Delores Jeanette Gilbert Levan

VOLNEY, NY – Delores Jeanette Gilbert Levan, 99; passed away at Seneca Hill Manor in Volney, NY on March 28, 2023.

Delores was born in North Hornell, NY in 1923 and was the oldest of eleven children to the late Henry W. Gilbert and Mary Crosby Gilbert. She graduated high school in Wellsville, NY in 1941.

At the end of World War II, she moved with her husband, Jay Levan Sr., to San Francisco, CA. From there in 1947, they drove an old truck with their infant son to the territory of Alaska, where they lay claim to 160  acres of homestead land available to veterans. They worked hard, lived off the land, and raised four children in dwellings that improved over time but started with a canvas tent on the homestead and a one-room cabin in the mountains.

After raising their family in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley as well as Whittier and Anchorage, AK, they adopted a nomad’s life. They traveled on their 42-foot sailboat from the central coast of California to remote areas of southeast Alaska. For a while they settled in Port Protection, AK where they built their own home.

Throughout her life, Delores was a talented seamstress, avid gardener and resourceful cook. She made many of her family’s clothes and grew vegetables to supplement meals of fish and wild game. She will also be remembered fondly by her grandchildren and others for her legendary homemade blueberry pancakes and homemade baked bread.

After her husband’s death, she maintained her mobile lifestyle and adventurous spirit, living independently for almost 30 years in New York, California, and Florida. She took up quilting in her eighties, and her skill was exceeded only by her unstoppable drive to finish one project and move on to the next. She loved jigsaw puzzles and was a fierce Skipbo player at the senior centers where she found friendship and community. She also enjoyed following the lives of her grandchildren and hearing about the antics of her great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband of 45 years, Jay Levan, Sr. (1990); her companion later in life, William Richardson, Jr. of Morro Bay, CA (2007); sons Warren Jay (1944), John Gilbert (2009), and Henry Earl (2012); son-in-law James Arnold (2013); and granddaughter, Meadow Arnold (1979).  She was also predeceased by nine of her ten siblings: Richard (1931), Russell (1983), Nelson (1985), Carolyn Kimball (1986), Eloise Valdez (2003), Ella Robinson (2015), Henry Jr. (1994), Walter (2012), and Judy Coletta (2016.)

She is survived by her son, Jay Levan, Jr. of Chickaloon, Alaska; her daughter, Mary Arnold of Baldwinsville, NY; her sister, Nancy (George) Gozelski of Geneseo, NY; her daughter-in-law, Dellena Levan of Wasilla, Alaska; her grandchildren Autumn Arnold (John Kelley) of Madison, WI; Prairie (Jeffrey) Wessel of Baldwinsville, NY, Henry Levan, Jr., and Daniel Levan of Wasilla, AK; and numerous great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

At her request, there will be No Calling Hours or Funeral Services, but her ashes will be spread at Independence Gold Mine at Hatcher Pass, Alaska, where she lived for a time with her family. Her family thanks the staff at St. Francis Commons Assisted Living in Oswego, NY and Seneca Hill Manor Nursing Home in Volney, NY for the care they provided to her.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to: Meals on Wheels Nutrition Program at Oswego County Opportunities, 239 Oneida Street, Fulton, NY 13069.

The Sugar Funeral Home Inc., Fulton, NY are in care of the  arrangements.