I_
0. A. Torgerson To Head Directors
Of The National Bank of Alaska
0. A. Torgerson, president and
founder of the Bank of Kodiak,
was elected chairman of the Board
of Directors of the National Bank
of Alaska in Anchorage, according
to an announcement made this
week by Elmer E. Rasmuson.
president of the Anchorage bank.
Torgerson, together with his
wife Ruth, will move to Anchorage
this month. He will remain
as president of the Bank of
Kodiak. He was re-elected by the
board of directors Tuesday to
serve another year.
Mr. Rasmuson was elected as a
member of the board during a
meeting of the stockholders also
held Tuesday. Other directors, all
of whom were re-elected were R.
S. Acheson, A1 Hochberger, Dr.
A. Holmes Johnson, Ben Kraft and
O. A. Torgerson.
Elmer Rasmuson has been
president of the National Bank of
Alaska since 1943. The bank was
started by his father Edward A.
Rasmuson in 1916. Born in Alas
ka, Mr. Rasmuson holds several
honorary positions in the State.
He is president of the Board of
Regents of the University of Alas
ka; he is secretary for Alaska of
the Rhoades Scholarship fund; he
holds tho position of Swedish Vice
Consul; he is president of the
Bank of Wrangell; and chairman
of the Board of the Bank of Homer.
Torgersons elevation to chair
man of the board of directors of
the National Bank of Alaska fol
lows a long banking career, both
here in Alaska and in the state
of Washington. He was vice-presi
dent of the Security National Bank
of Everett. Moving to Alaska, he
was vice-president and Cashier at
the First Bank of Cordova prior
to coming here in 1939.
Opening the bank here as the
sole employee, March 4, 1940,
Torgie saw the need for the bank
with deposits totalling $544,888.47
brought in the first year. By the
second year, the phenomenal
Johnson Clinic
Plans Open House
“Open House” is planned at the
Johnson Clinic. Saturday, July 25,
from 2 p.m., according to Dr. Bob
Johnson.
The Clinic has moved into their
new quarters next to the USO. Ex
panded facilities provide for bet
ter care of the patient. Doctors
A. Holmes‘Johnson, Dr. Bob John
son and Dr. Bruce Keers are in
attendance.
Chamber Members
To Hear Report
The Roads, Harbor and Lands
committee will give an extensive
report of accomplishments, and
plans for the future, at the Cham
ber of Commerce meeting to be
held next Thursday.
Dr. Bob Johnson, president of
the Chamber, calls on all members
to be present. The meeting will
^be held at the Island Fountain at
J2;15.
growth of the bank was evidenced
by deposits of nearly $2,000,000.
Torgerson resigned here in Oc
tober 1957, only to resume the
presidency in 1955.
Though Mr. and Mrs. Torgerson
will reside in Anchorage, he ex
pects to be a frequent visitor to
Kodiak. “We are delighted to
have Torgie come with us and feel
it is an honor,” Rasmuson stated
when making the announcement.
Total resources of the National
Bank of Alaska were stated to be
$39,755,530.94 on June 30, 1959.
- - ■ ■ — ■ ■ ■ <
Fall From Cliff
Ends In Death
Carl Paul Coon, twelve-and-a
half year old son of Mayor and
Mrs. Morrill Coon, died Sunday
night of injuries sustained as he
fell about 100 feet Sunday after
noon from a cliff at Fort Aber
crombie.
Carl and his younger brother
Corky, accompanied together with
Roger King, accompanied Merrill
Coon to the recreational area at
Abercrombie Sunday afternoon.
Young Carl played with several
boys for a while, and wandered
over by the cliffs at Miller Point.
The boys were gathering empty
cartridges. No one witnessed young
Carl fall, but he apparently at
tempted to reach something close
to the cliff’s edge, lost his foot
ing, and plunged to the bottom.
The first the father knew of
the accident was when Carl’s little
brother, Corky, came to him, and
said the older boy lay at the bot
tom of the cliff.
' Investigating, the father then
saw his boy lying on the shore.
Two men nearby, George T. Clark,
YN3„ and Calvin R. Weinheimer,
YN2, proceeded down the cliff, and
brought the boy up. In the mean
time Coon drove to the nearest
telephone and summoned the am
bulance.
Carl was taken unconscious to
the hospital, having been given
emergency treatment by Dr. A.
Holmes Johnson. He passed away
at 1:50 a.m., Monday.
Carl was born December 30,
1946. He was a very active boy,
and a member of Boy Scout Troop
No. 626.
He is survived by both his par
ents, Merrill and Louise Coon, a
brother, Charles Courtland, and a
sister, Patricia Downing,. Kirkland,
Washington.
Funeral services were held Wed
nesday morning at the Community
Baptist Church, Dr. John Molletti
officiating. Interment followed at
the City cemetary.
JUNEAU (AP)—Gov. William
A. Egan said Thursday it was rea
sonable to expect a settlement this
weekend of the strike that has
closed down half of the construc
tion projects in Alaska. The Gover
nor said he was optimistic that
workers would be back Monday on
jobs at projects valued at more
than 40 million dollars.
Alex Mazoff Dies
\
Alex Mazoff, 73„ died of a heart
attack Saturday while at the Rec
reation Hall.
A familiar figure around Kodiak
for years, Mazoff was bom in
Odessa, Russia. There are no
known relatives.
Services were held by Rev. Ro
man Sturmer, pastor of the Rus
sian Orthodox Church, at 2 p.m.,
Wednesday at the Muller Mor
tuary Slumber Room. Interment
followed in the Russian Cemetery
Police Chiefs
Cancel Meeting
FAIRBANKS (AP) —Fairbanks
police officers are chuckling over
a new twist to an old problem—
•too many Indians and not enough
chiefs.
Police Chief R. E. Vickery, Ko
diak, Secretary of the Alaskan
Police Chiefs Associatoin, official
ly cancelled Wednesday, the an
nual meeting of the 12 Alaskan
chiefs. The meeting was to have
been held Monday and Tuesday.
Vickery disclosed the meeting
may be held later in the year aft
er he and Chief Bert Doucette of
Sitka and Chief Stan Zaverl of
Fairbanks had waited here since
Monday for the remaining nine
members. Nobody else showed up.
Dentist Returns
Dr. Tom Colford, local dentist,
returned Wednesday from An
chorage, where he attended the
Alaska Dental Association conven
tion held there.
While there he took his exami
nation for a State license and
passed successfully.
Former Kodiakan
Tells Of Travels
A former Kodiak businessman,
former councilman and ex-Kodiak
Rotarian who is revisiting Kodiak
for the first time since his de
parture 12 years ago told Rotar
ians at their noon luncheon Tues
day in the 49 Room of the activi
ties of himself and family in the
intervening years.
The speaker was Harry Christo
pher, who came to work at the
naval base in 1940 and then ope
rated Christie’s bakery from 1941
to 1947.
From Kodiak Harry, his wife
Fleeta and daughter Gail wejnt to
Montana where he worked on the
Hungry Horse dam project. Finish
ing that job he went with Morri
son-Knudsen on an airport build
ing contract to Casablanca. Return
ing to the States he next signed
for two years of road building
in Ethiopia, where his wife and
daughter were able to join him.
Gail attended a French-speaking
school and they had opportunity
for many side trips in Africa.
Harry’s next job was in Jordan,
building roads under the old Point
4 program. His wife and daughter
joined him there also, and they
visited the Holy Land on a vaca
tion trip. When political troubles
developed there Mrs. Christopher
son and daughter left for home
and got out with all their souve
nirs and belongings, which was
fortunate, he said, because many
Americans later lost everything
they owned there.
He stayed, but was finally
evacuated with the project incom
pleted. To complete his contract
he worked in Beirut, Lebanon,
Karachi, Pakistan and Afghani
(Continued to page 10)
LAST OF SLAG—Switchmen of the Gary Works in Gary, Ind., watch
as the last of the molten slag comes from one of the United States
Steel blast furnaces. Slag is hauled in the wheeled containers to be
dumped as waste. This was the last before the strike began midnight
July 15. (AP Wirephoto)
Along The
Waterfront
Reports from all sources along"
the waterfront report the same:'
no fish. *
There are actually less gear obt"
this year than last;‘according to **
the Fish and Wildlife Service, «ftth *
an estimated 503 boats registered,
with reports , incomplete from
around the Island.
Local canneries all report few
fish. No salmon being canned at
*King Crab, Inc., btit the ddiapany
is freezing king crab. * •
Roy Lindsley, FWS Supervisor
•with headquarters in Anchorage,
was to arrive yesterday. He will be
in Kodiak for a few days, before
making a trip around the Island
and Westward.
&
It’s very quiet at the City Dock
these days, in-between arrival of
ships. The EPANSION is due in
Sunday on its way to Seward. The
TATALINA will be in Tuesday or
Wednesday.
£
Standard Oil Agent here, Merrill
Coon and wife and son Corky are
spending a few days at Port Bailey.
&
Halferty*s tenders, ROSEMARY,
TULA, YARSH together with'the
Alaska Packers barge SEA LION
all in for refueling. Wakefield’s
JEANETTE F was in and out,; re
turning to Seattle after the trip
into the Bering Sea checking on
operations of the Jap and Russian
fishermen.
&
Alvme’s Marine Repair are still
working on Charlie Reft’s boat.
&
VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — A
net profit of $1,875,917 was report
ed by the British Columbia Pack
ers Ltd. for the year ending March
31.
The previous year the company
reported a loss of $181,714. The
comapny’s annual report showed
. sales during the eyar totaled a
record. $63,317,738, an increase .of
33 per -cent over the previous
year.
-Officials said the feature of
r 1958 was the large sockeye salmon
*pack, which was just short of a
record.
The herring catch was also the
second largest on record. The 1958
sockeye salmon production is ex
pected to be not more than 25 per
cent of the 1958 pack.
Wakefields May
Process For APA
Another King crab operation for
the Kodiak area was forecast here
this week in discussions between
the Alaska Packers Association
and Wakefield Fisheries at the
Halferty Cannery.
General terms of the agreement
are understood to involve Alaska
Packers offering a crab market to
a considerable number of the local
boats who fish for the Larsen
Bay and Halferty canneries and
the processing of the crabs by
Wakefield’s at its Raspberry
Straits plant. The Port Wakefield
Continued to page 4