Page 3
The community help support funding for the application process for a new HUD apartment complex, and now that building is nearing completion.
Last year we needed a new Meals on Wheels vehicle and the community kicked in nearly $50K and that truck is delivering all over.
Wel need to replace this vehicle soon! The ideal vehicle will be a diesel 4 wheel drive with at least two wheelchair tiedowns and lift with room for others as well.
The cost of such a vehicle approaches $70,000 a figure nearly out of reach of even our best historical campaign. With this in mind, we are planning to dedicate this year and next to the effort and will seek matching money from foundations such as last year's Rasmuson grant.
Grant officials are very favorably impressed by local support and by the end of this years campaign, we will once again be able to show our strong local support and apply for an amount to match. PLEASE help us with this effort. We will establish a dedicated fund to hold this money until next year. We Thank You greatly for your past support and look forward to a successful campaign.
Tom Davis- Executive Director
Chugiak resident Lelia "LEE" (McSparran) Ferguson, 83, died Dec. 23, 2002, at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
A Celebration of Life was held Saturday January 4th, 2003 at Chugiak Senior Center.
Mrs. Ferguson was born Sept 3, 1919, in Seattle, Wa. She graduated from Washington State School for the Blind and also attended Multnoma School of the Bible and the Universitey of Washington.
Her family wrote: "She was well known for her many talents all through her life. One thing she was talented in was playing the violin."
She played for the Seattle Youth Symphony and Portland Junior Symphony.
Mrs. Ferguson lived in Alaska during the 1940's and 1950's and returned to Alaska in 1994. During earlier years here, she worked for Minfield Children's Home in Juneau.
She was married to Robert J. Ferguson, who died in November 1993. After her husbands death in Oregon, she moved to the Chugiak Senior Center in 1994. There she lived independently despite her blindness.
"She was very independent as she cooked her own meals, washed her own clothes adn even served o the Board of Directors at CSC for two years, "her family wrote. "For awhile, she taught handicapped children on a computer. One of the things she loved most was writing poetry and helping others. She had several poems published in the National Library of Peotry and newspapers. Many commented on how well she was able to get around by herself.
"Everyone will truly misss her smiling face. It was said the other day, "I have never heard LEE say a cross word ever!"
Besides her husband, she was preceded in death by two sisters.
She is survived by two children, Robert Michael Ferguson of Eagle River and Virginia Lee Blackman of Venus, Texas; seven grandchildren; sister Sarah McSparran of Chugiak; sister and brother-in-law Mary and Paul Ambacher of Glendale, Ariz.; brother-in-law Richard I Congdon of Fairbanks; many nieces and nephews and their children; And MANY Friends.
Mrs. Ferguson will be cremated and her ashes laid to rest beside her husband, Bob, at Willamette National Cemetary in Portland, Oregon.
MEMORIAL DONATIONS can be made to;
Ferguson
22424 N. Birchwood Lp.#109 Chugiak, AK 99567
