John Winkie was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo.

In the passing of John Winkie early one morning at St. Ann’s Hospital, Alaska lost another true pioneer. He was a personal friend of many of the early pioneers of Juneau, including, among others, S. Zynda, B. M. Behrends, and Charles W. Carter.

John Winkie was born in Scotland in 1865. He left there with his parents and settled in Michigan. In 1883, he went to California, where he was employed on a farm.

At the age of twenty, Alaska lured him north, and he arrived in 1886. From that time, he was employed in various mining camps as a steward and cook, and for the fifteen years prior to his death, he worked at his occupation at Chichagof.

In August of his final year, he came to Juneau because his health had begun to fail. At that time, he prepared his will and entrusted it to Howard D. Stabler. About a month later, he entered St. Ann’s Hospital, where he remained until his death.

Sources

The Alaska Press, December 14, 1934
Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850-1950, Vol. 5, p. 296, Ed Ferrell (May 1, 2004)