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Sheldon Bjt 460
By TAD BARTIMUS
Associated Press Writer
    ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Pilots, trappers, mountain climbers and
dog mushers joined with doctors, lawyers, bankers and the lieutenant
governor of Alaska to pay final tribute to bush pilot Don Sheldon.
    The 53-year-old aviator died Sunday following a two-year battle
with cancer.
    A pilot for 33 years, Sheldon spent the last 25 carving a legend in
the sky over the glaciers of Mount McKinley and the mountains ringing
North America's highest peak.
    His daring rescues and flying skill brought him fame among his
peers and won for him the respect of Alaska's rugged breed of fliers,
who created freeways in the sky when there were no roads below.
    Holy Family Cathedral was filled for Sheldon's funeral services
Tuesday.
    The mourners came in sealskin mukluks and galoshes, fur parkas and
narrow-lapeled shiny black suits. And many came in their working
clothes, because Don Sheldon had been a working man.
    Five single-engine Beaver aircraft, the workhorses of the Alaskan
bush, flew in formation overhead, their pilots saluting a friend.
    The pallbearers stood in mute testimony to Alaska's aviation
history and Sheldon's part in it.
    There was Ray Genet, a member of the first winter assault team to
conquer McKinley. He and Sheldon teamed to provide guiding and
support for countless other climbers who have tested the mountain.
    There was Lars Johnson, who owned the Anchorage Flight School where
Sheldon learned to fly before he became a B17 gunner in World War II.
    His father-in-law, Bob Reeve, who pioneered glacier landings and
founded Reeve Aleutian Airways, was an honorary pallbearer.
    A year before Sheldon married his daughter, Roberta, Reeve said of
his future son-in-law, ''Sheldon isn't just good. That boy is the
best.''
    Lt. Gov. Lowell Thomas Jr., whose father teamed with Sheldon over
the years not only to make films but also to hunt and fish and fly
and ski, came as a friend. The two flew often together.
    Several of those who occupied pews during the services were alive
because only because Sheldon had once lifted them from danger.
    The Legislature passed a resolution saying, ''His memory will
remain forever in the hearts of his fellow Alaskans . . . ''
    Gov. Jay Hammond, also an Alaska bush pilot, called on the federal
government to name a natural feature near McKinley after Sheldon.
Hammond said Sheldon ''achieved in fact what most only hope for in
dreams.''
    Sheldon will be buried Wednesday in Talkeetna, the small town 80
miles north of here where he operated his air service and lived with
his wife and three small children.
    On a clear day, it is almost in the shadow of Mount McKinley.
    Tuesday the mountain hid behind a curtain of grey clouds.
    
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