June was born on June 26, 1922, in Chicago, Ill., to William and Ida Adair and was raised in a Polish neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. She and her sister, Florence, were "city girls," but would spend time during the summer on the family farms in Marengo and Belvidere, Ill. June's father, William, was from Portovogie, Ireland, and her mother, Ida, grew up in Marengo on a farm.

June graduated from Thomas Kelly High School in 1940, and then went to business school and the Felt & Tarrant Comptometer School in Chicago.

Upon completing her training she worked as an office girl in Chicago. In 1946, she met Bernard (Bud) E. Uminski at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, where the romance blossomed on first meeting. Bud came to Alaska in 1939, at the age of 24, and homesteaded off of what later became Skyline Drive.

After a short time Bud returned to Homer, but a serious correspondence resulted in June following the next year. They were married in Anchorage in 1947, and June's life as a homesteader's wife began. She soon lost her "city girl" persona, and was hiking to Anchor River for rainbow trout, milking goats, canning moose meat, and washing clothes on a washboard. Their only child, Tania Marie, was born in 1948.

For the next seven years they raised a herd of 40 French alpine dairy goats, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, and a calf. Bud supplemented their income working for the Road Commission that was beginning to slash a road through the wilderness between Homer and Anchor Point. June worked in the cannery at Snug Harbor one summer. When Tania was ready to start school they decided the time was ripe to start a business downtown.

In 1954, Bud and June opened Uminski's Department Store on Pioneer Avenue. They sold furniture, linens, clothing and all the things homesteaders needed. June enjoyed taking care of the needs of her customers, and knew them well. Uminski's Department Store operated for 38 years, and always remained the old-fashioned Alaska store that carried a little bit of everything.

June was active in community affairs and was selected Queen Regent of the 1987 Homer Winter Carnival. She lived for the Homer Little Theater, which put on minstrel shows, melodramas and plays. During the Homer Winter Carnival, the theater featured "The Legend of Homer," depicting life in early Homer. June was clever at writing script. She also has written some humorous accounts of her life on the homestead.

She belonged to the Homer Chamber of Commerce, the Homer Emblem Club, the Homer Pioneers, and the Homer Ladies Fellowship. She liked to sew, read, and garden. She even did a little painting at the urging of Bud, who was an accomplished artist.

Her family wrote, "Mom was beautiful in every way, always meeting everyone else's needs before her own. She even became proficient at performing kidney dialysis in their home, so that Dad didn't have to travel to Anchorage weekly for treatments. She was courageous, strong, resourceful, capable and loving."

June is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Tania and Tobben Spurkland; grandson, Lars Spurkland and wife, Raye Ann Neustel; grandson, Jan Spurkland; and granddaughter, Kristin Spurkland and husband, Todd Jackson.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bud Uminski, and sister, Florence Dusik.

The family would like to thank the staffs at South Peninsula Hospital LTC, Friendship Center and Friendship Terrace for their kindness and care. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer's Resource of Alaska; 1750 Abbott Road, Anchorage 99507.

Arrangements were made by Homer Funeral Home.