Obituary: Bernard Conrad Iversen, 89

Bernard Conrad Iversen, 89, died on August 31, 2013 in Portland, Ore. with his family surrounding him. He had been through a difficult year, losing his son Peter in an airplane crash last October, 2012 and shortly thereafter his wife Doris died in late November, just days before their 66th wedding anniversary and her 88th birthday. His sister, Millie Iversen Grant, passed in June of this year in Anchorage. Barney had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer last fall, but through it all, he maintained a positive outlook and continued to live independently and full of life in his second home in Maui, Hawaii. He walked on the beach daily, collected shells to make his memorable puka shell necklaces, and enjoyed visiting and laughing with his "beach buddies." Somehow, he always managed to find someone with an Alaska connection while walking his favorite Maui beach, Keawakapu in Kihei.

Barney was born on March 9, 1924 in Wrangell and was raised there, the youngest child of Ida Marie Bryggare-Iversen and Peder Iversen. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps after high school and was preparing to dispatch as a pilot to the European front when WWII ended. After returning home to Wrangell, he met Doris Hagen and the two were married on her birthday, November 28, 1946, at the Wrangell Presbyterian Church. The couple soon had two fun-loving children, Julie and Peter. They lost their daughter Julie to breast cancer in 1998. Their family life was full of typical Alaska adventure: boating, fishing, hunting and gardening.

Professionally, Barney had a variety of jobs in Wrangell during his early postwar years among them bartender and pilot. He served as postmaster in Wrangell for thirty years, retiring in 1996. He thoroughly enjoyed his decades of work alongside his colleagues, also his neighbors and good friends. Although his federal postal service job paid the Iversen family bills, at the end of his life – Barney preferred to characterize himself as a lifelong "fisherman from Alaska."

Barney is survived by his daughter-in-law Kathy Iversen of Anchorage, Alaska; grandchildren, Deani and Peter Iversen of Portland and Seattle, Wash., Eric Lund, Wrangell, Christine Lund of Ketchikan, Alaska, Arthur and Nicole Hack of Ketchikan and Temecula, Calif. He also leaves six great-grandchildren and many dear friends in Wrangell and Maui.