Carmel D. Roberts
Former Ketchikan and Juneau resident Carmel D. "Punky" Roberts died Dec. 18, 2009, in Mount Vernon, Wash. She was 63.
Born Jan. 25, 1946, in Ketchikan, to Calvin and Mary Jessie Demmert Roberts, she attended school in Ketchikan and Sitka, graduating from Ketchikan High School. She later attended Ketchikan Community College.
In 1968, she accepted a position as a purchasing agent at Ketchikan General Hospital. In 1972, she began a career with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, which was to span the next 27 years.
Her first assignment was in Juneau, where she was the first woman to hold a permanent appointment as a BIA superintendent in Alaska. She held that position until the BIA agency office in Juneau was closed. She then accepted a management analyst position with the BIA in Washington, D.C. Her last assignment was in Portland, Ore., where she retired in 1999.
An Alaska Native, she was a member of the Tlinget Tribe, Raven Clan, Dog Salmon House. She was a member of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, Sealaska Corp., Presbyterian Church, America Legion Auxiliary and the Moose Club. She enjoyed traveling, salmon fishing, bowling, skiing and especially being "Auntie Punky" to all of her many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Elaine Foley; brother, Calvin Roberts Jr.; nephews, Jeffery Foley and Zane Abbott.
She is survived by her sister, Sharon Foley and husband, Rich, of Ketchikan; brother-in-law, Mike Abbott, of Birdsview, Wash.; uncles, Ray Roberts, of Ketchikan, and Leo Woods, of Seattle, Wash.; and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, cousins and extended family throughout the 50 states.
"She will be missed by us all!" her family wrote.
Her family would like to acknowledge and thank all her friends in Mount Vernon, especially those at Mountain Glen retirement home for their caring assistance this past year.
Services will be held in Ketckikan at a date yet to be determined. Cremation arrangements were under the care of Kern Funeral Home.
Carmel was always there with a helping hand for family, friends and to those in need, her family said. In lieu of flowers, any donations should be made to local area food banks or homeless shelters.