Obituary, Alaska historian Patricia Roppel

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A woman who wrote 13 books and more than 100 articles, many about the history of Southeast Alaska, has died. Patricia Roppel of Wrangell was 76.

Roppel died of cancer Jan. 6, 2015, in Bellevue, Wash.

A Washington state native, she moved to Alaska in 1959. She taught home economics at Ketchikan from 1959 to 1965, the same year she published her first article.

Many of her books were about how Alaska's resources were used, like salmon hatcheries, canning and mining, or the people and places of Southeast Alaska.

Two books led to being named Alaska Historian of the Year, in 1977 and 2006.

Survivors include her husband of 55 years, Frank Roppel, two children, John and Cindy, and two grandchildren.

The family asks that memorials be in the form of book donations (new or gently used, any genre) to Coffman Cove Library, PO Box 181350, Coffman Cove, AK 99918. A celebration of life will be held this summer in Wrangell.