorage pioneer Oro Stewart dead at 85
Longtime reindeer keeper was a city icon.
Tataboline Brant
Anchorage Daily News
Staff
Anchorage lost a pioneer Thursday. Oro Stewart -- best known as owner of a
series of reindeer named Star and of Stewart's Photo on Fourth Avenue and for
feeding hundreds during Anchorage's annual Fur Rendezvous celebration with her
Wild Game Barbecue -- died of congestive heart failure at 2:45 a.m. at the age
of 85.
Stewart checked into Alaska Regional Hospital Sept. 4 and was surrounded by
friends ''around the clock,'' said Stephen Ellis, a longtime friend and executor
of Stewart's estate.
Oro and her late husband, Ivan, arrived in Alaska in 1940. They homesteaded in
Potter Valley in the 1950s.
Tami Delaware, who helped Stewart around the house since 1992, said Thursday she
felt like she had lost her mom. ''She was the most wonderful person I think I've
ever known. She's a huge part of Alaska history. She's a strong woman. I know
her history, she came over here on a steamboat.''
Delaware said one of her favorite memories include helping Stewart decorate her
Christmas 8tree and house with lights. ''You take her hand and walk her out
front, and she's standing there in her sweater with her cane in the freezing
cold and (when you show her the lights) she'll clap her hands like a little girl
and say, 'Oh, goodie!' ''
''She's just so special,'' Delaware said.
Neil Tysver met Stewart when he joined the Chugach Gem & Mineral Society 12
years ago. Stewart had been membership chairwoman ''forever,'' he said.
''(Stewart is) responsible for the city having the reindeer. She sponsors that
wild game feed -- all kinds of things that make Anchorage a more interesting
place,'' Tysver said. ''Who knows if those things will continue now.''
Stewart kept the reindeer in a pen at 10th Avenue and I Street for years. When
one would die, she replaced it with another. The animals, which were walked on
Delaney Park Strip and other places downtown, became a favorite sight among
tourists and locals alike.
Tysver said Stewart can never be replaced. ''It's kind of like Alaska's losing
its flavor. We're losing all these old Alaskans; we might as well be living in
Bellevue, Washington,'' he said.
A funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at All Saint's Episcopal Church.
Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Evergreen Memorial Chapel
downtown.
Craig in Alaska
Red 66 Amphicar(FLATLK)
