Alaska life one of adventure for Marysville woman

Published 8:50 pm Saturday, May 23, 2009

Long before Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made headlines for shooting game, Dorothy Bernhard shot wild game to put meat on the table.

She lived for decades in Alaska, feeding her family with fish she caught and game she killed with her own rifle.

There were no trips to Albertsons for steak in a plastic package, said her daughter, Teresa Shandley of Arlington.

Her mother was proud of her outdoor skills.

Dorothy Viola (Hanson) Bigler Watson Bernhard, 75, of Marysville, died April 17 of lung cancer. She was born to Marvin and Lillian Hanson in Wimbleton, N.D. Her parents moved the family to Marysville to farm when Bernhard was a little girl.

She met Owen Bigler in Everett. They married and moved to Alaska when he was stationed there in the Army. They had three children. After they divorced, she blended families with Donald Watson.

The Watsons had three children while living in a Quonset hut, Shandley said. They traveled by dog sled.

“Dad hunted, fished and trapped,” Shandley said. “We grew up rugged.”

They fished for salmon, rainbow and Dolly Varden trout. They hunted as a family, just to get by, said her son, Donald Watson, who lives in Alaska. The big smokehouse was always filled with drying fish.

“Moose and fish, that was our staple,” he said.

He did enjoy when his Norwegian mother made lefse at Christmastime, Watson said.

His mother owned a restaurant in Alaska. She made a great moose roast, her son said, and caribou sausage.

“It was great,” he said. “Moose is a lot leaner than beef.”

Bagging a moose wasn’t too difficult, Watson said, as they wandered right into the family back yard.

At her restaurant, her mother featured “Burger Barrels,” her daughter said. They were individual meat loafs, probably moose, with mashed potatoes and a roll.

A high point of her life was being featured in a story printed in Alaska Sportsman Magazine in April 1964. The article featured her as an adventurous woman who didn’t like to stay indoors, her daughter said.

Preceding her in death were her parents, Marvin and Lillian Hanson; brother Vernon Hanson of Everett; sister Lorraine of Nevada; Donald Watson in 1988 and Owen Bigler in 1989; and granddaughter Danielle Ramirez.

She is survived by Karl Bernhard; daughters Frances Duclos of Alaska, Cindy Gallegos of Utah and Teresa Shandley; sons Dean Bigler of Sacramento, Calif., Donald Watson, Rusty Watson of Alaska; siblings, Marian Cross of Lynnwood, Carolyn and her husband Tom Reynolds of Renton and Marlene Wall of San Diego, Calif.; 17 grandchildren; 38 great-grand children; and seven great-great-grandchildren.

She married Karl Bernhard in 1994. Dorothy Bernhard belonged to the Alaska Health Board, Everett Eagles and Rolling 13 RV Club.

Marysville became her retirement home as winters got too harsh in Alaska. She played bingo, did oil painting and bead crafts, such as embellishing moccasins, dolls and earrings.

And the woman never lost her love of fishing. She dropped lines at Gissberg Twin Lakes in Arlington, along local river banks and slipped crab pots off docks in Everett.

When her daughter was two days old, the newborn went on her first Alaskan adventure. Shandley said she was wrapped in a blanket and accompanied the family ice fishing.

“They hunted and fished, just to put food on the table,” Shandley said. “Mom never batted an eye about doing anything.”

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com