The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1950-08-04
LAST RITES
F0RLATHR0p
AT SEATTLE
Final Tribute Paid by Hun
dreds at Services I'm
pressive by Simplicity

SEATTLE, Aug. 4-IR-The people
of the Pacific Northwest - the
barber and the banker. the indus
trialist and the housewife, the law
yer and the janitor-paid final tri-
butte yesterday to Austin E. Lathrop,
an Alaskan who was one of them.
They came from all walks of life
and from far places, and silently
and reverently filed past his casket
to say their goodbyes to man who
had made his fortune, and had made
history, as an industrial builder in
Alaska.
Then Gap" Lathrop, who had
died in an accident July 26 while
working at his coal mine at Sun
trana, was laid to rest in a grove OF
dogwood and fir trees at Forest
Lawn Cemetery besides his parents
and two sisters.
Service Impressive
The service, which had been trans
ferred from a funeral home to
Seattle's big First Methodist church
because of the number of people
who wanted to attend, was i'm
pressive in its simplicity.
The more than 600 persons gath
cred in the church in the city in
which Austin Lathrop started his
almost legendary career 81 years
ago heard him eulogized by the Rev.
Cyrus E. Albertson as a man of
courage and of daring who had that
most important of all things-"faith
in himself, in the future of this
great section of the continent, and
in his God"
1.-The development of this great
northwest and of the great north
land has been led by men OF faith,
he said. "All these years, Austin E.
Lathrop, with countless others, have
had faith that this was the land
of tomorrow"
AIaSkaS OTtdt COTTOW
These friends, some OF whom had
pioneered with the big, gray-haired
kindly man in Valdez, in Cordova,
in Anchorage and in Fairbanks, also
heard it said that in his death
ALASKA has never known greater
sorrow of its own. And even the
years and the passage of time will
find hardship in replacing his loss,
and softening the sorrows we ex-
perience here today"
The service was the second held
for cap" Lathrop. Hundreds had
damned the Empress Tneater in
Fairbanks for a memorial service
last Sunday.
Cap lay in a big. bronze casket
at the foot of the altar. Partially
covering it was a blanket of deep red
roses. Forming a backdrop were
floral offerings of many kinds and
sizes, from the big company and
from the little man. ell OF whom
had known him and had called him
Gap"
All Glasses at Service
AS the service neared its close, the
congregation left their seats and in
a long line filed slowly past the
open casket.
There were white-haired women,
their eyes red from weeping and
their handkerchiefs were held to
their faces. There were young men
and young women. and middle-aged
men and women.
Austin Lathrop was known gener-
ally as the wealthiest man in all
Alaska. He had many interests. And
there were men of wealth who paid
tribute to him yesterday. But there
were more men who were not
wealthy.
Along with the banker from An
chorage was a barber from Gray's
Harbor. There was doctor from
Portland and janitor from Fair
banks. There was a steamship COM
pany executive from Seattle and a
master mechanic from Suntrana.
Expressions
One young man said: He did as
much for me as if he had been my
father" An older man said: There
will never be another one like Cap"
Still fresh in the minds OF all
were the words they had heard
spoken during the service:
I'VE may console ourselves with
the hope that his being among us
for such a long succession OF years
will serve as an inspiration for those
xrrI,D ~ ta flI1nuy