william "Bill" boyd lampe
| I William Boyd Lampe - Christmas 2007 - photo by Kahlil Hudson |
 In 2001, Clarissa Rizal weaves a Raven
Chilkat robe for Anne Gould-Hauberg (co-founder of the Pilchuck School of Glass in Washington State). |
|
November 28, 1929 -
December 18, 2008
When I was a young child, I spent most of my
days playing outside in the forest and at the beach.
On rainy-er days, I would draw. My father noticed my
artistic abilities; he taught me how to draw with "perspective"
beginning with how to draw the chimney on a rooftop.
This new knowledge inspired me to no end!
A couple of months before my father passed away, a friend came to visit him. During the course of their conversation, my father told his friend a story about how as a child, my father had wanted to become an artist, however, his father discouraged him from becoming an artist because "there was no money in being an artist" and that he had to do more practical things that could support a family. Surprised upon overhearing this, I said to my father, "Dad,...guess what? I've been an artist my entire adult life and I'm actually making a living at it! - I got to live and be that artist FOR you!" In awe, we both searched one another's eyes and... smiled.
Juneau resident William "Bill" Boyd Lampe
died at home Dec. 18. 2008, in Juneau. He was 79.
Bill was born Nov. 28, 1929, in Santa Ana, Manila, Philippines,
to Patricia Rizal and Frederic J. Lampe. His mother
was a close relative of the Philippine national hero
Jose Rizal. His father was a descendant of German immigrants
to Minnesota and a medic in the U.S. Army during the
Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection.
He survived the Japanese invasion of the Philippines
in the early 1940s. Japanese soldiers were going house
to house, breaking down doors and killing able-bodied
men on sight. When they entered the Lampe house, they
were amazed at his father's height, 7 feet 3 inches
tall, and took him and his father to a prison camp.
His father threw him over a barbed wire fence to save
him from dying in prison. "Run for your life and
never look back," his father said to him. That
was the last time Bill saw his father alive.
He and his family fled the city for the mountains and
lived there to be safe from the Japanese. They enjoyed
living in the jungle forest, one of the happiest times
of his life.
After the death of his father and the end of WWII, the
Lampe family decided to leave the Philippines because
they wanted to start a new life enticed by the belief
that the “streets were paved with gold”
in America. The Lampe Family sailed on the “SS
General John Pope” to the U.S. It took them 17
days (August 1-17, 1945) to travel across the Pacific
Ocean and up the Pacific Coast to Seattle.
Bill came to Alaska in the summer of 1947 to work in
the salmon fishing industry in Kodiak and, in later
years, Excursion Inlet, Hoonah and Juneau. He worked
at Excursion Inlet Cannery, where he met his future
in-laws, Juan and Mary Sarabia. Juan was also from the
Philippines so bill was on good terms with him. Bill
would often buy moccasins handmade by Mary and send
them to his Seattle relatives.
In 1948, Bill met their daughter, Irene, in Seattle
and jokingly said to her, "I'm going to marry you
one day." Little did he know they would marry in
1955.
In addition to being a cannery worker, he worked as
a sawmill laborer, cook, dishwasher, power troller and
maintenance man at the old Federal Building, school
district and eventually retiring from Alascom.
He was the last surviving of the old-time Filipino men
who came to Southeast Alaska and married Tlingit women.
He knew many of the Filipino old-timers of Juneau, many
who were employed in his father's brick manufacturing
business in Manila.
"An end of an era is truly gone," his family
said.
Bill had many hobbies, passions, and expensive tastes.
He loved to fish and often would go fishing alone in
a suit. He would come home with many fish and not a
stain on his suit. Sometimes he caught so much fish
he would have to give it away because the freezer was
full. Every few years, he would have to upgrade to a
bigger and better boat, all named “Clarissa Rizal.”
And then came various cars such as a Volkswagen, Honda
hatchback and Prelude, a red convertible sports car,
and finally the SUV. He enjoyed gardening around his
house and spent tons of money on fertilizer, plants,
seeds, etc. When he wasn’t gardening, he had to
get all dolled up to go to bingo or even if he had no
place to go. He also played card games, gambling in
places like the Filipino Community, the bait & tackle
shop across from Sweeney’s Bar, some barber shops,
and the old New York Tavern. In later years, he was
a bingo maniac who went every night except Thursdays.
He enjoyed putting up decorations for Halloween, Christmas
and New Years. The house, inside and out, was all lit
up; it is surprising that the house did not burn down.
He was also a very good cook of Filipino food.
He is preceded in death by his parents Patricia and
Fred Lampe, his brothers Charles Lampe, George Lampe,
and Fred Lampe, Jr., his sisters Rosella Lampe and Lily
Villaflor; nephew Santiago Villaflor, Jr., nieces Selena
Villaflor Lundberg, Henrietta Villaflor, Rosemarie Villaflor
Newsom, and his cats Midnight, Key-kat, and Kobe.
He is survived by his wife, Irene Sarabia Lampe; children
and their spouses, Robert and Sarah Lampe, of Hoonah,
Richard Lampe, of Hoonah, Clarissa and Bill Hudson,
of Pagosa Springs, Colo., Timothy Lampe, Irene J. Lampe,
and Deanna Lampe, of Juneau; grandchildren and their
spouses, Kahlil Hudson and Mikiko Ellis of Pagosa Springs,
Lily Hudson and Ishmael Hope, of Juneau, Ursala Hudson,
of Durango, Colo., Amber Lampe, of Anchorage, and Brooke
Lampe, of Juneau; two great-grandchildren, Elizabeth
Hope, of Juneau, and Violet Hudson, of Pagosa Springs;
nephews and their spouses, Richard Villaflor, of Seattle,
George Jr. and Jane Lampe, of Seattle, Fred and Gloria
Villaflor, of Phoenix, and Mel Tandog of Stockton; nieces
and their spouses, Marlene and Charles Edwards, of Seattle,
Patricia and Philip Davis, of Los Angeles, and Jenny
and Michael Bradshaw, of Sacramento; and many grandnephews
and grandnieces.
He also had a cat, Bingo.
Pallbearers: Lee Bagoyo, Robert Beierly, Thomas Beierly,
Donald Gregory, Thomas Mills, Jr., Fernando Pintang.
Honorary pallbearers: Bob Beierly, Richard Conn, Adrian
D’Cafango, Robert James, Sam Lamebull, Flor Lampe,
Tony Menacio, Sr., Aengus Saya, Buddy & Jeanette
Tabor.
Contact Clarissa for permission to use text or images for educational purposes only.