Lenora Conkle

LeNora Josephine (Quint, Huntley) Conkle, 103, passed away peacefully at the Fairbanks Pioneer Home on Thursday, February 7, 2013. A small service was held at the Pioneer Home on the 10th and a celebration of life will be planned for this summer in the Copper River Basin, where his ashes will be scattered at Eagle Trail Ranch.

LeNora was born on a small ranch near Hazleton, Idaho, on August 10, 1909. She was the third of ten children born to Jesse Dudley and Olga Elfrieda Otille (Mueller) Quint. She graduated from Boise High School and later married Alonzo D. Huntley on August 28, 1927. They had three children: Glen Alonzo, Richard Lloyd, and Jessie “Fay”. LeNora and Al divorced in 1940 in California.

During the tight rations and hard times of World War II, LeNora shared a large house with two of her sisters in San Diego, California. By pooling their finances and skills, they managed to have a comfortable life while raising their children.

LeNora arrived in Alaska in June 1946, with her new husband, Clement M. “Bud” Conkle, both in their thirties. They spent several years living and working in Fairbanks. After a winter in Nabesna, they decided that Lake Tanada, on the north side of the Wrangell Mountains, was the place for them. They began working on a small farm on the southwest coast, using a team of dogs to transport the necessary materials. The following summer/fall, while Bud was learning to fly, LeNora gave birth to her son, Colin. They backpacked and dogsled to and from Nabesna Road for a couple of years until they were able to purchase a J-3 Cub plane.

Bud and LeNora soon became involved in the guided fishing and hunting business while expanding their log cabin on Lake Tanada. They expanded their hunt to: ibex near Katalla, brown bear on the Alaska Peninsula, and polar bear on the Arctic peninsula. The couple hosted many, many visitors over the years. Not a few of his fishing and hunting clients made return trips on more than one occasion.

In the 1960s, they began developing a 160-acre property on Cobb Lake; near mile marker 57 of the Tok Cutoff, which they named Eagle Trail Ranch. A 1¼ mile driveway widened into fields of oats and hay that doubled as a landing strip for the J-3 Cub. They both loved horses and soon had more than 20 to use in their new guiding area called Wolf Lake, on the north side of the Nutzotin Mountains, just 20 miles from the Canadian border. Bud was licensed as a registered guide for many years, then awarded “Master Guide #19” in 1974.

LeNora could prepare a meal at any time for any number of guests. She loved to pick berries in the summer and she always had a great garden. She used to say that she had “always known” how to sew and her interior decorating skills developed in San Diego served her well in Alaskan life: making tents, sleeping bags, airplane wings, engine covers and many more. leather and fur articles. made during quiet times when Bud was out leading hunts. She also homeschooled Colin for many years.

In 1976, they moved from the small 3-room cabin on the farm to the modern new log home they had built with their own hands in their early 60s. LeNora loved that house! Suddenly there was room… room for a sewing corner, plenty of room for his book collection, and most important of all, a “trophy room” where Bud could display his trophies.

Bud passed away suddenly in February of 1985 and LeNora spent the next 10 winters traveling, visiting her children and grandchildren, while spending summers at her beloved Eagle Trail Ranch gardening and writing. (LeNora is the published author of five books about her life in Alaska.) In 1995, she sold Eagle Trail Ranch and moved to the North Pole, where her eldest son, Glen Huntley, was with her until his death in 2007. Her granddaughter, Corri Conkle, stepped in to continue her care. she. At the age of 99, LeNora decided it was time to move to Pioneer Home, where she resided until her death on February 7, 2013.

On February 10, 2010, LeNora was honored as an “Alaskan Trailblazer: by the 26th Alaska Legislature, she was Grand Marshal of the 2011 July 4th parade in Fairbanks, and in August 2012 NBC’s Willard Scott recognized her as “A Centenario”.

For her 100th birthday, three days of celebrations were held in Fairbanks and the North Pole with many of her family and friends. LeNora had always carried on a large typed and then handwritten correspondence with hundreds of people, including the children and grandchildren of some of her early hunting clients; He continued to write letters until a few days before his death.

LeNora predeceased her parents and eight of her siblings, as well as her two sons Glen and Dick Huntley. She is survived by her sister, Elizabeth Richmond of Napa, California, her daughter Fay Smith of Spanaway Washington, her son Colin Conkle of North Pole, and many great, great, and great grandchildren. LeNora will be sorely missed by all who knew her indomitable spirit.