Emil Dolchok
Kenai resident Emil Dolchok died Wednesday, May 2, 2001, on the bank of the Kenai River from a heart attack. He was 77.
Services will be at the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai. Visitation will be at 5:30 p.m. today, with a vigil at 7 p.m. Funeral services will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at the church. Father Michael Trefon will officiate. Pallbearers will be Rusty Huf, Gabe Juliussen Jr., Mike Carpenter, Bruce Nordenson, James Showalter and Doug Darien. Honorary pallbearers will be George Pederson and Herman Hermanson. There will be a gathering and meal at Fort Kenay following the funeral.
Mr. Dolchok was born Dec. 26, 1923, and was a lifelong resident of Kenai. He worked building the road system on the Kenai Peninsula and the Whittier Tunnel. He commercial fished and trapped, and he was an electrician on the North Slope and at the first power plant in Kenai.
Mr. Dolchok was a member of the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, Kenai Moose Lodge, Cook Inlet Region Inc., Kenai Natives Association and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe. In 1962, he was one of the organizers of the tribe, and was vice president when Kenai Natives Association was formed in 1971. At the time of his death he was serving on the KNA board. In 1999, he was CIRI shareholder of the year and the Alaska Federation of Natives elder of the year.
Mr. Dolchok was a Native artist specializing in miniature snowshoes and dog sleds. His special interests were subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering. The pride of his life was spending time with his grandchildren.
"Emil passed away doing what he loved, fishing the early-run king salmon. He was a generous man with a big heart who always would stop what he was doing to help others," his family said. "He was a role model, not only for his family, but the community as well. A leader, teacher and artist whose example, wisdom and gentleness will be remembered in all the lives he touched."
Mr. Dolchok is survived by his wife of 46 years, Margaret; daughters and sons-in-law Emily and Carl Marrs and Evelyn and Rusty Huf; brother, Mack Dolchok; sister, Marie Decker; grandchildren Emil Marrs, Crystal Marrs Harrison, Samantha Huf, Christa Huf, Gabe Juliussen Jr., Wanda Reams, Alec Lewis and Myra Cook; loved ones Susan Wells, Rhonda Nordenson and Jo Smith; and great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and others too numerous to mention.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the American Heart Association, 1057 West Fireweed, Anchorage, AK 99508, or to the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai.
Arrangements were made by Peninsula Memorial Chapel.