William K. `Bill' Boardman, 78, Former House Speaker In Alaska

JUNEAU - Alaska flags were ordered flown at half-staff yesterday in memory of former House Speaker William K. "Bill" Boardman, who died in California.

Boardman died of a heart attack Thursday while taking a walk in Palm Springs, Calif., according to a news release from Gov. Walter J. Hickel's office. He was 78.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Northern Light United Church in Juneau. Boardman and his wife had called Juneau home since 1986, but spent their winters in Palm Springs.

A native of Iowa, Boardman served in the Coast Guard during World War II.

He moved to Ketchikan after the war and worked as an agent for Pan American Airlines. In the early 1950s he began working as an underwriter for the Northern Life Insurance Co. He owned and operated an insurance brokerage in Ketchikan until he retired in 1982 and moved to Anchorage.

Boardman was a Republican who represented Ketchikan in the Territorial House in 1953, and in the state House from 1961 through 1970. He was speaker during the fifth Legislature in 1967-68.

Hickel ordered state flags to remain at half-staff until March

27.