Anchorage 1910 - 1940 Legends & Legacies

Berry, Frank O.

1888-1962 | Electrician, City of Anchorage

Frank O. Berry was born in 1888 in Stillwater, Minnesota. He studied electrical engineering at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Lillie Burbank was born in St. John, Washington in 1886. She and Frank were married in Spokane, Washington in 1908. In 1916, Frank came to Anchorage and was employed as an electrician with the Alaskan Engineering Commission (AEC). He installed the first generator and switchboard for the power plant and also installed the first telephone exchange in Anchorage. In 1917, Lillie arrived in Anchorage with her parents to join Frank. He stayed with the AEC and the Alaska Railroad for five years. When the City of Anchorage took over the electrical and telephone system from the AEC, Frank was hired on as the city electrician.

Frank and Lillie Berry lived in a tent for a year while they were building their first home on 8th Avenue and E Street in 1918. They left Alaska in 1928 and returned in 1936, when Frank again worked for the City of Anchorage until 1942. During that year he went to work for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, where he remained until his retirement in 1956. Lillie kept busy being involved in the Anchorage Woman's Club and the Presbyterian Church, working at the Alaska Railroad Hospital, and doing part time dressmaking and tailoring for local boutiques.   

Frank O. and Lillie Berry had one son, Frank Edward Berry, born in 1925. He married Betty Heverling and they had four children; Frankie Michele Klingbeil, Dennis L., Janis Chapman and David D. Frank O. Berry passed away in 1962, and Lillie died in 1973. They are both buried in the Masonic Tract, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery. Frank E. Berry died July 19, 2004, from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was buried in the Pioneer Tract of Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.

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Lillie Burbank Berry (1886-1973) and Frank O. Berry (1888-1962).

Courtesy of the Berry family.

John and Catherine O'Neill (Lillie's mother, who had remarried after Lillie's father, Walter Burbank, died) with Frank and Lillie Berry, in 1922.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

Frank and Lillie Berry, 1918.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

Lillie Berry in front of their tent home, 1918.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

Frank and Lillie Berry at 737 E Street, Anchorage, 1920.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

Frank Berry with the O'Neill's at 512 E Street, Anchorage, 1923.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

Frank Berry and friends with cauliflower, 737 E Street, Anchorage, 1921.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

Frank Berry and infant son, Frank E., 1925.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

Frank E. Berry, born in Anchorage, 1925.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

The Berry home at 920 6th Avenue, Anchorage, 1932.

Courtesy of the Berry family.

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