Fuel tank farm and avenue dedicated to Franklin Okleasik
On July 8, the family and friends of the late Franklin Okleasik gathered at the Bonanza Fuel’s tank farm as the City of Nome dedicated the road to the tank farm to be named Franklin D. Okleasik Avenue and Sitnasuak Native Corporation dedicated the Bonanza Fuel Tank Farm to honor its long-time employee.
“Okleasik will go down in history as one of our most dedicated and hardest-working citizens, and we’re humbled to have his name grace one of our streets as a reminder of his work ethic,” City Manager Tom Moran said.
According to Moran, what is now Franklin D. Okleasik Avenue was a utility easement until the Planning Commission approved Plat 2015-6. Moran said the idea to recognize Okleasik originally came from former Planning Commissioner Nikolai Ivanoff. “(Ivanoff) thought it would be a fitting honor for a man who spent much of his life working on that very road,” Moran said.
Okleasik and his family moved to Nome from Teller by dogsled in 1941, a year after he was born. He held several jobs in Nome and served on the Nome Volunteer Fire Department. He was employed at Bonanza Fuel, primarily as the tank farm manager, for nearly a quarter decade. He lived in the community until his death in early 2014.
On June 27, the Nome Common Council unanimously passed the resolution to honor Okleasik. “Mr. Okleasik served a significant but humble role in making Nome a better community through his work ethic and community support, with a constant smile and a kind word for all who crossed his path,” the resolution reads.
