Frank Berry passed away August 4, 2026, at 3 p.m. in Ketchikan with family nearby. 

He was baptized this year and developed a strong faith in God. In the end, his hospice chaplain was Lori Ortiz, and with her visits, he had comfort and peace in his passing. 

Franklin Berry was born Dec. 11, 1941, in Haines, one of nine children born to Dan and Nellie Berry. They were raised on the plot across from the Sacred Heart Church, which still belongs to the family. The family raised chickens and also owned a horse and a cow. Every Sunday, they would butcher a chicken for dinner, and that was quite an ordeal because the kids each had a favorite pet fowl, including one that would drop to the ground and pretend to be dead if a dog came around. 

The family’s ties to the land go back generations, when only the Tlingits lived here. Frank’s grandmother was Mary Willard of Klukwan. His grandfather, Solomon Hopkins, was from Scotland. Hopkins famously came over the pass herding cows. There’s a picture of him on the wall at the ferry terminal. He also cared for the horses for the Army at Port Chilkoot. 

On Memorial Day, Frank’s mother Nellie would make flowers for the graves out of crepe paper. After the flowers were cut out, they were dipped in wax to preserve them and then placed on the graves. At the time, many women made their flowers this way. The family would walk out to Jones Point and spend the day cleaning the graves. They shared a packed lunch and then head home. Nellie’s granddaughter Mary Jane and her daughters, Tammy, Carrie, and DeAnna, now help her with the graves. 

Frank went to school in Haines, started carving with Carl Heinmiller and was one of the original Chilkat Dancers. He joined the Peace Corps and served from 1967-1969. He was in Nigeria when the Nigeria-Biafra civil war broke out. The Peace Corps was evacuated from Africa because of the war, but it directly influenced his lifelong professional focus on cross-cultural environments and rural communities’ needs. 

Frank earned a master’s of education (M.E.D.) in school administration from the University of Alaska. He served as a senior associate with the Alaska Native Foundation in Anchorage. He collaborated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Northern Education Research. In 1973, he edited the Collected Papers of the Northern Cross-Cultural Education Symposium. 

Frank worked alongside renowned Alaskan researcher Judith Kleinfeld at the Institute of Social and Economic Research. He co-authored the landmark 1978 study Village High Schools: Some Educational Strategies to Help Meet Development Needs of Rural Youth. This influential research fundamentally shaped how public education and small high school systems were designed for remote Alaska Native villages during a time of major institutional changes. 

He also worked for a tribe on a reservation in Phoenix, Arizona, and was a superintendent at the school. 

He is survived by Kenny and Rosie Berry of Ketchikan, Dave and Jana Berry of Pocatello Idaho, Andy Berry of Haines, Rod, Beau and Brian White and David Berry of Norman, Oklahoma, and Bill and Mary Jane Valentine of Haines, Henry Jacquot of Lynwood Washington and many many nieces and nephews. 

“Uncle, some days I reach for the phone and then realize that you aren’t here anymore. So, I tell myself, you didn’t leave us, you just went ahead of us. You were a one and only. Thanks for all of the memories that we will always carry with us. Enjoy catching up with your family in heaven and until we meet again, we love you!”

Services will be held in the spring for family and friends.