Molly O. Ahlgren
Alaska Chapter President, Teacher and Ecologist
Assistant Professor of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources at Sheldon Jackson College

There is an empty space in the Alaska Chapter of AFS and in fisheries education in Alaska . Our colleague and friend, Molly Ahlgren , died in a boating accident on 30 November 2004, just 3 days after her 47th birthday. A certified Emergency Medical Technician, Molly was responding to an EMS call with the Sitka Volunteer Fire Department.

Molly was born in Duluth , Minnesota and pursued freshwater fisheries for her education. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in Fisheries Resources from the University of Idaho in Moscow , ID in 1980 after having spent her summers accruing field research experience. She earned both an M.S. (1984) and Ph.D. (1988) in Fisheries/Aquatic Ecology from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI, where she remained for another two years doing post-doctoral research. What the Midwest lost, Alaska gained in 1990 when Molly took a position as an Assistant Professor of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka , AK . She was employed there as an Associate Professor at the time of her death.

Molly's first love was teaching and she was dedicated to her students. She was a passionate teacher who felt her role was “to show people how to encounter the mystery of nature”. She developed and taught “hands on” field-oriented courses (her words) in Fishery Science, Ecosystem Analysis, Fish Ecology, Ichthyology, Limnology, Marine Ecology, Marine Biology, Fish Behavior, and Ecological Research Techniques for SCUBA Divers. With that impressive list, it is no surprise that Molly Ahlgren was voted Faculty of the Year at Sheldon Jackson College in 1996 and had many devoted students, past and current. Her vision was to fully utilize the college setting as a classroom and she and her students spent many hours on the beach adjacent to her office. This vision led her to vigorously pursue funds and requisition artwork for the transformation of the wet lab and aquarium at the College. Under her direction the lab was transformed from non-operational to a wonderful resource for students, locals and visitors. Molly felt so strongly that field experience was critical for her students that she obtained her 100-ton Master's License when there was no longer a certified captain for the SJC research vessel.

Molly had passion for her discipline and endless energy for the many things in which she was involved. She was an active researcher, publishing much of her scientific work on her beloved detritivores. She had a soft spot for underdogs, and she liked to say that is how she came to study the sea cucumber, Parastichopus californicus. Molly was a Whitely Center Scholar and an Independent Researcher with the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories . Molly served as a member of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Advisory Committee and as an Associate Editor for the Alaska Fishery Research Bulletin. Molly put her professional research dive experience to use locally as a SCUBA guide and Dive Master in Sitka and as a member of the Dive Rescue Team of the Sitka Volunteer Fire Department, the same organization for which she was an EMT. She was a dedicated environmentalist and contributed a reasoned professional voice to many difficult issues of local concern.

In November 2004, at the annual meeting of the Chapter that she planned and hosted in Sitka , Molly Ahlgren was installed as the President of the Alaska Chapter of AFS. Molly has been a member of AFS since 1984. Bill Wilson says she once gave one of the best scientific papers he'd ever heard. “It documented her work on sea cucumber feeding ecology in coastal Gulf of Alaska waters mixing just the right amount of technical detail, humor, photographs, and well-prepared graphics such that she held the audience spellbound.” That was the 1994 Alaska Chapter meeting when Molly won the best paper award. She was always willing to help and had planned to coordinate student involvement for the 135 th Annual AFS meeting to be held in Anchorage , AK in 2005. The Alaska Chapter plans to dedicate the 2005 National AFS meeting to the memory of Molly Ahlgren, because we know that we will be thinking of her and miss her terribly at that meeting.

Molly was the most alive person I know. That liveliness, coupled with incredible kindness and generosity, touched so many people and garnered so many friends. Ever generous, she gave up her ballet class (but stayed up late reformatting the program for AFS) to make time to have dinner with me when I was in Sitka the week before the Alaska Chapter meeting last month. Her vibrancy and enthusiasm were just what I needed then and will remember always. She walked lightly on the earth, with long strides and a dog by her side. Friends remember her brilliant intellect and her vibrant expression of life. She was a life-long learner. She was an inspiration to all who knew her because of her courage, perseverance, and authenticity. Molly died doing what she loved, being on the water and helping people. Alaska , AFS, the fisheries profession and the world will be lessened without her light.

A Molly Ahlgren Scholarship Fund has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank in trust with the American Fisheries Society, Alaska Chapter. Donations will be used to establish a scholarship in Molly's name to help the students to whom Molly was so dedicated. Please make contributions payable to: Molly Ahlgren Scholarship Fund. You may send your donation to: American Fisheries Society Alaska Chapter, c/o Ray Hander, Treasurer, 101 12 th Ave. , Room 110, Fairbanks, AK 99701, Phone: 907-456-0402.

Brenda L. Norcross

 

photos courtesy of Ray Troll