Jule Hurley Loftus, 86, passed away on May 12, 2022, in Portland, Oregon. Jule was born on June 13, 1935, in Fairbanks, Alaska, to Theodore (Ted) Albert Loftus and Audrey Lorraine Stanfield. Jule’s parents were early pioneers in Fairbanks, having arrived and married in the 1920s.

Although born in Fairbanks, Jule was raised in the mining-company town of Chatanika where his father was a manager for the F.E. company. Jule joined his older sister, Nancy Lorraine as the second child and only son in the family.

Jule’s love for the outdoors was nurtured during his childhood in and around Fairbanks. As a youngster, he was involved in the local Boy Scout troop and would often tell stories about their camping trips to Mount McKinley (Denali) National Park and winter camping in 50 degrees below zero weather. While still in grammar school, Jule and his family moved ‘to town’ and their company home at 410 Cowles Street (now an Alaska Heritage House).

Although he spent his freshman year at Fairbanks High School, Jule spent two years ‘outside’ while he attended his sophomore and junior years at Lakeside High School, a private school in Seattle, Washington that would board students from out of the area. While at Lakeside he played junior varsity football and basketball. He returned to Fairbanks for his senior year and graduated from Fairbanks High School in 1953. Among other activities his senior year, he played varsity basketball and was a member of the team that won the state championship.

After high school, Jule attended the University of Alaska (now UAF) studying business. Summer jobs included working on a survey crew. He also enjoyed spending time at the family cabin and water skiing on Harding Lake. In 1960, Jule enlisted in the US Army. Following basic training, he attended specialized training and became a helicopter crew chief. He was stationed in West Germany during the tense early years of the Cold War.

Following his military service, Jule returned to Fairbanks and secured employment with The First National Bank of Fairbanks. He was the branch manager at the Ft. Greeley branch and later the College branch. As a carefree bachelor, he enjoyed racing dirt bikes, fishing, and hunting with his friend Dick Momarts and others.

In the fall of 1966, his single life came to an end when he renewed acquittances with a friend from his high school days, Sandra L. Terry. They were married and Jule became a husband and a father to Sandra’s three children, Jeff, Myke, and Lori. More changes would come due to the Fairbanks flood of 1967. The family decided to relocate to the Seattle area and Jule became a branch manager for the Bank of Kent, in Kent, Washington. Sandra worked for the Kent School District as an elementary school teacher. Jule and his family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the 1970s saw Jeff, Myke, and Lori graduate from high school and serve full-time missions for the church.

Jule changed his career from banking to general management. He worked for two years as the manager of the commissary for the Alyeska Pipeline in Valdez. He later managed budgets for the Tundra Biome Project at the University of Alaska (UAF). Returning to the Seattle area, he worked for the State of Washington Self-Insurance division. That was followed by work in the private sector for the Groves Company.

Jule’s wife, Sandra, passed away following a brief illness in 1985. During the following years he built and managed rental properties, owned a carpet franchise and worked for Hertz Rental Cars. He enjoyed watching his grandchildren grow up and would attend their sporting and musical events as time and circumstances allowed. As his health declined in later years, he lived with his son Jeff and his family in Aloha, Oregon. He spent the last three years at a senior living facility in Forest Grove, Oregon before additional health problems necessitated a move to Portland. He passed away due to complications of age.

Jule will be buried in Eugene, Oregon next to his father and mother and nears his aunts and uncles. 

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