Dallas Derflinger has lived in Sterling for 4 years. Before the move here she lived in Nikiski. Dallas says that she likes living in Sterling better.

“Here we have lots of woods for exploring and berry picking. At our other house we had a road in front and fireweed in the back and that was all,” she said

Dallas Derflinger is 10 years old. Her parents, Melody and Shane are home schooling her this year for the 5^th grade.

Dallas says that the things she likes best about home schooling is that she gets to spend time reading with her mom and sisters. She does miss a few things about public school though.

“I miss having recess with my friends but I do get to see them on the weekends,” she said.

Dallas has two sisters, Aurora who is 9 and Darrion who is 5.

Dallas has been in girl scouts for the past 3 years.

“I like to meet new girls and earn badges,” she said.

Recently her troop earned a foods badge by studying world hunger.

“One of the girls even wrote a letter to the president asking him to work on getting starving people more food,” she said.

The Derflinger family has several pets. Two dogs named Copper and Mary Jane and a goat named Raymond. When Raymond is outside, Dallas said they have to make sure the garbage is put away so he doesn’t make a mess.

“Raymond likes to go on walks with the dogs,” she said. “He always comes back though.”

I asked Dallas what she would like to see added to our community in Sterling and she immediately had an idea.

“I’d like a big dinosaur museum.”

Dallas figured that if we built a museum here maybe we could have a visit from Sue, the large T-rex, like they did in Anchorage.

When we talked about what makes a good neighbor Dallas thought it was pretty simple.

“They have to be nice. Then you can get together, talk and become friends.”

Sounds pretty simple to me too!

Around Town:

Happy Birthday today to George Lowe and on Thursday to Steve Stringham and Harold Majors.

Connie Carlson was born in Soldotna before the hospital was built in the building that is now a law office next to Froso’s on the Spur Highway. She was the youngest of eight siblings born to our own Alaska Mother of the Year for 2005, Helen Carlson, and boat builder Doyle Carlson.

In 1920 Herman Hermansen was born at Kenai in the village’s first wood frame house (the Miller House). His wife, Dorothy, was born in Kenai, too. If Hermansen’s are anything, they’re durable; they’ve enjoyed 60 years of marriage. Herman’s mother was also born in Kenai. She lived 93 years. Heritage for Herman comes from a long line of local families. His grandmother was Elizabeth Demidoff. Her surname is familiar to Ninilchik folks. Herman’s great grandmother (Elizabeth’s mother) was born in Kodiak. Her name was possibly Mishakof. Herman’s Norwegian dad was the winter watchman for the Libby, McNeil & Libby Cannery, on Kenai River.

This cannery was bought by the Brindle family and became Columbia Wards for many years and then the name was changed to Wards Cove Packing, though the owners didn’t change. They closed the doors in the 1990s after “farmed fish” flooded the markets and restrictions on commercial fishing in Cook Inlet made their sockeye processing a flood of red ink. The property was bought by Jon Faulkner about 2004 and is now called Kenai Landing. Faulkner also owns Lands End on the Homer Spit and operates both places as restaurants and tourist stores. Kenai Landing is also operated as a salmon processing plant.

Herman grew up at the cannery. His Dad was a carpenter and built numerous skiffs. For heat, the cannery burned coal, which they imported on the big ships that came each spring. These ships are a history to themselves. The Star of Lapland, Star of Russia and Star of Finland were three of the sail vessels that served Libby’s cannery. Chinamen and, later, Philipinos were part of the multinational cannery workforce. Herman remembers hearing Norwegians and Scandinavians chant as they were taking sail lines down. Long time Kasilof resident, Archie Ramsell, ran the boiler at the cannery. Archie’s wife, Ann, was a nurse there.

Libby’s had several traps on the east side of Cook Inlet. The Salamatof trap, the Moose trap and the Bear trap on Kalifornsky Beach, Porcupine trap on Coho Beach, the Waterfall trap by Falls Creek and the Ninilchik Point trap. The cannery got kings early in the season from the west side of the inlet. They had a trap at Granit Point. Herman helped his dad, who was responsible for hiring a crew of 10 to 20 men for yearly setting traps up and also taking them down. The traps each needed 100 pilings. A new turn in technology came when the senior Hermansen got a four horse Elto outboard, about 1926.

About that same year a modern site amazed Kenai people. A little double winged airplane buzzed in and landed on the sandspit in front of town. A man in breeches got out and went up to the magistrate at Palmer’s Store.

Herman attended the Territorial School in Kenai. He went through the 8th grade. There wasn’t a high school in Kenai then. Dorothy (then Patterson) went on to high school in Anchorage, boarding with the Nathe family one year and the Odsather family another year.

Herman’s dad lent money to a local fellow named Charlie Peterson. When Peterson gave them a house in Anchorage as payment of the debt, the family moved there for a few years. Herman’s younger brothers, Martin, Alfred, and Sammy all went to high school in Anchorage.

Herman and Dorothy were married in 1945. A couple years later, Herman was working with the pile driving crew at the Salamatof trap. He got so sick the crew sent him to Kenai on the tender, an Imperial Diesel powered boat so sluggish it couldn’t buck a strong tide. At Kenai an airplane came to fetch him, landing on the River. He was taken to Anchorage and diagnosed with acute appendicitis. “Quick” transportation, five operations and penicillin saved his life. Those things were not available for Dorothy’s dad a few years earlier. He died of appendicitis when she was 8.

In 1934 Herman started setnetting on Kalifornsky Beach with a partner, Herman Lindgren. Many setnetters would operate early and late in the season and late in those days, but during the peak of the run, some of them hired on at the cannery. Then, the cannery was more interested in additional help than additional fish. Eventually, Herman and his brothers got setnet sites near Humpy Point.

In 1955 Herman and Dorothy homesteaded on what is now Tri Road. Herman got their house built in 1956. The unique structure is made from planks brought up from a Port Graham trap. The 4”x8”x40’ planks were cut in Ketchikan. His brothers also settled in the Cohoe area.

Dorothy and Herman have six children, all girls. The children married and moved to Anchorage to find work, but one daughter and her husband, Susan and John Gent, return each year to work on Herman’s setnet site. Herman also runs a “buying station” for Icicle Seafoods.

Herman and Herman (Lindgren) partnered in trapping operations for many years. Ward Showalter was with them, too. They trapped the Skilak Lake area for beaver, land otter, mink, and muskrat. The biggest beavers were called “blankets,” and were worth about $40 apiece. Trappers were only allowed 10 beaver so they tried to get the big ones and then moved their traps to other beaver lodges before young ones were caught. Coyotes were worth $25 for a bounty but their skins weren’t worth anything. Herman’s group didn’t trap coyotes, they shot them.

Other bounties were paid by the Territory of Alaska: 50¢ for eagle claws and a penny a tail for Dolly Varden. The trappers in those days kept nets in their cabins by Skilak or Tustumena lakes. “No one fished with hook and line,” Herman said, “We all used nets.” They even fished the nets under the ice and caught Steelhead, and Rainbows. Using a whipsaw and a saw pit, the partners made boards from which they built a skiff called Eagle.

Herman has great pictures of Cohoe’s famous albino moose. He kept track of this moose for several years. It consistently went to the same spot near Herman’s to have calves.

Around Town
Congratulations to Jerramy Hatten! His essay won the 2006 Tustumena School Masonic Award. Happy 11th birthday to Cheyenne Mall, who lives with her grandparents on Yukon Road.

Anyone with news or corrections please drop me a line!

            Dave Young is a true Nikiski High School sports fan. He attends most all home games and on occasion travels to support the team. He has watched many players grow up and is there to avidly support the ones on the court.

On the day we sat down he was on his way to Anchorage to watch Nikiski in the state championship game. I could tell he was excited to watch the Nikiski team play and be there to cheer them on.

Young came to Alaska after being discharged from the Navy to visit his sister and brother-in-law.

            “I just didn’t leave,” he said with a chuckle.

            He started working at Wade’s in July of 1976 and in 1977 he became employed by Weatherford International Inc. where he still works today. He lived in company housing for ten years and in 1990 he bought a house. Since moving in he has added a large garage; a project that his father came to Alaska and helped him with.

            “I really enjoyed doing that with my dad,” he said.

            He came to our interview with only a blue envelope in hand. Halfway through, he excitedly showed the contents of the envelope to me; a picture of his two girls Tirzah, 6, and Hannah, 4, and a photo of the girls, himself and his wife Tricia.

            He met his wife in 1978, but she left for college and later found a teaching position in Barrow. When she returned to Kenai years later, they became reacquainted and married in 1997.

            Young and his family are involved in Inlet Faith Community Fellowship in Aurora Heights.

             In his off time he enjoys hunting, reloading and fishing.

            He said he enjoys being able to pick up his fishing pole and walk a block to the lake.

            Then he glanced at the photos of his girls and then looked back at me with a proud smile.

            “It is a great place to raise kids,” he said. 

People ask me how I select the folks I interview. Sometimes I interview folks I know; sometimes another introduces me. Other times, though, it’s simply being in the right place at the right time. Let me give you one
case in point.

   I met Shereida Evans while we were both trying on the same style shoe. We joked about everyone wearing the exact same size as we wanted, in the color we wanted. And, then we struck up a conversation.

Her smile intrigued me and when I asked if she lived in Soldotna and would she like to be interviewed for this column, she smiled even bigger and agreed.

Shereida was born and raised in New York, moving to Alaska in 1985, first to Anchorage and then to Fairbanks. She and her boyfriend, Dean, have lived in the Funny River area since October 2004. He inspects aircraft for the Air Force in Fairbanks, so theirs is a long distance relationship, although they do get to see each other a couple times a month.

After having worked in the banking industry for about 15 years, Shereida now works in Apparel at Fred Meyer. “I had always taken retail for granted before, but have learned a lot,” she shared. “It seemed like a simple, easy job – just throw things out there. I found out that is not the way it happens.”

Part of her first experience in retail was the recent remodel of the store. “I’d never done that before. We followed ‘Plan-a-grams’ and put fixtures together. It was actually fun,” she said.

Shereida is hoping to learn to cross country ski next winter. “I love this area. It’s so beautiful and scenic. It’s peaceful – breathtaking. I’ve always loved it,” she said. Shereida has a grown daughter who lives in South Carolina. The rest of her family still lives in New York, although she hopes they will visit soon.

__________ Around Town __________

Lindsey Lockwood’s family (Mom, Dad, and brother, Grant) wishes her a Happy 13th Birthday, Wednesday.

I’d also like to wish my sis, Debbie Keaton, Happy Birthday on Thursday. No matter how you do the math, Deb, I am still only 14 months older than you. Welcome to double nickle land.

In 1993, Betty Jo Goddard, a retired schoolteacher, hiked a tractor trail to her lot just beyond Epperson’s Knob and pitched two small tents — one for her tools, one for herself. During the day, she cut alder with a bow saw. In the evening, she hauled water from a spring, took a sponge bath, then explored trails until bedtime.

After her tent blew down in a windstorm, she often elected to sleep in her car that was parked in a hayfield nearby. One night a bumping against her car roused her. When she looked out the back window, she saw a white-faced steer staring at her. Others licked her car. Cattle, up from open range, surrounded her.

In 1994, she had a road built to her property. By January of ‘95, her house was ready. In a blinding snowstorm, she drove from Girdwood with her station wagon packed to the roof. When she reached Knob Hill Road, she couldn’t make it up the hill, no matter how many times she backed down the North Fork and made a run for it. Dusk was upon her. She gave up, hauled out her perishables, stuffed them in her backpack, and, feeling for the road with her feet, hiked the 1 1/2 miles in to her house. When she topped the last hill and saw the dark outline of her new house, she let out a sigh. “Home at last.”

When Betty Jo moved in, the closest neighbor was over a mile away. Since then, six new householders have built nearby. She said that her neighbors are friendly, respect others’ privacy, and enjoy occasional neighborhood gatherings. Most of the neighbors help each other when there is a need: A stuck car, a malfunctioning furnace, a lost dog, and garden tending and sharing.

The openness and beauty from her ridge-top home gives Betty Jo a sense of well-being. She hikes 3 miles roundtrip to get her mail, uses solar and wind power to generate electricity, and finds entertainment in her three rascally dogs: Peggy, Perry, and Patty

Betty Jo joined a local writers’ group and enjoys the friendship, the banter, and sense of mutual respect that they share. The group has given public readings at the Pier One Theater, authored Invisible Ink, an anthology, and created Alaskan Voices, a two CD set of the authors reading Alaskan pieces they’ve written. If you are interested in more info, see their website at www.alaskanvoices.com.

Around Town: Birthday greetings to Ann Geraghty and Eric Hanson today, David Boyle, Nadine Russo, and Arthur Flores on Wednesday, Tracy Covey and Jennifer Flores on Thursday, and Ivan Encelewski on Friday.

Amy Parham and her family moved to Alaska from Virginia 9 years ago this August. Their next door neighbors had visited Alaska and their vacation photos peaked Amy and her husband Bill’s interest.

“They had pictures of a halibut fishing trip and I remember thinking that was the biggest flounder I had ever seen,” she said.

Soon the family found themselves on a cross-country drive moving to Alaska. “The kids were only 4 and 5-years old but we had a blast. We camped all the way.”

Derrick is now a 14-year-old 8^th grader. He plays basketball and just got his first snowmachine, which he loves. Megan is 13-years-old and in the 7^th grade and played volleyball this year. Both of the kids are in 4-H and plan on raising pigs this summer to sell at the fair.

When the Parham family first moved to Alaska they settled in Seward. 5 ½ years ago they made the move to Sterling. “Mostly to get out of the rain,” she said with a grin.

Amy wanted to buy property on the East side of the highway with a view. Bill wanted to live on the West side off of Robinson Loop. Bill won. “He likes the easy access to the 4-wheeler trails and good hunting right in the back yard,” she said.

Amy is a registered nurse and works for Central Peninsula Hospital doing preoperative assessment. She has worked at the hospital for 3 years.

One of the things that Amy likes most about living in Sterling is the peace and quiet and all the good friends they have made in the area. She likes that they have friendly neighbors that can count on to keep an eye on the neighborhood.

Around Town:

Mark your calendar and save April 22 for the Sterling Elementary Family Fun Night. They will be having a fun evening of activities in an Earth Day theme. More details will be available soon.

Wish a happy birthday tomorrow to Dee Hubbard, Thurs to Freddy Miller and Myrtle Olson, Sat to Wesley Nedele, Sunday to Jane McConnell and next Mon to Susan Stephenson.

I dropped by the Ninilchik Senior Citizens Center and had a nice visit with long time Ninilchik resident, Lenora Cooper-Byrne. Nora, a farm girl who was born and raised in Michigan, came to Alaska in 1952 with her husband to homestead in Ninilchik. After her brief first marriage, she met and married Alfred Cooper in 1956, and they had five children together. She reminisced about the time when she and her husband were clearing land on their 160-acre homestead near mile 126, and an upset mama moose came darting out into the field. Alfred assured her that everything would be OK–until a brown bear came tearing out into the clearing. “In no time he was climbing up a tree!” Nora laughed.

When her oldest child was 15, and her youngest was 9, Alfred died leaving Nora to raise her children by herself. She had to go to work to make ends meet and was thankful that the principal of Ninilchik School offered her a position as the school cook. Affectionately known as the “Cinnamon Roll Lady” she baked and cooked everything from scratch at the school for 13 years.

“Life is not without its struggles,” she said. “We worked hard, ate what we canned in the summer, and made do with what we had.” After being widowed for nearly 23 years, she met Edward Byrne at the Ninilchik Senior Citizens Center, and they were married 1995. Edward died five years later.

Nora enjoys reading and crocheting. Her cat, Mitsy, has kept her company for the past 6 years. Nora has a soft spot for stray dogs and cats, and they know where they can get a meal when they are hungry.

Around Town: Birthday greetings to Lisa Westergaard on Friday, and Diane Pherson on Saturday. The annual fundraiser for the Kenai Peninsula State Fair will take place on April 1st. This year’s theme is “Jammin’ with the Salmon”. Look for posters around town or in the community section of the Clarion for more information. Please contact us if you have any neighborly news. Remember, you can leave comments on the Neighbor’s Web blog.

Tyne Buning is a junior at Soldotna High School (SOHI). She lives with her Mom and brother, Trenton, on Fairway Ave off North Cohoe Road. Tyne and her family have been in Alaska six years. For pets she has a Schnauzer – Terrier mix dog named “Gypsy.”
Dogs are a pet feature of her home. Tyne’s mother, Annette Campbell, has several small breeds. In addition to her regular job, Annette is a dog groomer, giving canine haircuts and baths. She has been a dog breeder and is getting back into that business.
At SOHI, Tyne is involved in a couple work programs. By these she helps in the cafeteria and in loading soda machines —meriting pay! As a special education student, she is also involved in work with Vocational Rehab, a program designed to help disability students adapt to work in the job market beyond high school.
Annette’s family believes in work. Trenton is 16 years old and attends Skyview High School. He has a job lined up for the summer working at Big John’s Service Station, east of Soldotna. Often, Tyne can be found doing volunteer work at Bishop’s Attic, a facility for sorting, organizing, and selling used clothing. Bishop’s Attic is located in Soldotna.

Around Town

Lambe’s sold the Kasilof Mercantile! Mary got into the business as their three girls were growing up, thinking the store would help teach them good work ethics. While the community has appreciated her friendly manner and job opportunities at the grocery, managing the store requires a lot of work and since her girl’s have graduated, Mary is ready to pass it on.

The new owners are Bob and Mary Laster from Georgia. Their son, Rocky, and his wife, Destiny, have lived in Kasilof for three years. They reside in Blue Ribbon Estates, about Sterling Highway mile 113. Rocky and Destiny will be helping run the store.

Thankfully, Bob and Mary Lambe will remain at their house / farm half a mile up the hill from the Mercantile.

Kasilof, thanks for keeping the information pipeline hot! Input is always welcome.