ANCHORAGE (AP) — A former Ketchikan teacher who wrote 13 books and more than 100 articles, many about the history of Southeast Alaska, has died. Patricia Roppel of Wrangell was 76.
Her daughter, Cindy Baird, tells The Associated Press that Roppel died of cancer Jan. 6 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.
