Return to Home 
Research Center Directory 
 



 

 

 

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

 

 



 


©Copyright 2015 Alaska Trails to the Past All Rights Reserved
For more information contact the Webmistress