Alaska Leader Perishes in Crash

KETCHIKAN, ALASKA

A granite memorial to those lost at sea stands near the ferry terminal here where Janice Stokes worked for 11 years. Stokes, whose sister drowned near the site in 1958, served on the committee that erected it in 1993.

Soon, the names of Stokes and her fiancé, Malcolm Branson, will be memorialized as well. Both died when Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed Jan. 31 off the California coast, killing all 88 aboard.

Stokes, president of the Ketchikan chapter of the Alaska State Employees Association/AFSCME Local 52, had flown to Mexico with Branson to see in the new year. Both worked for the state ferry system — he as an engine worker and she as the person who sold tickets, tied up the ships and greeted passengers.

Both were real Alaskans, their families and friends agreed. Said Capt. George Capacci of the ferry system office in Juneau, “Jan was out in all weather, smiling. ... We’re really going to miss her.”