Obituaries Fairbanks Daily News‐Miner (AK) ‐ Tuesday ...

Obituaries FairbanksDailyNews-Miner(AK)-Tuesday,January7,2003 Section:Obituaries CharlesM.Binkley CharlesMadisonBinkley,knownasCaptainJim,diedathomeonJan.3,2003,atthe ageof82. HewasborninWrangellonMay16,1920,toparentswhowerepioneersoftheGold Rush.HisfatherwasariverboatpilotontheStikineRiver,anddiedwhenJimwas young.Followinghisfather'sdeath,JimmovedtoCaliforniawithhismother. HejoinedtheBoyScoutsin1932andbecameanEagleScoutin1936.Afterhigh school,JimmovedbacktoWrangelltorenewhistieswithhisfather'sfamily.He workedforhisuncle,operatingriverboatsontheStikine,andthenmovedto Fairbankstoattendtheuniversity.Duringsummersheworkedonsteamboats, haulingsuppliesbyriverboattoEskimoandIndianvillagesalongtheYukonRiver. Indoingso,hegainedalifelongrespectandaffectionfortheircultures. AWorldWarIIveteran,heservedonriverboatsinAlaska.Afterthewarhewent backtotheuniversitywherehemethisfuturewife,MaryHall.Theyweremarried onJune15,1947. In1950ChuckWestapproachedJimandMarywithaproposal:Iftheywouldoffera riverboatcruiseinFairbanks,hewouldsupplythepassengers.JimandMarybought theGodspeedfromtheEpiscopalChurchandbeganofferingtoursoftheChenaand Tananarivers.Thebusinessgrewandalargerboatwasneeded,andCaptainJimand hispartnerBillEnglishbuilttheDiscoveryin1955,followedbyDiscoveryIIin1971 andDiscoveryIIIin1987.CaptainJimandMary'sfourchildrenallgrewupinthe business. CaptainJimalsofoundtimeforpublicservice.HeservedtwotermsintheAlaska HouseofRepresentativesfrom1960to1964,andwasactiveinnumerous organizations.Hewasachampionofthevisitorindustry,helpingcreateAlaskaland, theAlaskaVisitorsAssociation,andFairbanksConventionandVisitorsBureau. Forover25yearshewasinvolvedinthecommunicationsindustryinAlaska, servingontheboardsofAlascom,Pacificorp,andPacificTelecom.Hereceived numerousstatewideawards,includingAlaskanoftheYearandBusinessLeaderof theYear.Throughhisfamilybusiness,CaptainJimsharedhisloveofAlaskaandits Nativecultureswithhundredsofthousandsofvisitorstothestate,andinthe processtheygainedapersonalandunforgettableglimpseoflifeintheLastFrontier.

CaptainJimissurvivedbyhiswifeMary;Skip,Karen,Jon,Jacqueline,andMadison Binkley;Jim,Gayle,andScottBinkley;Johne,Judy,RyanandSabrina,Kai,Wade,and JamesBinkley;andMarilee,Buzz,Michael,Joseph,andMaryRoseFaulhaber.

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