Family says farewell to ex-Pa. woman killed by wolves
Share with others:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- High on a hill at Perryville, 500 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula, the family of a young schoolteacher killed by wolves has scattered her ashes, and found solace, they said, in a place Candice Berner loved.
"We chose Three Star (a hiking mountain in Perryville) to scatter her ashes because that's where she hiked a lot, and it was a very special place for her," said Diana Berner, of Grove City, Pa., the mother of the adventuresome 32-year-old educator.
So on a sunny afternoon in mid-August, the Berner family bid farewell to Ms. Berner on windy Three Star, where wildflowers grew and gulls and eagles soared overhead, and the wind carried off some of the scattered ashes.
Diana Berner, Candice's brother Trent, father Bob Berner and his wife, Janine, of Slippery Rock, Pa., were accompanied on the emotional journey to the mountain top by Lake and Peninsula School superintendent Ty Mase and others with whom Candice has worked.
Ms. Berner, a petite, accomplished athlete, who studied education at Slippery Rock University, was a special education teacher. She had just finished her day teaching at Chignik Lake, another of the small communities dotting the Alaska Peninsula, back on March 8 when she decided to go running on the road to the village airstrip.
State wildlife biologist Lem Butler, who later was involved in the investigation, said weather conditions were poor that day.
"It was cold, minus 10 degrees, windy, cloudy and darker than usual for that time of the day and year," he wrote in his report.
The road is well-traveled and not unduly dangerous, said Mr. Butler. Yet seven miles from the village, Ms. Berner had an unusual chance encounter with two young, hungry wolves, who had just formed a pack, he said. "They were normal, healthy wolves with no disease who were desperate for food," he said.
Ms. Berner, alone, unarmed, with headphones blocking all cues, became their instant prey. Area residents on a snowmachine who came down the road shortly thereafter saw blood on the road and found her body.
First Published August 25, 2010 9:59 am
