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The Anchorage Woman's Club has been awarded grant money to restore Anchorage's historic Pioneer Schoolhouse. The building, now located downtown at 437 W. Third Avenue, celebrated its 100th anniversary in November 2015. It was the first schoolhouse built in Anchorage, and was moved to its current location in 1965, after standing through the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake. It was approved for listing on the National Register of Historic Places in December, 1980, according to a May 13 press release...
My husband, Elliott, and I were on an excursion. On a sunny, warm afternoon in early April, we were bumping along a curvy, gravel road, up and down hills, heading to the home of Joanna and Ken Walch in Big Lake. Joanna – Jo – calls it "our little paradise." Their home is perched on a hill, overlooking Mud Lake, covered with thinning grey-blue ice in our unusually warm spring. We were about to meet a cast of characters. In the yard, greeting our approach with a few curious howls, was Jo's sle...
There was a generation of women who grew up without heroines, without much hope for fulfilling their wildest dreams, but then there were those women who changed all that by sheer will and determination. They thumbed their noses at "girls don't do that" and went on to do precisely what they said they would. Dr. Nancy Elliot Syndam is one. And she was honored for that grit at the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Anchorage Museum on March 3. She grew up on a 60-acre farm in...
"I didn't want to leave Fairbanks. I love my town." – Karen "I came back to Fairbanks after moving to Oregon. I came back to live here, at Raven Landing. It was like coming home. I had never really wanted to leave." – Patti "This community, this place, this is my family." – Patricia This was one happy, congenial group, residents of Raven Landing, gathered for dinner one mid-March evening in the community's large, light-filled dining room. (There was much laughter when one woman at the table...
The Fairbanks Senior Recognition Day returns to the Carlson Center this year on May 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Enjoy a delicious free lunch (seniors only), enjoy presentations and entertainment, gather information, and see who wins the Outstanding Volunteer and Lifetime Fitness awards. Transportation is available through the Fairbanks Parks and Rec Senior Program, but you space is limited. To reserve a seat, call 459-1136. For more information, visit www.co.fairbanks.ak.us/pr/Pages/Seniors.aspx ....
The Anchorage Senior Citizens Advisory Commission will host the annual Older Americans Month Kick-Off Event May 4 at the Anchorage Senior Activity Center, from 10 a.m. to noon. This year’s Older Americans Month theme is “Blaze a Trail.” The Kick-Off event features entertainment, speakers and the presentation of this year’s Ron Hammett Award for outstanding service to seniors and their families. For more information, call 343-4763....
If retirement means "to call it quits" or "pack it in," as my dictionary suggests, that is not at all what Sandy Harper has in mind. It is a time of transition for her, of new perspectives, as she hands over the lead position of producing artistic director of Cyrano's Theatre Company to Teresa Pond, representing a younger generation. Sandy calls this transition a passing of the torch and the beginning of a new era for Cyrano's, but since the theater has become very much a part of who she is,...
Denakkanaaga in February announced a new Native language tool for people interested in learning Gwich’in or Koyukon-Athabascan. Denakkanaaga is the Fairbanks-based regional non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of and for Alaska Native elders of Interior Alaska. In a Feb. 2 press statement, the organization explained that through a language revitalization grant from Doyon, Limited, Denakkanaaga has produced an everyday language video series in which elders teach commonly used words in the two Interior Alaskan dialects. The video c...
The annual Cama-i Dance Festival, bringing together Native dance groups from all around the state, takes place April 1-3 in Bethel at the high school. The festival also showcases performances from guest dancers from outside Alaska, dance clinics, a Native foods dinner and more. For information and the impressive schedule, visit www.camai.org. Also in Bethel, this year’s annual Tribal Unity Gathering takes place April 6 and 7 at the Piciryarait Cultural Center. This is the 23rd Tribal Unity Gathering, sponsored by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health C...
The Northern Lights Model Railroad Club will hold a model railroad open house March 26-27 at Russian Jack Springs Park in Anchorage, noon to 4 p.m. Club members will be on hand to talk about the railroad and answer questions, and most importantly, there will be trains running on the layout. Parking and admission free. This is a great family event, and is always popular with the kids. For information, call 301-9272. Read about the club’s history and projects on their website: http://alaskamodelrrnews.homestead.com/nl.html...
I walked in cold. Although I've been a regular lap swimmer at the Anchorage Community YMCA for decades, ever since the day the pool opened back in the 1970s, I had not attended land classes. So there I was, a true klutz, in the Y's SilverSneakers® class. "I know why you love to swim," my husband has told me, kindly but pointedly, many times. "You can't trip when you are swimming." There's much truth in that. I spotted a friendly face. I'd often been in the pool with Alis Schmitt. She would b...
The Kenai Peninsula Senior Olympic Games return this year, Feb. 16-20, offering friendly competition in more than a dozen events: eight-ball pool, exhibition water-walk, cribbage, bridge, darts, walk-a-thon, hand-n-foot, wii bowling, basketball, pinochle, dominos, ping pong and poker. The events will be held at various locations in the Nikiski, Kenai and Soldotna areas, and are open to all Peninsula seniors age 55 and older. This is the 12th year for the games. New event co-chair Bonnie Cain says she heard “a lot of feedback” when the gam...
This year’s Fur Rendezvous Festival is celebrated Feb. 26 through March 6. Some of the many events include the Amateur Photo Contest; Charlotte Jensen Native Arts Market; GCI Snow Sculpture Competition; the Rondy Grand Parade; fireworks show; Running of the Reindeer; Rondy Melodrama; Miner’s and Trapper’s Charity Ball; and the annual Pioneer Pancake Feed. The Anchorage Senior Activity Center has its own extensive Rondy activities schedule, including the art show and reception, and annual Fur Rendezvous Pioneer Stories Dinner Theater. For ticket...
"What do I like best about my job? That's easy. It's my customers! I love our customers." It's an early Monday morning and Janet Hickok is multi-tasking. She has been an owner of Doriola's on Tudor Road in Anchorage since she drove north from Oregon back in 2005. She opened the small restaurant and customers have been like family. "Here's the deal," she states firmly as she visits with me, plans the day's fresh soups, and handles the ordering of the week's food supplies with another visitor. "I...
Started 30 years ago in Yuma, Ariz., as an informal get together for Alaska snowbirds, the annual Alaska Picnic has grown into an enormous annual party. “We have people fly in from Alaska for the two days just for the picnic,” says Ruth Giles, who lives in Yuma and organizes the event with her husband, Rich. “People also come from Tucson, Oregon, Washington – from all over.” The event is held each year on Feb. 14. The location is Yuma’s Henry Park Pavilion, which can accommodate the large group and provide room for the food and live band....
Vicki Martin calls them the "Thursday people," and I had come specifically to meet one of them, "Grandpa John" Sterner. I'd heard that at age 94, John was among the most faithful, most staunch of the crew that gathers each Thursday at the Downtown Soup Kitchen to put together some 450 sandwiches, along with 60 gallons of fresh, homemade soups and several desserts. This happens daily, Monday through Friday at this Anchorage spot on the corner of Third Ave. and Cordova. Vicki is the program and vo...
“Seward Unleashed, Volume I,” was a literary success in 2014, and Volume II is underway to preserve the character, color and adventure of community members in the Seward and surrounding area. Writers of all ages, styles and stories are invited to reflect on the “How I got here and why I stayed” theme. Was it your spirit of adventure? Was it that you were born here and couldn’t leave? Did you join your long lost love and run away to Seward? Or did you receive the perfect job offer? Leave your legacy in print by contributing your personal...
Tired of forgetting to start your car before you head to work on a chilly morning? Looking for a stress-free way to make your daily commute more manageable? Look no further than ridesharing. The Fairbanks North Star Borough has partnered with Zimride by Enterprise to offer residents a social ridesharing network. The new network allows people to easily find carpools from others in the area that share similar commute origins and destinations. In addition to simply sharing cars with two or three commuters, Enterprise Rideshare will be conducting f...
How do we deal with our grief over loss of loved ones and all the madness in today's world? In 1988 a Pan American flight over Lockerbie, Scotland was bombed out of the sky. In the play, "Women of Lockerbie," the women of Lockerbie are fighting with the U.S. government for the right to obtain the clothing of the victims of flight 103, which crashed over their village. By washing the clothes found in the wreckage and returning them to the families of the victims of the crash the women believe the...
“Celebrate Senior Veterans Week” returns this year to the Anchorage Senior Activity Center, Nov. 9-13, featuring a week filled with information, recreation, companionship and remembrance. Here is the schedule: Monday, Nov. 9: Information Fair, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10: Presentations and guest speakers, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11: The center will close in observance of Veterans Day Thursday, Nov. 12: Veteran Luncheon, noon to 1:30 p.m. With keynote speaker Verdie Bowen, Director of the State of Alaska Dept. of Military and...
Sit three people together who have long-term relationships with the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, and stories begin to flow, randomly, bouncing off one another. That's what happened recently on a grey September morning. One of those gathered around the table in the Zoo's small coffee shop was Bob Pate. His association with the Zoo goes back to its very beginnings and includes over 20 years as a Zoo board member. Then there was Susie Voke, daughter of Sammye Seawell. Sammye started the Zoo, with its...
