wedding anniversary by announcing "and I’m 55 years old." Ray
adopted him after he and Vivian were married.
Menaker was born in Palo Alto, Calif. in 1943. He was 11 when Ray and
Vivian moved from California to Pelican. They came to Haines the next year and built a log
home on what is today Menaker Road.
"I can still see Dave sitting on top of that row of logs pounding
in the foot-long spikes" holding logs in, Ray said. "From the beginning, he was
a real capable guy. There was very little he couldn’t do."
At Haines High School, Menaker played basketball, and after graduating
in 1962, became a referee and volunteer fireman.
He served in the National Guard 20 years over a 40-year span, including
as staff sergeant and squad leader. "He was one of the guys who made it all
happen," said First Sergeant Terrance Pardee.
Menaker spent most of his life in construction and was in the
International Union of Operating Engineers #302. He worked on projects from Nome to
Ketchikan, including the trans-Alaska pipeline, and in Southeast logging camps. He
continued to drive local school and tour buses after his cancer diagnosis in 2003.
Menaker ran a one-man sawmill on his property on Small Tracts Road,
cutting custom boards and timbers, and made mead and wine at the small winery that he and
his wife Jeanie built, Great Land Wines.
The Menakers’ wine was distributed in liquor stores around the
state and served in several Anchorage restaurants.
"For fun, my dad worked" said daughter Natasha Thompson,
although he liked to play the saxophone, in a dance band in his youth, and for his family.
"He’d get home from the slope and play for us before we went to bed…usually
it was some old jazz."
After his marriage to her mother ended, Thompson said Menaker remained
close to his in-laws in Haines, helping out when her grandparents, Wes and Nedra Waterman,
needed it.
Tom Bieleski and Menaker became lifelong friends duck hunting in grade
school. Later, they poured concrete foundations together. Bieleski said Menaker was easy
to like. "We had many jobs where we’d be at it 18 hours. He hung in there with
me, very congenially, all he’d say was, ‘Well, what’s next?’"
On August 9, 1991, Menaker wed teacher Jeanette White under a tree in
his parent’s front yard, with his father officiating. Dave was Jeanie’s biggest
fan, often accompanying her to school board meetings and speaking on her behalf.
A memorial service and potluck will be held 1 p.m. June 7 at the
American Legion. His ashes will be interred at the cemetery with his stepson Tyler Cameron
White.
In addition to his wife, parents, and oldest daughter, Dave is survived
by brother Allen Menaker and sister Terry Lambert; children Katie Menaker and David Wesley
Menaker; stepsons Trevor and Trenton White; daughter-in-law Gwendolyn White; grandchildren
Cameron Franklin White, Evan Thompson, Cody Menaker and Jamie Edwards, and several nieces
and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Legion. An
account for the family has been set up at the bank.
