Judi Broste, 68, died at home May 20 of colon cancer. Her husband Bill was at her side.

She enjoyed designing and building their retirement home and garden, her two Rag Doll cats and Siberian husky Nome, riding her bike on Lutak Road, and fishing. She played the harp, knitted Aran and Norwegian sweaters, and was a gourmet cook.

"Although she would never call herself a gourmet," said son Todd.

Broste was an energetic, private person who spent most of her time with her husband. "Bill was such a good partner. They worked well together. They really were one," said friend Linda Palmer.

When Broste learned that Palmer kept a custom-made interior door for 25 years, waiting to own the right house to put it in, her reaction was, "Oh heaven's sake, let's just put it in here," Palmer said. "Judi decided that door would be installed in my house and within hours she and Bill had it done," she said.

Palmer said she would miss her friend's organized, can-do, strong-willed ways. "We couldn't have a difference of opinion. If we had a question about anything, she'd go right to her computer and look it up," Palmer said.

Broste kept detailed journals on  topics from cooking to pet care. In her garden journal she followed plantings from seed catalog copy to maturity. "Judi was into organic everything and trying new things," said friend Helen Turner.

Broste ground wheat for her bread, and when she made lemon curd, gave some to Turner's husband Don because she knew he loved lemons, Helen said. "She was very giving.  Judi was a wonderful woman."

Judith Weedman was born in Seattle, Feb. 26, 1946 to Annabelle Weedman. She attended Roosevelt High School in Seattle until her father was transferred to the Great Lakes Naval Base. There, Judy discovered she had enough credits to graduate. In winter of 1964, "as rapidly as she could, she packed a bag, and caught a train to L.A.," Bill Broste said.

She landed a secretarial job in about three days. She met Cal Tech student Bill Broste in Pasadena. "We had our first date Nov. 19, 1965, were engaged Dec. 8, and wed Mother's Day, May 8, 1966. When you find your soul mate, you don't deny it," he said.

They settled in Los Alamos, where Judy worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 28 years, eventually managing the lab's 15,000-telephone system's database and related security software and training. "Judy was always independent and smart. She didn't have any degrees but that didn't slow her down. She enjoyed her work, she did it well, but she worked to live, she didn't live to work," Bill said.

The Brostes came to Alaska in 1991 on a 25th anniversary camping trip. In 1994 they bought land and began building a home here.

There will be no public memorial service. Family and friends will scatter her ashes on Lutak Inlet.

Judi Broste leaves husband Bill of Haines and son Todd, his wife Meg, and granddaughter Ashlynn Broste of Wasilla.

Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Haines, P.O. Box 1034, Haines, AK 99827.