Final Salute

Dorwin “Buck” Brownfield Obituary

Dorwin “Buck” Brownfield passed away Friday, May 1, 2015, at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. He was 86 years old.

Buck was born March 18, 1929, in Pinele, Montana, to Judy and Lloyd Brownfield. Buck grew up on his father’s ranch, but later moved to Port Orchard, Washington, with his mother and step-father, Buck Root.

Buck graduated from Kitsap High School, where he met high school sweetheart Evelyn Margaret Dooley. Buck and Margaret were married in November 1950 at the courthouse, just before Buck shipped out to join the Navy SeaBees.
Buck worked as a concrete finisher in the SeaBees and outside the military. He came north in 1949 to help build Eielson AFB. Buck brought his wife and two sons to Fairbanks in 1958, one year before statehood. In 1964 he changed crafts from cement finisher to ironworker. He retired from Ironworker Local 751 in 1990.

Buck enjoyed the Alaskan lifestyle. He ran 3-D Kennel with his sons Dennis and Don and raced sled dogs. He won the Jeff Studdert Invitational Race in 1974.
He was an avid fisher and hunter, ran a trap line with his dogs, and was world renowned for his “not-so-secret” smoked salmon recipe. He loved gardening and always grew tomatoes and roses. He was a loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

Buck was preceded in death by wife Margaret in 2006, and his parents. He is survived by son Dennis Brownfield and his partner, Cathy Sexton; son Don Brownfield, granddaughter Angela and her husband, John Chiment; great-grandson Liam Chiment, and Angela’s mother, Jane Palm.

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, at Chapel of Chimes in Fairbanks. The family asks that donations in Buck’s name be made to the American Cancer Society, in lieu of flowers.

Please visit www.legacy.com/obituaries/newsminer to sign an online guest book.
Published in Daily News-Miner on May 17, 2015