Gene Wilcox Who Ran Midway Store In Slana Passes Away

 Gene Wilcox Of Slana 

January 1949-June 2024 

Gene Wilcox, formerly of Slana, passed away last month. A former Alaska State Trooper, who graduated from the 32nd Alaska State Trooper Academy in 1979, he had been stationed in Fairbanks. 

Eventually, after leaving the Troopers, he and his wife Christine, came to the Copper Valley and opened the Midway Store. (The store burned to the ground on January 22nd, 2023.) 

Midway Store, on Ahtell Creek, was one of two major community centers in Slana. The other was Duffy's, which closed years ago. 

In 1991, the Copper River Country Journal did a story about Slana entitled "Slana Comes Of Age." There was mention of Midway Store's importance in the tale, along with its owners, the Wilcox family: