Jessica Selway Eaton

Jan 20, 1980 -

Sep 18, 2020

Jessica Selway Eaton passed away on Sept. 18, 2020. She was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1980, to Michael and Jean Eaton, and moved with her family to Alaska at age 2. She was a lifelong outdoorswoman who enjoyed hiking and camping in the Chugach. For years, her email address began with "outdoorlovingrn." Recently she looked up at Wolverine Peak and said, "I am so glad I have been to the top of that."

During Jessica's childhood, she loved to go camping with her parents and sisters. She and her sisters fought over who slept where in the dome tent, and she was pretty good at securing the driest spot. She was an athletic child and an ambitious student. She remembered everything she ever read, and her pursuit of knowledge extended to the bathroom, where she posted vocabulary flash cards all over the walls.

As a teenager, Jessica was an avid snowboarder and snowboard racer. She took a silver medal at the snowboarding National Championships in 1997, and competed at the World Junior Championships in Finland later that year.

Jessica graduated from Service High School, class of 1998, where she was one of the valedictorians. She earned a Bachelor of Science in molecular biology from Princeton University in 2002, and a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2005, where she worked for a year before returning to Anchorage, Alaska, to work at the Providence Emergency Department. In later years, Jessica pursued a degree as a nurse practitioner.

As an adult, Jessica continued to hike and backpack in North Carolina and Anchorage. With her former husband, Jessica adopted and raised two energetic labradoodles, Lucy and Zeke, who brought her great joy.

Jessica struggled her entire life with depression and mental illness, culminating in taking her own life. She was a kind and loving person with a great sense of humor who cared deeply about the people around her.

She was preceded in death by her father, Dr. Michael Eaton. She is survived by her mother, Jean Eaton; sisters, Sara (Matt), Erika (Tyler) and Kristina (Lee); nieces, Caroline, Devon, Gabrielle, Kierin and Hazel; and nephew, Caleb. Jessica will be greatly missed by all.

There was a graveside service on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 3 p.m. at Angelus Memorial Park Cemetery, 440 E. Klatt Road in Anchorage.