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As news of gold spread through America in the mid-1890s, hundreds of people flooded onto Seattle docks seeking transportation northward. Among the 100 passengers who packed onto the Cook Inlet-bound steamship Utopia was a man whose name would become synonymous with an Alaska ski resort. James E. Girdwood traveled to Kachemak Bay in early May 1896, where he hopped aboard the small steamer L.J. Perry, run by "Cap" Austin E. Lathrop. Girdwood made his way through the ice-filled Cook Inlet to...
Actors Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth were married in 1974. Or was it 1976? Actually, it was both! The pair tied the knot when their "Days of Our Lives" characters (Doug and Julie) married two years after the couple wed in real life. Some 50 years and a collective 5,000 episodes later, the Emmy Award-winning stars of the perennial NBC daytime soap opera are still together both on-screen and off. They recently produced a website, Secrets of Soap Opera Lovers, explaining how the two have lived,...
Benjamin Franklin famously said that “nothing is certain but death and taxes”. Actually, he wrote it in French, but that’s not my point. As an estate planner, I deal with death all the time. I also have to be aware of tax issues, although that is less important than it used to be. In fact, for most of my clients, taxes don’t factor into their estate plans in any significant way. That’s not the way it was when I started out. When I came back from law school, the estate tax was a huge issue. An...
Q. I love making printed photo books on my computer. Is there a way to make something like a photo book, only with text instead? A. There are dozens of different tools for creating printed books on computers, but most of them are complex and hard to use. One exception I am very intrigued by is a Web-based service called Storyworth (www.storyworth.com). For a one-year subscription of about $100, Storyworth will email you (or a gift recipient) a weekly question. After a year, the questions and answers are collected in a printed hard cover book. A...
Editor’s note: This press statement was received March 15, 2022. A new survey by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) indicates that even after receiving the highest Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) in 40 years, seniors report they are worse off than before. The majority of Social Security recipients say their monthly expenditures from January 2021 to January of 2022 grew far more than the amount the COLA-boosted benefits. The COLA increase of 5.9 percent raised average Social Security benefits by $92 per month. But 73 percent o...
The Alaska Legislature has taken up four bills to address the damage that has been done to our campaign finance laws in a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision. It has been a breath of fresh air to watch the legislative process in action, and to communicate with our legislators, as these bills have been considered and debated. From all appearances, our legislators recognize the importance to our democratic form of government of reinstating reasonable limits on campaign donations in Alaska. As of the date of this writing in mid-March...
One of the reasons health research is important is to study the effectiveness and safety of a medicine. Some drugs may work in clinical trials but may not work in the field due to factors such as race, ethnicity, age, gender and more. Even though we know the importance of health research, we often ask ourselves questions such as, “Why should I be part of health research? What are potential outcomes of my participation? Will I be making a difference?” The truth is that health research aims to find better ways to prevent and treat disease. Hea...
Q: It’s been several months since my loved one passed away. I have been through the stages of grief and have finally reached acceptance. But then - out of nowhere - I find myself plunged back into the depths of sadness. What could be causing this? A: It might be that you are experiencing reawakened grief. This is a phenomenon that can occur after a death when certain triggers cause a person to relive the loss. If you are struggling with reawakened grief, it is important to remember that this i...
Hidden brain benefits come with pet ownership Owning a pet, like a dog or cat, especially for five years or longer, may be linked to slower cognitive decline in older adults, according to a new study. In fact, having a dog for more than 10 years may have important brain benefits. “Prior studies have suggested that the human-animal bond may have health benefits like decreasing blood pressure and stress,” said study author Dr. Tiffany Braley with the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann...
I became alarmed when what I thought could become treasured gifts to my grandchildren might turn into indecipherable codes by the time they received them. Back in 2013, it was called to my attention three times in less than a week that cursive handwriting was on the way to becoming obsolete. Since before each grandchild was born – Harlen in 2006 and Amelia in 2009 – I have kept a journal for them. Written in cursive. The plan is to give these diaries to them when they turn 18 or graduate from hi...
In 1911, near the village of Tikigaq, Howard Rock's shaman grandmother predicted he would become a great man. More than 50 years later, the prophecy came true. Rock, small in stature, did indeed become a giant among men. Raised in the traditional Eskimo way, Rock learned to hunt with his father and embraced his culture. But he also had a foot in the western world. Like many Native children of the time, Rock had to leave his village at the age of 15 to continue his education past the eighth...
Joe Cornet never initially considered now 92-year-old Don Murray for a role in his 2021 western film "Promise." "I wanted an iconic actor for one of the roles and approached two other veteran western stars, but for one reason or another neither worked out," said Cornet, from Los Angeles, who wrote, directed, and co-produced the almost two-hour-long western drama. Already acquainted with Murray's son, Cornet explained his dilemma to the younger Murray who proposed a simple solution: "Why don't...
Dear Savvy Senior: I am planning to retire and apply for my Social Security benefits in July. When can I expect my first check, and is direct deposit my only option for receiving my monthly payment? -- Almost 62 Dear Almost: Generally, Social Security retirement benefits, as well as disability and survivor benefits, are paid in the month after the month they are due. So, if you want to start receiving your Social Security benefits in July, your July benefits will be distributed in August. The day of the month you receive your benefit payment,...
People believe a lot of things that aren’t actually true. Butter doesn’t help a burn. Your hair and fingernails don’t continue to grow after you die. Sarah Palin didn’t say she could see Russia from her house. In estate planning, the biggest myth is that having a will avoids probate. I don’t know how many times I have looked at the astonished face of someone in my office when I tell them there would have to be a probate case, even though they have a perfectly good will. Many people, having be...
Imagine losing access to your phone and all the data you ever created. If that thought scares you, read on. The terms “Digital Legacy” and “Digital Inheritance” describe what happens to digital information created by someone who is deceased. Buried beneath the tech-speak is a very simple idea: your digital information contains precious family photos, important PDFs, vital passwords, social network identities, and perhaps much more. As more records exist only in digital form, those records may be stored on devices that relatives may not know ho...
Q: What are my chances of finding work over age 60? A: Amid the disruptive loss of jobs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been one counterbalancing force: An urgent demand for older professionals to return to work from retirement or a career break. Employers have historically viewed this group of potential employees with skepticism, a perception that their skills have deteriorated or become obsolete or that they are overqualified, require long ramp-up times, lack commitment to the...
Editor's note: Al Clayton, who died in 2008, wrote this story about a cold misadventure. It's been edited and submitted by his daughter and Senior Voice Correspondent Maraley McMichael. I made a snowplane and used it for many years for various trips and adventures. It was a great vehicle to travel through snow, especially on frozen rivers in Interior Alaska, similar to modern day snowmachine travel. Built in Seward in the mid 1950s, it had a metal tubing frame, reinforced canvas-covered body,...
In March, Alaskans celebrate Seward's Day in honor of the man who succeeded in persuading the United States to buy Alaska from the Russians. And there are many landmarks named after President Lincoln's Secretary of State William Henry Seward. However, when Seward was chosen for the name of the town on Resurrection Bay, it took the personal intervention of President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt to make it possible. By 1902, John Ballaine, originator and promoter of the Alaska Central Railway and...
Not even a youthful warning from her grandfather, a powerful entertainment attorney during the Golden Age of film, could prevent Sharon Gless from attempting the journey to Hollywood. Neil S. McCarthy, who counted Cecil B. DeMille, Katharine Hepburn and Lana Turner among his clients, cautioned his young granddaughter that the movie industry could be a "filthy business." Aided by loyal friends and associates, however, as well as possessing a fierce determination to succeed, Sharon beat the odds...
When I was a kid, I lived for a while in a town near Brazil. Not the big country down in South America, but the small town of Brazil, Indiana. What was strange about the place was that they pronounced it BRAY-zill. I thought that was really odd, until I got back home to Alaska and learned that most of the world pronounces Valdez and Cordova differently from what I grew up with. Yes, we do it differently in Alaska. It’s a snowmachine, not a snowmobile. We don’t refer to our highways by route num...
Q. My computer is seven years old. Everything seems normal when it first starts up, but the longer I use it, the slower it runs. After an hour, the wait is awful. Restarting returns it to normal, but the slowdown repeats. Help! A. This is a challenging problem to troubleshoot. Different things may cause this behavior. The instant a computer starts up, it begins to use three things: CPU, disk space and memory. The computer is designed to keep these in balance, so the computer feels fast. Your computer should have a built-in application that...
While the chances of action begin as slim at best, House Democrats recently reintroduced a Social Security reform bill designed to give lawmakers a few more years to figure out how to fix the long-term solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds, among other things. Right now, those trust funds – the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (OASI), which pays retirement and survivor benefits, and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, which pays disability benefits, are both scheduled to run out of money in just 13 years. At that time ...
Editor’s note: This press statement was received on Jan. 19, 2022. Medicare beneficiaries may have grounds to ask for a refund on a portion of their 2022 Part B premiums, according to The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a Washington D.C.-based senior advocacy organization. “It appears that Medicare is overcharging 57 million older and disabled beneficiaries for their Part B coverage this year,” says Mary Johnson, a Medicare and Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. The increase in Part B premiums in 2022, which cover...
African American older adults are disproportionately affected by diabetes, which affects more than 10% of African American adults. Without proper management, diabetes may increase the risk for other diseases including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. One way to understand this concept is to think about how sticky sugar becomes when you caramelize it in a frying pan. This is the same process that occurs in our arteries, since the average...
Promising advance in treating Parkinson’s disease Researchers have solved a decade-long mystery about a critical protein linked to Parkinson’s disease that could help to fast-track treatments for the incurable disease. The researchers have developed a “live action” view of a protein called PINK1 in exquisite molecular detail. The discovery explains how the protein is activated in the cell and leads to the development of Parkinson’s disease. When this protein is not working correctly, it kills...
