Riederer 65th

RIEDERER 65th

Joe and Jean (Wickward) Riederer, both 84, recently celebrated 65 years of harmonious marriage, the raising of eight children and full lives as Alaskans. After 54 years in Juneau, they moved into the Sitka Pioneers Home last December, where they celebrated their 65th anniversary with family and friends.

Joe and Jean met at Upper Columbia Academy near Spokane, Wash., and were married June 10, 1951 at the Moscow Church in Idaho.

Jean was born in Los Angeles, Calif., but raised on a farm near Moscow. Joe was born in Ketchikan, Alaska, where his dad was a commercial fisherman. Their honeymoon trip was on the Princess Louise to Ketchikan, where Joe fished summers during college and medical school.

In his senior year in college, Joe was drafted into the U.S. Army. He trained as an X-ray technician and then taught medics for the next two years. He finished college on the GI Bill, graduating from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1959.

In 1961, the family moved to Juneau, where Joe joined and eventually took over Joseph Rude's practice. Later Joe worked part time in urgent care and commercial salmon fishing during much of the year.

The Riederers had four children: Carolyn, Mark, Dwight and Gail. In 1965, they added four more when good friends Stella and Curt Wagner were killed in a car crash. Two weeks later, Jean and Joe were talking to the judge about custody of the Wagners' children and brought Sheri, Drue, Craig, Sandra and their dog, Fluffy, home to Juneau.

The combined family, and their pets, lived on North Douglas Island. There was lots of fishing, playing outdoors, boating, camping, hiking, sharing and working over the years.

​After the kids had grown up, Jean worked with the Alaska Legislature and later as director of the Handicapped Children’s Program for the state of Alaska. In recent years, Joe and Jean spent winters in Honolulu, Hawaii. Jean volunteered with the preschool program at the Waikiki Community Center.​

The eight kids have scattered a bit: Carolyn Riederer Annerud of Honolulu, Hawaii; Mark Riederer of Juneau, Alaska; Dwight Riederer of Enumclaw, Wash.; Gail Riederer of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada; Drue Wagner of Moscow, Idaho; Craig Wagner of Lake Havasu City, Ariz.; Sandi Wagner Young of Salem, Ore.; and Sheri Wagner of Pasco, Wash.