Pauline K. Farr Bennett

Our wife, sister, and aunt, Pauline, passed peacefully and with dignity at her home in Redding, Calif., in the late evening of Oct. 9, 2012. She had been diagnosed with cancer in early August of this year, but in spite of her doctors’ efforts to treat and control this disease, she was not able to survive its rapid advance.

Her ashes were interred at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery at Igo, Calif. No services were held.

She was an early resident of Alaska, arriving in Seward in November 1941 with her mother and brothers on board the Alaska Steamship Company’s S.S. Alaska to join their father, who was employed as a longshoreman in that city. However, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, her family was evacuated from Alaska and returned to their former residence in Great Falls and later Kalispell, while her father remained in Alaska. Evacuation of women and children was a policy instituted by the government since there was a heightened fear of further attacks on the West coast of the U.S. and Alaska. Pauline and her family returned again on the Alaska Steamship S.S. Columbia, to Seward in 1944 and resided there until 1948, when they were among the early travelers to drive the Alcan Highway, returning to Montana, living in Rexford until 1957, when they returned to Seward. Pauline remained in Boise and Payette, Idaho, with her aunt and uncle while attending college at Moscow.

Pauline was born in Libby on June 11, 1934, and attended elementary schools in Rexford and Eureka and Seward, Alaska. She was a member of the Order of Rainbow for Girls. Pauline graduated from Lincoln County High School in 1952, where she was her class salutatorian. She then attended the University of Idaho in Moscow, where she graduated with honors in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She was a member of the Delta Gamma Sorority and the Spurs, an honor society.

Upon graduation, she moved to San Francisco, Calif., where she was employed as an executive secretary at the investment firm of Loomis-Sayles & Co. She resided in that area until 1958, when she moved to Seattle, Wash., where she was employed again as an executive secretary at the banking firm of People’s Bank and Trust. She then decided to move to Alaska in 1960 to be closer to her family and was then employed by the State of Alaska, Department of Labor and Radio Corporation of America until 1961.

She met her husband, Robert E. Bennett, while both were employed at RCA in Anchorage. They were married in February 1961 in Anchorage. They thereupon traveled to Europe, where Robert had accepted a position as construction supervisor for Federal Electric Corporation, installing communication facilities in Italy, Greece and Spain. They resided on the continent until 1965, when they returned to Anchorage, where Robert was employed by the Anchorage Telephone Utility, and Pauline was employed as an executive secretary to the director, State of Alaska, Division of Lands. The Bennetts resided in Anchorage until 1977, when Robert Bennett retired, and they moved to Redding, where they remained until her death.

During her life, Pauline was fortunate to be able to travel and reside in many areas of the world, enjoying excursions to Tahiti and Brazil among others. While residing in Redding, she participated in the local arts league, where she refined her skills as a painter.

Pauline was a descendant of the first families and early settlers of Montana, her great-grandparents and grandparents having settled in Anaconda, Deer Lodge County, in 1885 and later establishing homesteads in the Flathead and Lincoln counties in 1890s.

She is survived by husband, Robert of Redding, Calif.; brothers Thomas G. Farr and Terry R. Farr of Anchorage, Alaska; niece Virginia H. Farr of Auburn, N.Y., nephews and families, Commander Scott T. and Melanie Farr, Katherine and Howland, of Vienna, Va.; Matthew T. and Maritza Farr, Natalie and Nicole of Winter Springs, Fla; grand nieces Jenna Billington of College, Alaska, Bria Billington of Anchorage, Alaska and grand nephew, Jacob Billington of Las Vegas, Nev.; step children Maria Reynolds, and Bruce and Brenda Bennett of New England.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Orin L. Farr and Helen L. Farr and her niece, Kristin M. Billington. She will also be remembered and missed by the many lifelong friends she maintained and cherished over her life.

We shall forever mourn our wife, sister and aunt, who possessed the finest of attributes; beauty, intelligence, honor and integrity.