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Bea Lingle

Bea Lingle was born in 1927 in Skagway, Alaska. Her grandfather came to Skagway as a gambler during the 1898 Gold Rush, and after a year brought up his wife and young daughter. This daughter was Bea's mother, who received training as a nurse's aide and English teacher at school in the Lower 48, and returned to Skagway where she met and married Albert Roy Hillery, who was working on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. They eventually divorced and she moved to Seattle where she raised her four daughters with regular summer visits back to Skagway. After graduating from high school in Seattle, Bea returned to Skagway in 1945, which she always felt was home, and lived with her sisters, Helen and Virginia. She met discharged Navy seaman John O’Daniel, and they were married in February 1946. Together they had four children. That marriage ended in divorce and Bea then married Ben Lingle in 1961, who eventually purchased and ran the Skagway Hardware store and lumberyard in downtown Skagway. Bea helped with the business and raised her children, while remaining active in the full social life that Skagway had to offer. They also had a cabin in Carcross in the Yukon Territory of Canada, where they spent a lot of time each summer. Ben passed away in 2009. In 2018, at age 91, Bea was the oldest resident of Skagway and continued to meet friends for daily "coffee klatches." To learn more about Bea Lingle, see "Women of Skagway: Seizing Opportunity" by Tobey Schmidt in the August 25, 2017 edition of the Skagway News. Bea Lingle passed away in November 2022 at the age of 95. For more about Bea, see her obituary in the Skagway News.

Date of Birth:

Jul 20, 1927

Date of Death:

Nov 20, 2022

Bea Lingle appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Observing Change in Alaska's National Parks

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Bea Lingle, Part 1	Bea Lingle was interviewed on October 7, 2018 by Karen Brewster in Bea's room in her daughter, Kathy, and son-in-law's house in Skagway, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Bea shares her memories of growing up in Skagway in the 1930s and 1940s and how things have changed in terms of the weather, the temperatures, the amount of snow and ice in the winter, the wind, and the summer temperatures and precipitation. Bea also talks about changes in the growth of vegetation she has observed at her cabin in Carcross, the presence of various bird species, and the recent success of apple trees in Skagway. She also begins to discuss observations of environmental change in Dyea, Alaska.	2018-14-06_PT.1	Observing Change in Alaska's National Parks	Oct 7, 2018
Bea Lingle, Part 2	This is the continuation of an interview with Bea Lingle on October 7, 2018 by Karen Brewster in Bea's room in her daughter, Kathy, and son-in-law's house in Skagway, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Bea continues to talk about environmental changes in and around Skagway, including in Dyea. She also talks about the effect of having the National Park Service in Skagway, the changes in the community and buildings, and changes to the layout of Skagway streets, Pullen Creek and Pullen Pond. She also mentions observations of changes to the glaciers in the area, and specifically mentions flooding in Dyea from from a glacial lake outwash.	2018-14-06_PT.2	Observing Change in Alaska's National Parks	Oct 7, 2018