Harriet Rachel Bennett Chilton
Harriet Rachel Bennett Chilton passed away March 16, 2016, at her home in Juneau. She was 89 years old.
Harriet was born Feb. 14, 1927, in Angoon. She was Deisheetaan (Raven-Beaver) from the Raven House of Angoon and her Tlingit name was Shaachookw´á. She attended Sheldon Jackson High School in Sitka and later took night classes at the Bill Ray Center to learn secretarial skills. She worked for the Teamsters Union and eventually retired from Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska where she worked as a secretary for many years. She met her husband, Gene Douglas Chilton, in Angoon and they had 13 children.
Harriet is preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Annie Bennett; husband, Gene D. Chilton; brothers, Joseph Bennett Sr., Thomas Bennett Sr., Paul Bennett and James Klushkan; sisters, Elsie John and June Pegues; children, Leslie B. Chilton, Eric L. Chilton, Sharon Chilton-Zinn, Elaine Chilton-Sullivan, Doris Chilton-Sage, Lorraine Chilton-Kincaid, Janice Chilton-Wren and Ellen Chilton-Field; grandchildren, Ronnie Kincaid, Valerie Chilton and Eric Kyle Chilton.
Harriet is survived by her sister, Marge Gamble; her children, Gene W. Chilton II and his wife Jennifer, Beverly Kerr and her husband James, Brian Chilton, Ann Martha Chilton, Douglas K. Chilton and Tom Wehnes, as well as numerous nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
Services will be held in Juneau, on Wednesday, March 23 at 5 p.m. at the Alaska Native Brotherhood hall.