Hjalmer Melachton Berge was born on November 22, 1896 in Ohio, one of 10 children born to Norwegian immigrants Olaf and Thilda. Somehow H.M. managed to attend college and graduate from medical school. He came to Skagway in 1923 and worked for White Pass as a surgeon. He later went back to Snohomish where he married Jeannette and had a child. In 1928 he was appointed the Snohomish County Health Officer but on April 10, 1933 he died of tuberculosis in the Laurel Sanatorium in Seattle. An occupational hazard for doctors I suppose back then. Washington records.
Harry Ask
Happy Birthday to Harry Ask, born on May 8, 1894 in Washington. His family moved to Skagway and arrived in February 1898. His father Charles, a Norwegian by birth worked as a clerk and bookkeeper for Kalen and then opened his own store, Ask and Sons General Merchandise. Harry married Irma Williams in Seattle in 1928 and then returned to Skagway and opened his own grocery store in 1929 and was a City Councilman in 1934. The family moved to Washington, and return to Skagway occasionally to visit. Charles Ask, the grandson will be arriving tomorrow here for the Skagway Reunion. This reunion of “old-timers” from Skagway usually meet in Seattle, so it will be a real treat to have them all here this weekend.