“Dick” Anklam
James Richard “Dick” Anklam — a spirited man who was well known in the mining, industrial and building communities — died Monday, January 30, of complications from multiple illnesses. He was 83.
Anklam died at Northwest Medical Center where he was surrounded by family for several weeks, said his son James Anklam.
“He is at peace,” said Markie Anklam who was married to Dick for 61 years.
“The qualities he passed on to me were that family matters, relationships matter. He put God first and he put others ahead of himself,” said James Anklam, recalling that his dad, no matter how busy he was, attended sporting events when he and his brother and sister were young.
“He taught us not to take anything for granted. He taught us that the time you spend with people and your family is the most important,” said James Anklam.
His family reminisced about Dick’s adventurous life, his Presbyterian faith, and his love for the University of Arizona where four generations of Anklams graduated.
Dick was born at the Stork’s Nest — Tucson’s first maternity ward — on July 26, 1933. He grew up with his parents on his family’s homestead that included hundreds of acres on Tucson’s west side where the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa sits in the Tucson Mountains. Anklam Road is named after Dick’s great uncle and great aunt.
Dick and his brother grew up free-spirited on the land and hunted for the family’s meals, which included rattlesnake, deer, javelina and rabbits. Their mother, Jessie, a UA grad who was a teacher, was a “tough broad” who rarely was rattled, said Jeff Benedict, Dick’s son-in-law, recalling stories.
He recalled two instances, however, when the boys managed to shake their mother. Once, when they killed rattlesnakes and skinned them, leaving the carcasses in the sink. “When Jessie turned on the water, the snakes stood up in the sink,” said Benedict. “She had enough.”
Another instance was when Dick and his brother captured two bats and put them in the refrigerator. When Jessie opened the fridge’s door, the bats came at her, recalled Benedict, roaring in laughter.
The boys experienced more adventures when they tagged along with their father, Ralph, a foreman of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The elder Anklam’s work included construction of shelters on Gates Pass, lights installations at Colossal Cave, and building bridges, outhouses and picnic tables in Sabino Canyon.
When Dick attended Tucson High School, he received “impeccable grades,” was editor of the school’s newspaper and lettered in track and cross country. He was awarded the Baird Scholarship to attend the UA.
While students at the UA, Dick met his future wife, Markie Barker, a native of Cottonwood. The two, who were active in student government, met their junior year at a Sabino Canyon picnic. They soon became sweethearts — marrying in 1955, the year they graduated. He was a mining engineer and she was a teacher.
The newlyweds found jobs on the Navajo Nation and lived in Bloomfield, New Mexico in the Four Corners area.
Dick worked for Shell Oil coring oil samples and Markie taught high school students for several years before they moved to Danville, California after Dick took a job working in sales for Johns-Manville, an industrial corporation that supplied materials to manufacturers and the construction industry. He worked in California until 1985 when the Anklams returned to Tucson.
Dick worked for contractors before joining the Arizona Builders Alliance, which represents companies that service the commercial and industrial construction industry.
As a director for the alliance, he formed an education program through Pima Community College and established an electrical apprenticeship training program, said Markie Anklam.
“He worked with instructors and had a series of safety classes in the construction trades,” said Markie Anklam, explaining that his curriculum affected hundreds of students. He retired from the alliance in 2007.
“Dick always had time for others and gave of himself,” said his wife, adding that he founded a prison ministry in the late 1980s and a halfway house for inmates to help them transition into society.
In addition to his wife and son, James, Anklam is survived by two other children, 10 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and a brother.
A celebration of Anklam’s life will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 at Catalina Foothills Church, 2150 E. Orange Grove Road. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the church or Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
