All Alaska flags were lowered June 11-13 in honor of former Attorney General Grace Schaible, 91, who died June 10.
Gov. Bill Walker ordered the lowering of the flags during the past weekend.
The governor saluted Schaible as “a giant of Alaska history. From her life-long involvement with and support of the University of Alaska to shattering the glass ceiling by being the first woman to serve as attorney general, her legacy will be forever remembered.”
“Grace was a pioneer, inspiring me and other strong female leaders to step forward to serve our state,” said Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, the state’s second female attorney general. “She will be missed.”
Schaible was born in Washington state in 1925. She grew up in Juneau and graduated from high school in what is now the state’s capitol city. In 1944, she was hired as secretary to University of Alaska President Charles Bunnell, and eventually graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with a bachelor’s degree in history. She earned a master’s degree from George Washington University and then went on to graduate from Yale Law School.
She married her husband, Arthur, on Dec. 25, 1958. He passed away in 1980.
Schaible practiced law for many years in Fairbanks before being appointed attorney general by Gov. Steve Cowper, serving from 1987 to 1989. She donated more than $1 million to support the University of Alaska Museum of the North, and also donated to the UAF Geophysical Institute.
Last November the University of Alaska Southeast established an endowment in Schaible’s name with proceeds from the sale of a home she’d donated to the university in 1989. The endowment supports visiting faculty, researchers, artists and Alaska Native elders.
