Part 1: Go Getter
There is an unfortunate phrase in Anchorage, one that explicitly refers to the murder of Muriel Pfeil. It’s often uttered by abusive men. Men who allude to her1976 fate: killed by a car bomb only steps from her business in downtown Anchorage. Lizbeth Meredith, a seasoned Anchorage domestic violence advocate, captures that threat succinctly:
“Leave me and you’ll go down like Muriel did.”
This unsubtle threat is, of course, an abomination. It serves only to make Muriel’s life a cautionary footnote. It diminishes — just like the act of murder itself — her life and memory. Because Muriel Pfeil was… So. Much. More.
Employed at Hewitt’s Camera Store, Anchorage (copyright ADN)
It’s the ‘so much more’ part that concerns us here
Youngest of three children, Muriel quickly demonstrated a drive to excel. She had, of course, great examples. Her father — a German immigrant who was not only a successful property developer, but a member of the Anchorage City Council. A public figure. Her mother, the daughter of Swedish immigrants, was a school teacher and then, ever so briefly, a school principal. And her brother? Soon to be a West Point graduate.
Like many a child of educators there was, at the very least, an implicit contract among the Pfeil children. Do not embarrass your school teacher mother. Be an exemplary student. Be a model of good pedagogy.
Muriel On The Rise
One of the first public mentions of Muriel Pfeil — other than the gossip column tidbits dishing on family vacations — was in the summer of 1944, when she tied for First Place in the “Special Dolls” category at a city-wide doll show. She was all of nine years old.
Next up, something a little more weighty. Muriel leapt to the top of her junior high school Honor Roll. She was now fourteen.
Muriel Pfeil led the eighth grade Junior High School honor roll, Arnold Granville, principal of Central School, announced today.
“Muriel Pfeil Leads 8th Grade Honor Students,” Anchorage Daily Times, April 21, 1949
She was joined in that honorific by three 7th Graders, each of them compiling an almost perfect score [1]. That was just the start. That same school year, Muriel and a classmate were judged “outstanding boy and girl in honor, courage, leadership, service and scholarship.” They received the American Legion School Award. And got their picture on Page 3 of the Anchorage Daily Times.
Courtesy Anchorage Daily Times, May 18, 1949
Muriel garnered one additional award that year: the Scholastic Magazine Certificate of Merit in Junior International Letter Writing. The latter award was a hint — a prediction, really — of things to come [2].
More Than A Scholar
Most of us know at least one snobby intellectual. That someone who wields their superior scholarship like a fake sword, dangling over our collective heads. I say fake because, warranted or not, the true honorifics seemed reserved for the athletes in our midst. High School quarterback? Yeah. He’s a stud. Especially if the team is… winning. So…
There’s also a Muriel Pfeil proving she’s not one-dimensional. One opportunity came during Anchorage’s 1951 Fur Rendezvous — an annual celebration of the city’s Last Frontier heritage and headlined, of course, by a dog-sled race.
(A building co-owned by Muriel’s father)
Alaska conjures skiing, right? So in 1951, Muriel Pfeil aged 16, enters the Fur Rondy downhill skiing competition at the Arctic Valley ski area, in the Chugach Mountains just east of town. She takes First Place in the Women’s race. Posts a time of 23.45 seconds, nearly one full second faster than the number two finisher. She won a shortened version of that same race the following year, then followed that up with a decisive win in the 1953 version as a high school senior.
Speed skating was another discipline at which she excelled, taking first place in the 1948 220 and 440 sprint races. Oh, and then she was a featured ice skater in the “Hello Alaska” skating exhibition, performing amidst a cadre of professional ice skaters.
Exceptional grace and skating skill were displayed by local amateurs Farrell Renfrew, Muriel Pfeil and Connie Rowell, who appeared in specialty numbers…
“Hello Alaska” Show Fabulous Undertaking, Anchorage Daily Times, February 23, 1951
Taking A Dramatic Turn
There was also an actress in the house. First up was a “contemporary comedy” — Dear Ruth, with Muriel sharing the role of the “beautiful sister” in the show’s title. The comedy turns on Ruth’s younger sister, who writes alluring letters to lonely G.I.’s — under her older sister’s name. Yes, a comedy of errors. Especially when one of the soldiers shows up at the family’s door.
Dear Ruth photo collage: Muriel Pfeil upper right.
In the succeeding months, Muriel played the alternate lead in the comedy “Our Miss Brooks,” then acted in a group sequence for “Men Are Like Street Cars,” the latter finishing off the 1952 drama season. As Muriel’s Senior Year came to a close in 1953, she took on the High School annual as editor. That plus membership in the National Honor Society, the Thespians and Quill and Scroll, the latter a high school journalism honor society.
Headed for Sun Valley
There were more honors to come. In 1953 Muriel was one of three Anchorage women selected to perform at the Sun Valley resort’s outdoor skating rink. She was, in fact, on the Resort Staff for the entire winter season. And then? Off to the University of Washington in Seattle, where her sister was a nursing student. Heady times. And, as was her wont, some unexpected twists and turns lay straight ahead.
[1] Muriel received a score of six 1’s and one 2. A grade of 1 was the highest score.
[2] Muriel would ultimately receive a degree in International Relations at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Copyright 2025, Leland E. Hale
NOW available : Kill Brother, Kill Sister, part three of my Alaska Trilogy. Don’t miss this one. Three millionaires face off and only one of them survives!
Alaska Airline Captain Robert Pfeil was the scion of an Alaskan pioneer family. His sister Muriel was a winner in her own right. Owner of Alaska’s most successful travel agency, routinely voted one of the best dressed women in Anchorage, she was worldly in a city better known for its sourdoughs and roughnecks. On September 30, 1976, a vehicle explosion rocked downtown Anchorage. When the dust settled, Muriel Pfeil was trapped in the driver’s seat. Dead. Her brother immediately blamed Neil Mackay, Muriel’s estranged ex-husband — a multi-millionaire lawyer and real estate mogul. Robert Pfeil knew the motive: Mackay wanted custody of the couple’s only son, three-year-old Scotty.