KENNETH BERGER, “Kenny, was born in Anchorage, Alaska on June 5, 1957 to Merle Berger and Lillian HOJNACKE Berger. Merle and Lillian came to Alaska from South Dakota in 1955, with the US Army. The family moved to Seldovia in 1959 and left in 1968.
Kenny was one of seven siblings born to Merle and Lillian during their time in Alaska. Merle had his own welding shop “Bergie’s Welding & Cold Storage”. While he could weld just about anything anyone needed, his speciality was making king crab pots. He says he constructed tens of thousands of those pots for numerous fishermen and boat operators during his time in Seldovia. He also made a couple of scale models of the pots, one of which he donated to the Seldovia Village Tribe’s museum in 2019.
Kenny was only 9 years old when he drowned while jumping from one fishing boat to another in the Seldovia harbor in 1966. He was discovered missing and it was a week before his body was found. The family left Seldovia not long after that, but in 2019 they honored the memory of Kenny by having a granite rock engraved with his name and placed on his grave. He is buried in the Seldovia City Cemetery, Plot #206.