Diane Pittock Perkins passed peacefully at her home in Fairbanks, Alaska, on October 27th, 2021. She overcame two tumor surgeries in her seventies and was lively until recent months, when her heart started to fail. The family is very grateful to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and especially the hospice care she received in her last weeks.

Diane was born February 19th, 1942, in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of Peggy Pittock and Henry L Pittock II. Diane, beloved wife and mother, is survived by her husband, Robert Perkins of Fairbanks, Alaska; one daughter, Suzanna (Suzy) Perkins of Beaverton, Oregon; one son, Christopher (Topher) Perkins of Denver, Colorado; three grandchildren, Siena Pape and Jay Cota Perkins of Beaverton, Oregon, and Cole Henry Perkins of Denver, Colorado; brothers Henry Pittock III of Corvallis, Oregon, and Peter Pittock of Portland, Oregon; sister Pamela Pittock of Portland, Oregon, and numerous nieces and nephews. In the months before her passing, Diane was able to visit with Suzy and Topher and their spouses and children.

Diane graduated from Portland’s Lincoln High School in 1960, where she starred in tennis and golf. Always active and adventurous, she raced and rallied sports cars as a member of the Cascade Sports Car Club.
She worked for Joie Smith’s Ski Shop and Alpine Towing in Rhododendron, Oregon, where Diane participated in mountain rescues and assistance by road and horseback. While working in the Cascades, Diane was given the honorable position of dog sitter for Timberline Lodge's famous St. Bernards. Additionally, her beloved dog Kosi was a gift from the Warm Springs Reservation. The Warm Springs tribe also let her participate in tribal fishing near Celilo Falls, a great honor for someone who was not a member of that tribe.

Diane joined the Peace Corps and spent three years in Paraguay. Later she spent two years in Nigeria where her adventures included flying a helicopter and navigating swamps in a small boat.

Diane moved to Alaska in 1973 and lived with her aunt and uncle, Betty and Larry Victors and her cousins, John, Steve, and Chris. She commuted from Big Lake to Anchorage in her “Beluga,” a white VW minibus. When the weather got so cold that the heater in the bus no longer cleared the window, she built a plastic wall behind the front seats and used a propane heater to warm the cab. She was a dispatcher for the Anchorage Police Department. She enjoyed the outdoors and skied and camped in Southcentral Alaska.
In the winter of 1977, Diane married Robert Perkins in Anchorage. The marriage took place in Stuckagain Heights, a restaurant high above Anchorage in the Chugiak foothills. The wedding saw a snowstorm, so the guests followed a snow plow up the hill.

After moving to Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1980, Diane participated in local events such as playing shortstop for Bettye’s Bullets, a softball team sponsored by Alaska lawmaker Bettye Fahrenkamp. Diane hiked the Chilkoot and had many adventures in the Yukon, especially the Log Cabin area, where she gathered information for a booklet she wrote about the “hotel” her relatives built during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Diane entered the Alaska Senior Games at age 68 and won ten medals in one year, including women’s pistol and table tennis. She had a passion for photography. Many of Diane’s photographs won awards at the Tanana Valley State Fair. Diane also worked as a massage therapist in Fairbanks. Perhaps Diane’s most dangerous adventure in Alaska was her term with the PTA as judge for elementary school art contests. Diane sang in the UAF University Symphony Chorus under Jaunelle Celaire and took some private voice lessons from Emerson Eads. When she lost her voice due to her tumors, she bore with her disability with good cheer.

At Diane’s request, celebrations of life will be held in both Fairbanks and Portland.
Diane had wished to charter a plane to fly her immediate family to Pittock Pass, a feature on Mt. McKinley named after her great-grandfather, Henry L Pittock. Weather permitting, photographs from that event will be on display at her celebration of life in 2022 in Oregon, date and location to be announced. Diane will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

 

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