Elizabeth Gilman

Oct 28, 1965 -

May 13, 2024

Lifetime Alaskan and devout Christian Elizabeth Elaine Christensen Gilman passed on May 13, 2024, at Mat-Su Regional Hospital in the presence of family and friends.

Liz, as she was affectionately known by friends and family, was born in Anchorage, Alaska, on Oct. 28, 1965. She grew up in Anchorage and the village of Port Heiden, Alaska, on the Bering Sea coast of the Alaska Peninsula. She was a proud Alaskan Aleut native from Bristol Bay. She schooled in Anchorage and spent summers in Port Heiden, where she commercially fished and worked with families guide business. Graduating from Dimond High, she went to work for Hilton Hotels and became a stewardess in Vancouver. She lived in Vancouver for a few years and moved back to Alaska, where she met her husband and companion of the past 24 years, Zachary Gilman. They had four children together and built a home and raised their children in Wasilla, Alaska.

Elizabeth was preceded in death by her father, Macarlo Chistensen Sr.; and beloved younger sister, Delores Christensen Anderson. Survived by mother, Virginia Graham; children, Candace Christensen Celis of Queens Creek, Ariz., Michael Petitt of Anchorage, Timothy Christensen of Fairbanks, Alaska, Simon Gilman, Zachary Gilman Jr., Maryann Gilman and Isabella Gilman; stepson, Jonathan Gilman of Wasilla; grandchildren, Christian Celis, Reyna Celis, Jeter Celis, Caleb Petitt and Noah Petitt; brothers, Michael Graham of Arizona and Macarlo Christensen of Fairbanks; and stepsiblings, Doyle Graham, Curtis Graham, Ruthann Orloff and Holley Matson.

There will be a funeral service on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at 1 p.m., at VFW Post 9365, 301 East Lake Avenue, Wasilla, AK 99654, followed by a potlatch at the same location.