Longtime resident Ron Kagee dies at 86

Ronald D. Kagee passed away Nov. 17 at the Wrangell Medical Center.

Burial is planned for 1 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the Sunset Gardens Cemetery. No reception is planned.

Ron was born to Bill and Toney Kagee on March 14, 1936, in Longview, Washington. He joined the U.S. Army shortly after graduating from high school in Castle Rock, Washington. He spent two years in the military in Germany and played the bugle.

He then worked as a cutter in logging, working in Washington and Oregon before coming to Alaska in 1969. He worked out at Bradfield, becoming the bullbuck boss for the cutters with Dick Sykes' logging company, as well as for the Spring Valley logging company on Wrangell Island.

In 1972, he and his wife, Lorraine, bought the Snack Shack on Front Street in Wrangell and owned it until the 1980s. Ron later worked at the mill until he retired.

He is preceded in death by parents, Bill and Toney Kagee; brother Bill Kagee; sister Pat Clark; son Michael Sr. Kagee; grandson Michael Jr Kagee; and niece Susan Utley.

He is survived by his wife, Larraine; son Keith Kagee, of Wrangell; daughter Sherry Sambito, of Florida; stepson Richard Burr, of Wrangell; grandson Trevor Kagee, of Idaho; grandchildren Megan and Travis Hooker, of Denver, Colorado; brother in law Lloyd "Wimp" Clark, of Washington state; niece Karen Kagee, of Oregon; eight grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; and his good friends, the Jerry Buethe family.

For people who want to honor Ron's memory, donations can be made to the Wounded Warrior Project at woundedwarriorproject.org.