Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Erma Slater, a longtime 33Mile resident, dollmaker and seamstress, died Aug. 6 of heart failure in Big Fork, Mont. She was 86 and had been in poor health since leaving Haines to be closer to family in 2006, according to niece Myrna Hostak.

"Erma was an amazing seamstress," Carol Waldo said, noting that Slater’s dolls were works of art that always won top ribbons at the state fair.

"She made Raggedy Ann and Andy sets, Teddy bears, custom designer dolls, you name it." Much of the fine fabric scraps she used for the doll clothing came from a friend who made expensive drapes and slipcovers for wealthy clients in California, Waldo said.

Slater also sewed wedding gowns and altar cloths for local churches, did alterations, repaired flags, and made all of her husband’s Western-cut shirts. "I couldn’t tell her wool shirts from Pendleton’s… They lived all over, but wherever she went, she could take her sewing machine."

Erma Pauline Pearson Slater was born April 19, 1925, the ninth of 14 children born to Art and Leona Pearson in Ronan, Mont. She grew up on a farm at Round Butte and went to school in a buggy. After two years of high school she moved in with her older sister Bernice and Bernice’s husband Les Slater, in Kalispell. It was there she met and married Les’s brother, Clifford. The two families remained close their entire lives.

Before coming to Alaska, the four Slaters lived and worked in Montana and sometimes California. Erma clerked in grocery stories and for a time ran the Gold Strike Stamp Store in Kalispell, while Cliff drove a truck for Les and Bernice, who owned a Volkswagen dealership.

When Erma was 44, she and Cliff adopted Michael, a three-year-old boy, from relatives. He was their only child. After Clifford went fishing in Alaska, the two Slater families moved to Petersburg and to Juneau. Les and Bernice owned a schooner and Erma and Clifford bought the Denali, an 85-foot motor yacht they sold to buy 33-Mile Roadhouse. They ran the roadhouse for a few years in the 1970s.

Kathi and Jerry Lapp, a cousin, took over the restaurant. Erma and Cliff remained living in the yellow house next door more than 30 years.

Kathi Lapp said Slater was generous and friendly, especially to the Lapp children. "Erma was always there with the Band-Aid that worked, and if we ran out of anything, she’d have it."

She was a busy woman who made time to keep her home neat, visit with people, hunt for ptarmigan, fish, and look her best. "Erma never came out of the house, even for a quick burger, without being dressed up and ready to meet the public."

Waldo said Slater was a friend you could call on anytime. She’d talk, pray with you, or bring food over. "If you needed to be comforted, you called on Erma. She had a kind of sparkle."

Waldo said that although Slater never had much money – her artistic dolls were sewn using free fabric scraps and she shopped on a slim budget – you’d never know that.  "Erma had class. She was a lovely lady."

Clifford D. Slater, her husband of 51 years, preceded Erma in death. Son Mike Slater of Spokane and grandchildren Stephany Slater of Los Angeles and Clifford Slater of Gig Harbor, Wash., as well as several siblings, including sister Bernice Slater, survive her.

Cards may be sent to Mike Slater, 6300 E. 2nd Ave. #88, Spokane, Wash. 99212.