Tracie West, who lived in Haines as a youth, died March 19 at her home in Palmer. She was 53 and suffered from alcoholism, said her husband William West.
West was born Tracie Short on July 25, 1963 in Seattle. She came north with her family in the early 1970s. Walter Short, her father, was a trucker who hauled mobile homes up the Haines Highway during the trans-Alaska pipeline boom.
“She was 9 or 10 when she came to Haines. She was treed by a moose and she learned not to like eagles, because there were so many there and you had to look out for their droppings,” William West said.
West graduated from Mount Baker High School in Deming, Wash. She married several times and lived in Arizona and Germany with husbands who worked in the military. West worked as a civilian for the Army as a mobilization and deployment specialist, earning awards for mentoring Army spouses and families.
“She trained them to be ready for deployment and advised them on their benefits,” William West said.
On her 10-acre property in Palmer, West kept a large garden. “It was her versus the moose, which was entertaining,” her husband said.
Besides a cat, West kept two dogs and earned an American Kennel Club title for training her Chesapeake Bay retriever, Rohn. She enjoyed dipnetting on the Kenai Peninsula and halibut fishing near Ninilchik.
A service was held at Jensen’s funeral home in Palmer March 25. Interment is set for noon on May 15 at Fort Richardson.
West is survived by William West of Palmer, her husband of 16 years; by children Jason Cumiford of San Antonio, Texas; Laura Bentley of Lawton, Okla.; Jeri Vetter of White City, Ore., and Shelby Luna of Helena, Mont.; and by nine grandchildren.
Cards may be sent c/o William West, 3794 Diana Ave., Palmer, AK 99645.