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Eclectic crowd gather to mourn Iditarod champion

Grizzled dog mushers, politicians, a computer mogul and a Hollywood filmmaker were among the crowd of hundreds that gathered in the heart of Alaska to remember the woman some say helped define the modern Iditarod.

Susan Butcher won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race four times, but many in attendance Saturday chose to talk about how Butcher affected them off the trail, as a wife, mother, sister and friend, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

``I got 21 years with the most special person who I can imagine spending time with,'' said Butcher's husband, David Monson. ``I got 50 years out of those 21.''

Monson, their daughters Tekla and Chisana, and about 700 others gathered in an auditorium at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to honor Butcher. She died on Aug. 5 in Seattle of leukemia. She was 51.

Filmmaker George Lucas, who said he considered Butcher an adopted sister, quietly took the stage and recounted a tale Butcher had told him years ago.

She was mushing down a frozen river when she broke through the ice and believed she was done for, Lucas said.

``Her dogs came to the rescue and pulled her out. She used to say that everything that happened after that was a gift," Lucas said.

Bill and Melinda Gates of Microsoft Corp also flew to Fairbanks for the service.

The couple met Butcher and Monson at a dog mushing lesson in Eureka and became fast friends and traveling companions, Melinda Gates said during her tribute.

Gates said she often visited with Butcher after she arrived in Seattle last December for cancer treatment. She recalled that Butcher would attempt to walk to and from her chemotherapy sessions, occasionally phoning for a ride from the numerous friends she made in Seattle.

``She loved people, and she loved challenging people around her,'' Gates said. ``There aren't many regrets in Susan's life.''
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