Gastineau Channel Memories

Hedges, Arthur Allen & Marian (Helland)

Gary Hedges

Arthur Allen Hedges was born on May 29, 1908, in Cleveland, Ohio, and was raised there and on the family farm near London, Ontario, Canada. He attended the University of Ontario at London for a year, then went west to the College of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, graduating from there in 1929.

He taught school in Parkland, Washington, and served as an accountant for West Coast Grocery. In 1934, Art married Marian Helland, who was born in Tacoma, in 1909, and had graduated from Stadium High School. The couple moved to Petersburg, Alaska, that same year. The late Dr. Joseph Rude hired him to teach commercial subjects and coach basketball at Petersburg High School. The couple moved to Ketchikan the following year, where Art became the accountant for the Ketchikan Cold Storage and later took over the Ketchikan office of the employment service.

Their son Gary was born in Ketchikan in 1935. In 1942, the Hedges family came to Juneau where Art was the head of the War Manpower Commission for the Territory, mobilizing workers for the defense efforts in Alaska. He also worked for the Territory of Alaska as the Director of the Alaska Employment Service and was in charge of the Employment Security Commission of Alaska. This position carried him to nearly every part of the state. Later, he worked as office manager for Lyle?s Hardware. He retired from the State Department of Administration.

Art was initiated into Freemasonry in Mt. Juneau Lodge, No. 147 on January 3, 1947, and joined the Scottish Rite Bodies of Juneau in August of 1947. Knowledgeable in both Greek and Latin, he was an effective instructor for both candidates and other Masonic ritualists. Art was an active member of Nile Temple and the Juneau Shrine Club where he served as president in 1959. He was also an active member of Juneau Chapter, No. 7, Order of the Eastern Star.

Art?s face was a familiar one at the Fireman?s Ball Park. Along with Red Shaw, Art umpired for Juneau?s City Baseball League during the 1940?s and 50?s. A life member of the Elks, he was past Exalted Ruler of Ketchikan Lodge, No. 1429. As a member of the Juneau Lions Club he was instrumental in founding the Gold Medal Tournament, laying out the first double elimination brackets. He was an avid golfer and card player and was a duplicate bridge life master, accumulating master points up to the week before his death.

Marian worked for Marshall and Vivian Erwin at Case Lot Grocery, and later, having worked in banking in Tacoma, she became a teller at B.M. Behrends Bank from where she retired. She recognized all of her customers, young and old, and called them by name. She was a member of the Order of Eastern Star; volunteered many hours with Scouting programs; bowled on the Pan American Team; was a past president of Emblem Club and was an active member of the ?Stitch and Bitch? Club.

Art and Marian?s son Gary graduated from Juneau High School in 1953. He attended Johns Hopkins University, the University of Washington, served his internship at Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio and his residency at the University of Cincinnati. Gary and Margaret McCardel of Prince Edward Island, Canada were married in 1961. Margaret had been recruited by the Sisters of St. Ann?s as a nurse at their hospital in Juneau. Gary and Margaret returned to Juneau after his residency and set up his surgical practice, from which he served Southeast Alaska until his retirement in 2000. The couple have four children, Cindy, Kathy, Daryl and Jeff and three grandchildren.

Art and Marian retired to Maui, Hawaii. Marian died on January 25, 1989 in Maui. Art died June 9, 1997, at his home at the Fireweed Place in Juneau.