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Harold Herning
Pioneer Harold Herning, 79, died Jan. 21, 1996 in Fairbanks.
Herning,
and his brother, Carl came to Alaska in 1938.
As children, their interest in the
territory
was sparked by their father's stories about being shanghaied from the streets of
San
Francisco to work for two years on a German whaling ship along the coast of
Alaska.
Soon
after his arrival, he worked in McKinley (now Denali) National Park, caring for the
park's dog
teams. Within a year he became a ranger, staying in the Park Service until 1944
and working
with biologist Adolf Murie on his classic study, The Wolves of Mount McKinley.
Herning
married his first date, Beatrice Fox, a girl with whom he picked blueberries in
the park.
The couple moved in 1942 to Fairbanks, where they homesteaded on Chena Hot
Springs Road in
1951. Others members of his family lived on adjoining homesteads.
Herning worked
as a
miner, aircraft mechanic for Wien and Northern Consolidated airlines,
contractor, carpenter,
and general handyman.
For many years he served as Sunday school teacher and
deacon at First
Baptist Church. Herning's family said he truly lived the commandment, "Love thy
neighbor
as thyself."
Last spring he advised his great-niece, Katie: "Live your life to
the fullest.
Every day treat your fellow man how you would like to be treated; every man
should take the
time to count his blessing and see the sunrise and sunset, and appreciate the
world that God
has given us."
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
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