Longtime Alaska resident Daniel Leland Knackstedt died Monday, April 12, 2004, in Sparks, Nev., from cancer with his family at his bedside. He was 52.
Mr. Knackstedt's ashes will be returned to Alaska and spread from an airplane in many of his favorite stomping grounds. Services will be announced at a later date.
Mr. Knackstedt was born in Ray, Colo., on March 22, 1952, to Loretta and Robert Dunlap. He moved to Kenai in 1960 with his family, including brother, Mike, and sister, Jenni, when his mother remarried homesteader Henry Knackstedt.
Dan Knackstedt grew up commercial driftnet fishing, but after high school he worked in the oil industry on the Cook Inlet platforms and at Swanson River. He also owned Dan's Union Station in Kenai, then was a crane operator until the time of his death.
Mr. Knackstedt was somewhat of an adventurer in his spare time. He and his best friend, Richard Benner, would mount salvage expeditions to recover crashed World War II and exotic aircraft from remote areas in Alaska for the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.
"Dan will be remembered by family and friends as a very generous person and will be greatly missed," his family said.
Mr. Knackstedt is survived by his brothers, Mike Dunlap and Henry Knackstedt; sister, Jennifer Shryock; nieces, Tonya Dunlap and Carolyn and Kathryn Knackstedt; and nephews, Robert Shryock and Michael Dunlap.
Arrangements were made by John Sparks Memorial Cremation and Burial Society in Sparks.
