Joan "Carrie" Sheffield

Jun 25, 1925 -

Aug 26, 2021

Joan "Carrie" Sheffield was born in Enniskillen, Ireland, on June 25, 1925, and passed away, at the age of 96, in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 26, 2021.

Having immigrated to Canada as a young child, Carrie fondly remembered churning butter and packing sauerkraut on her grandparents' farm in rural Saskatchewan. Her family moved westward before settling in Victoria, Canada.

During World War II, she enlisted in the Royal Canadian Airforce working as a teletype operator and radio operator. Her duties included acting as an air traffic controller to coordinate the ferrying of bombers to Russia and the interception of Japanese Morse code from planes, ships and submarines. It was there that she met her first husband, American serviceman Fred Ferrell.

After the war, Carrie and Fred were stationed in Alaska, where they raised their three daughters in Juneau, Delta Junction and Anchorage. Carrie worked as a typesetter and reporter for the Juneau Empire, and served in numerous capacities within the Civil Service in Delta Junction and Anchorage.

She and her second husband, Joe Sheffield, built and sold homes in Anchorage before moving to Florida where they founded a parasailing business, and enjoyed a long and content retirement sailing their ocean-going cruiser, the Carrie Two. They established the Crystal River Elks Lodge, and served as officers in local chapters of the Power Squadron and the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

After Joe passed away, she spent several years living with her daughters. In the last year of her life, she was well cared for by the wonderful staff at Mt. Zion Assisted Living facility in Anchorage, where she made friends with the staff other residents and enjoyed outings to the Turnagain Social Club.

Carrie was whip smart. An avid cribbage player, equally happy to play cut-throat crib in tournaments or help friends and family count and get all their points, she played until the last days of her life. She also played word games and puzzles, and reengineered common household items to make them more useful. Her sense of humor was quick, and her smile and laugh were charming and infectious until the end.

A loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Carrie will be dearly missed by her surviving family, including her brother, Art Carrington; daughters, Linda (Wayne) Watson, Beverly Glasgow and Vicki Harr; grandchildren, Christie Watson and Ryan Jaramillo, Charlie Watson, Adryan Glasgow, Martin Kennedy, and Derrick and Dusty Harr; and great-grandchildren, Aiden Kennedy, Zane McCloud, Alesya and Darrien Enyart, and Kendra Harr. Carrie is predeceased by her sister, Gladys Tambling; husband, Joe Sheffield; granddaughter, Danica Enyart; and son-in-law, Mitch Glasgow.

At Carrie's request there will be no services but her ashes will be spread in Resurrection Bay at a later date.

Carrie was fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and wished everyone else would be, too. She suffered in her final days from an overworked hospital staff with too many critical care patients to be able to provide the quality of care they normally would due to the preventable unvaccinated COVID-19 cases overwhelming the hospital.