Music is eleven-year old Jessica Hannah’s first love. Jessica is in 6th grade at Ninilchik School and received the “Most Outstanding Musician Award” last year. Jessica plays the trumpet in the Ninilchik School band and plays her guitar for pleasure at home. Jessica is the daughter of Troylynne Hannah of Ninilchik and Max Lamoureaux of Anchorage.
Two of the most wonderful gifts Jessica ever received were a trumpet from her Aunt Debbie Hannah and a guitar from her dad. “I love anything to do with music,” Jessica said enthusiastically. “I even compose my own songs.” Jessica’s ambition in life is to become a famous musician. She plans to start her own band with friends from school. One of her goals is to learn how to play all of the instruments. Basketball, soccer, and cheerleading have been some of Jessica’s pastimes but her love for music always comes out on top.

Two years ago, Jessica moved with her mom from the Anchorage/Wasilla area to Ninilchik. I asked her if that was a hard transition, and she replied that she loves living near the ocean, thinks that all the people in this small town are nice, and likes having band at school. “Last year, our band director (Mrs. Karen Budge) had us do a 50’s concert. We dressed like the 50s and played music from that era. It was so much fun,” she said. This year, she said that she is enjoying having Mrs. Lisa Nissly as her band/music teacher and is looking forward to the Christmas concert that will be performed on December 11 at Ninilchik School.

Jessica’s heroes are her mom and dad. “My mom is so creative and knows how to encourage me to do well.” She said. The last time Jessica did especially well on her progress report, her mother rewarded her with a stationary kit. “She also encourages me by giving me lots of hugs,” she smiled. Jessica then continued, “I admire my dad because he has done very well in life. He knows what to say to lift my spirits when I’ve had a bad day.”

Around Town:
On Oct. 29, Gary and Terry Cooper celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Yesterday, Oct. 30 was Gary and Terry’s youngest son, Connor’s birthday. Conner is currently attending Linn Benton College in Albany, Oregon.
Last Saturday Oct. 21, the Trail Blazers 4-H Club hosted the 4-H Awards Program in the Carol Bock Hall at the fairgrounds. The following 4- H members from the Ninilchik/Anchor Point areas received various awards: Annelise Belmond, Sevy Belmond, George Carpenter, Beverly Carpenter, Mattie Cobb, Sarah Cobb, RyAnn Dahl, Abi Daniels, Caleb Daniels, Joanna Daniels, Rebecca Dennis, Misty Knox, Esther Knox, Kody Knox, Aurora Lambert, and Tera Schnabl. Abi, Caleb, and Joanna Daniels provided entertainment by performing a skit called, “Decisions, Decisions!”

      Mitch Michaud is leaving Soldotna today. Oh, he’ll be back. He loves it here. He moved from Maine eight years ago for the “chance to live in a small town. I grew up in a small town in northern Maine,” he said.  There were six thousand people there, comparable to Soldotna.
      The trip Mitch takes today is to a place a bit further than you or I might travel. “You know, the place the cartoon characters got lost on when they were looking for Antarctica?” he asked smiling at the absurdity of even finding and getting lost on Madagascar when seeking Antarctica. “I don’t know how they made it there from New York,” he laughed.
      Mitch’s everyday job is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. “I’m a forester who doesn’t only cut down trees,” he said. “An opportunity bulletin came through and I thought I’d like to go there,” he told me of going to Madagascar. It helps that he speaks French. “I grew up in a French speaking community,” he said. Also helpful is his background in timber and non-forestry products - mushrooms and the like, and past work in Africa
      Merrie Johnson, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, will join him on the trip. “Interestingly, she grew up in Glenallen,” Mitch shared. Their mission will be to assess and recommend changes at a forestry-training center. “We won’t be making changes, just suggestions,” he said.
      The Malagasy people harvest most trees for fuel - teak, eucalyptus, rosewood and ebony. “They’re not getting the most value, but they need the fuel,” he shared.
      Madagascar is a large island in the Indian Ocean off Africa. This equatorial region will be heading into summer as the team arrives. “They told me I won’t need shoes - to just bring sandals,” he said. There are no snakes there - no large predators. He is hoping to see lemurs, which are native to the island.
      This summer Mitch also worked with a small fishing co-op and hopes to be involved again next year. “They do it differently. They have control from harvest to market. Even though the fish run was small this year, they made more money. They also had more headaches,” he laughed.
      His family trains sled dogs - “recreationally,” he shared. “You should do a story on the local mushers who don’t race in the Iditarod,” he told me. “We enjoy taking people out to get a taste of the sport. Most people don’t want a whole day. Just an hour or two makes them happy,” he said.
      Mitch and his wife, Jane (Fuerstenau - “she’s the librarian/typewriter lady from Kenai Peninsula College,” he said) have two children, a 10-year-old boy, Fox, and a 9-year old girl, Madeleine. “They think I was born in Africa,” he says, “because we have African stuff around the house.”

AROUND TOWN:

Watch out for all the little ghosts and goblins tonight - BOO!! 

Happy 60th birthday Dan Irmen, Nov. 1st!

This week we feature a Halloween creature of the organizational kind. Kathleen Evenson. She headed up her first Tustumena School Carnival in 1990. Al Besch was principal then. Kathleen continued to organize the school carnival through Mick Wykis’ tenure as principal and on into Caroline Cannava’s. Finally, three years after her youngest daughter graduated from Tustumena, Kathleen declined the job. During her involvement, the school used the carnival as a fund-raiser. The money bought playground equipment, field trips, office essentials, etc. Now she puts together the Halloween/Harvest Carnival for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Soldotna. This event, held on the 27th and 28th was their second annual carnival.

Kathleen began organizing Halloween carnivals when her girls were at Sand Lake Elementary in Anchorage. That lasted for four years until a “break” came when she and Bob moved to Kasilof (1989). And what did she do while on break? Helped build their house. Their girls were motivating factors in the move. Anchorage had gotten too big, they felt, and they wanted their girls to go to school down here.

Bob graduated from Dimond High School in 1968 and Kathleen in 1969. They married in 1972, mixing two pioneer families. Kathleen’s dad, Bob Piaskowski, was one of the original 1935 Matanuska Valley colonists. He married Shirley in 1942 and they raised 11 children in Anchorage; Kathleen being towards the middle of those siblings. Bob’s parents are Irv and Mildred Evenson, who also came to Alaska in the mid 1930s. By chance, Irv bought his first house from Bob Piakowski. The hauled it on skids from 9th Avenue to Sand Lake. Irv’s family moved to Cohoe in 1968 and then settled in Kasilof a couple years later. Irv started drift fishing with his sons, Dick, Bob and Dan.

“Bob is my number-one carnival man,” Kathleen said, meaning he is her primary helper. “I had helped organize some class reunions and started with the carnivals for lack of anyone else doing it. Besides, it takes more than one person to make a successful event. A carnival is only as good as the people who support it.”

Kathleen enjoys working with carnivals. “It brings the community toogether,” she said. And I love to see the kids. Their eyes shine at carnivals.”

Bob is semi-retired now, but does sheet rock jobs with his brothers.

Kathleen also does other community services. Ten years ago she began providing intensive intervention for a 4-year-old autistic boy. The University of Alaska sent someone down to train her. A decade later she still works with this youth, now doing it after school through Frontier Community Services. And she has begun to work with a second 4-year-old autistic boy, this one through Hope Community Services. Kathleen also works part time at the Legislative Information Offices and is very involved with her church.

Bob and Kathleen have two daughters, Carey and Amy. Carey, a graduate of Seattle University, works in marketing. Amy, a graduate of Southern Oregon University in Ashland, is engaged to a young man from Chicago. Evenson’s live at mile 1.2 Kalifornsky Beach Road, next to Bob’s parents.

Around Town

A pumpkin-carving contest at Decanter Inn is at 5 p.m. Oct. 31. Haunted Swamp follows there at 7:00. Trunk or Treat at the Tustumena School parking lot is from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Halloween.

As you drive into Sterling from the north, one of the first things you see, right by the new “Welcome to Sterling” sign is Roy Baldwin’s wood carving shop.  The yard is filled with large carvings and antique tractors. Roy’s truck parked out front with the words “Willow Picker” scrolled on the hood.  There is even a tall tree trunk that is sprouting old chainsaws like branches. 

“That’s my chainsaw tree,” he said with a smile.  “Every time a chainsaw dies, the tree grows a new limb.”

Walking into Roy’s shop is a sensory experience.  The smell of fresh cut wood and the faint crackling of burning logs from the wood stove, the beautiful bowls carved from burls gleam softly on a shelf.  A rustic space filled with delightful finds in every corner.

Roy showed me his store room with sticks of diamond willow waiting to be turned into canes, walking sticks or stair railings.  They don’t look like anything special until the rough bark is removed, but once it is pealed away a rich golden red pattern of diamonds appear.

Roy explained that the diamond pattern on the willow is caused when a fungus slowly kills the wood of a limb.  The new wood continues to grow around the dead area.  Roy also thinks that different minerals in the ground contribute to the colors. Some people believe that frost contributes to the patterns.  No one is 100 percent certain, but Roy thinks it is combination of all of those factors and more.

Roy opened his first little gift shop to sell his willow over 30 years ago.  He has a large display of photos dating at least that far back.  There are pictures of beautiful carvings, of snow machine trailers full of diamond willow sticks from a trip to Delta.  Even a picture of an antique model T snow machine like one he is having rebuilt for him.  Every photo has a story and Roy is willing to share them with anyone who drops buy.

Roy also likes to show others how to work with wood.

“I don’t teach people how to work with wood.  I don’t know how to teach.  I just show them how I do it.  We all learn together,” he said.

Roy’s joy with what he does is evident. 

“I don’t make special orders any more,” he said.  “Then I would have to make something to please you.  I make things for the fun of it.  I make what pleases me”.   

Around town-

This week the Sterling Elementary School will be hosting a Scholastic book fair on Wednesday from 4:00 – 7:00 and Friday from 9:00 – 5:00.  There will be books for all ages.  You could even plan ahead and do some Christmas shopping.  All the money raised goes to buy new books for the library. 

Cheyenne (Campbell) Walli and her husband, Ero, are living miracles-
“I know that we must have been spared for a reason,” Cheyenne remarked when she told me about two serious head injuries which happened to her and her husband during their childhoods. Cheyenne, daughter of Chuck and Penny Campbell of Ninilchik, was born and raised in Wyoming, and Ero, son of Ero (Steve) and Marie Walli, was born and raised in the Anchor Point/Homer area.

When Ero was five, he was on a commercial fishing boat with his family when he fell from the wheelhouse to the galley below. He hit his head severely on the galley stove, and by the time his family got him to a doctor there was not much that could be done. He had to relearn how to walk and talk again.

When Cheyenne was eight, she ran outside to join her brother and friend while they were hunting for rabbits. After her brother shot a rabbit, he leaned his loaded 22 rifle on some sagebrush and when he stooped down to examine it, the gun got knocked over and shot off a bullet that skimmed Cheyenne’s finger and lodged into her brain. Cheyenne was in an induced coma during her 9th birthday and remained in a coma for four months. By a miracle, she survived. Like Ero, she had to relearn how to talk and walk again. She was also partially paralyzed on her right side, and has had multiple surgeries on her scull. She is thankful that she did not lose her long-term memory in the process.

The Ero Walli family first came to settle on the Kenai Peninsula in the 1893 and owned the first general store in Homer. In 1914, the Wallis homesteaded in the Stariski Creek area and commercial fished using fish traps. The Campbell family moved to Ninilchik from Pinedale, Wyoming in 1994. Currently, Chuck works as a logger and Penny works at the Ninilchik General Store. Cheyenne indicated that both families know the value of hard work and appreciate living in a rural community.

Cheyenne first met Ero when he hired her dad to do some logging on his Stariski property. They were married in 2001 and have two children, Aspen, 4, and Ero Orion, 9 months, who is a 4th generation Ero Walli. As Cheyenne was telling me her story, the phone rang. It was Ero calling from work. He is a tug boat captain in the Port of Valdez and is gone for a month at a time. I heard Aspen talking to her daddy on the phone with love in her voice, while baby Orion contentedly played on the floor near her feet. Cheyenne said that they are planing to take a trip Outside upon Ero’s return in less than two weeks. The feeling I got was that this family appreciates one another deeply and can hardly wait to be reunited again.

      After graduating from Connections Home School in 2005, Malissa Frank is taking her first college course this year. “I’m not really sure what I want to be yet,” she told me. “I filled out paperwork for an Associates in Art (at Kenai Peninsula College). I’m passionate about art.”
      Malissa is taking one art course at the college currently. “I love it. It’s lots of fun,” she says. She is just as passionate about the college art room surroundings. “It’s neat. They have huge easels. Everyone can be using the same technique, but they all look different,” she said.
      Going into what most consider mainstream education can sometimes be a bit daunting for some teens. It doesn’t seem to bother Malissa. She attended Skyview High School her freshman year, so it is not all strange to her.
      I asked Malissa what she liked about Soldotna. She shared that she loves to view the scenery in this area. She is seeking the perfect technique to use in painting the area off Bridge Access Road.
      She also likes to fish “off private docks. Combat fishing is not my thing,” she assured me. This year she only bought a one-day license. “I caught a bunch of humpies, but released them all,” she said. She laughed as she told me that she makes her fiancé, Charlie Evans, take the fish off the hook.
      Malissa only has a couple of dislikes about the area: “tourists! I’ve met nice ones, but I’ve also some really mean ones,” she told me. She has a theory about it - “when fishing is bad, they get mean and aggressive on the road,” she said.
      Traffic is her biggest beef. “It’s hard to get where you want to go because the road construction gets traffic backed up. People get angry,” she said. 
      There’s a reason she is concerned about traffic and road construction. Both of her parents work in the field. Darrin Frank, her dad, has been in the field for a long time. Cassie, her mom, has just started as a roller. Malissa shared that she loves to go through construction if they are working because everyone knows she is their daughter. “It’s nice to have a car,” she shared. “The best thing I did was get my license when I was 16.”
      Malissa has three sisters. “We all have double letters in our names,” she laughed. Older sister Caressa lives in Idaho. Anndrea (16) is at Skyview and Timmber (7) is a student at Sterling Elementary.
      Malissa ended our conversation with this piece of advice for the teens in the area: “Stay away from drugs. That’s one thing I’m glad I never got into. Finish school. Go as far as you can.”

AROUND TOWN
      Happy Birthday Kathleen Logan on Friday the 27th. I hope the tradition of flowers each week continues on for another year.

Becky Kilfoyle is one of two 2006 Skyview High School valedictorians. Now she is studying chemistry at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota (near Minneapolis). St. Olaf’s is a Lutheran school, but Becky chose it for academic and musical reasons. The college has a great chemistry facility and a world-class music program. Becky has played the clarinet since she was a fifth grader in band at Tustumena Elementary School. Tammy Matturo was her music teacher then. At Skyview, Kent Peterson was the band instructor. In fact, Peterson graduated from St. Olaf’s.

Becky plans to do her undergraduate studies and earn a bachelor’s degree there. She has several scholarships including a Regent’s Scholarship from St. Olaf College. The chemistry studies are preparatory for her interest in biomedicine and genetics. She also is taking a class on Russian language to further earlier classes in that subject at Skyview. A class on religion is required of first-year students as well, but only for a single semester.

How’s the weather in Minnesota? They had their first snow the second week of October, but it didn’t stick.

“There’s a lot of wind because we are on top of a hill in a very flat state,” Becky said.

In addition to new friends there are a couple of familiar faces on campus. Elena Bird, a Kenai High School graduate, is a sophomore at St. Olaf and Aleks Pfaffe, a Soldotna High School graduate, is another freshman. Becky plays in the internationally acclaimed St. Olaf Band. About a third of the students are involved in some kind of band or music program.

Her sole sibling, Samuel, is a senior at Skyview and is also in band. Her mom, Cosette, works at Kasilof post office. Her dad, Thomas, is a driller in the Prudhoe Bay oil field. The family lives on Tustumena Lake Road.

Around Town

The 4th annual Trunk or Treat event will be held Oct. 31 at Tustumena School’s parking lot. Parents park there from 5-7:00 p.m. with booty in the boot (trunk). In addition to offering traditional Halloween candy for kids, a car costume contest is held. Judges pick three winners from the auto line up. Best-dressed or sweeter “beater” vehicles are ideal, but no costume is necessary to participate.

The Kasilof Trunk or Treat program was started by Jim Russell. He copied the idea from the Mormon Church, which may have introduced the candy-back cars to Alaska. Efficiency is a feature of the fun. Driving to one central location saves gas and gives goblins a great place to gab. For more information call Jim at 262-5291 or 398-0101.

A Haunted Swamp is offered at Decanter Inn on Halloween. This bayou boo starts at 7:00 (contrary to the time given in the newspaper). Spooks who brave the Tustumena School parking lot can ease right over to the Inn in the swamp.

Borough Assemblyman Paul Fischer held a public meeting for Kasilof on the evening of Oct. 17 at Tustumena School. Mayor Williams chief of staff, Tim Navarre, also attended, as did Bonnie Golden and deputy Borough Clerk, Johni Blankenship. About 20 Kasilof residents asked Fischer to put a corriburium for Spruce Grove Cemetery and improvements to the McLane Center on the Legislature’s wish list. Each year the Kenai Peninsula Borough compiles a list of what various communities want. The list is offered as a guide to the State Legislature. Jan See represented the cemetery at the meeting and several members of the Kasilof Historical Association were there presenting their request. Dave Letzring was their main spokesman.

            Jim Herrick came to Nikiski in 1996 and lived in a motor home, with wife Patty, next to what is now his hangar at McGahan’s Industrial Air Park. The couple later bought a home and today the hangar is used to repair cars, airplanes or boats. He and his wife wanted to leave the hustle and bustle of Anchorage and since have met a lot of good people in the area.

            “I kind of like it here,” Jim said.  

            One step into Jim Herrick’s hanger on and anyone can tell from the pictures that line the walls, Jim is an airplane enthusiast. The building is the home to Herrick’s Aero, Auto and Aqua repair service.

            Photos of planes of all shapes and types hang on the walls, every one he can name without hesitation or doubt. He said the interest in planes began when he would watch the Republican Sea Bee’s planes fly over head as a child in Washington. He would listen and wait for them to fly over, loving every minute of it.
            “I guess it was an omen,” he said, adding that he later owned two Sea Bee planes.

            When he got older he started working at a body shop at 14 and while the boss was gone, he admitted he would experiment with gas welding and end up making a mess.

            “I would spend half the time he was gone cleaning up,” he said with a laugh.

            At 17-years-old he drove the narrow, winding Alaska Highway to Anchorage with his mother and brother in November of 1951. He attended high school half days and spent the rest of his time working at Anchorage Body and Paint.

            He then became interested in customizing vehicles by cutting and chopping them; creating a lot of hot rods. He also worked for the Alaska Railroad; he worked on the road to Valdez and helped build the Air National Guard base in Anchorage.

            He is a retired chief master sergeant in the Air Force, devoting 36 years, and was in active duty several times. He credits the military for giving him the experience he has with aircraft.

            “That’s where I really started working on aircraft, but the interest in owning them has always been there,” he said.

            Jim bought his first plane in his 30’s and he and his brother worked on it in his garage. He said he used to fire it up, taxi it down Huffman Road or the New Seward Highway and take off.

            “In 1951, (Anchorage) was a small town,” he said.

            Jim and his wife are also involved with the Pioneers of Alaska. He has been a past president of two igloos, he served as Grand Eagle President in 2004-05 and the couple was awarded the title of King and Queen Regent in 2001. Attending conventions has helped the couple to travel throughout the state.

            Next on tap for Jim is a project to build a creation out of a 1949 Dodge Power wagon. He said he want to transform the vehicle into a six-wheel driven power wagon.

            “It won’t go very fast, but it will climb up the wall,” he said with a laugh.

            He said he believes it will be a good rig to drive in local parades.

            “It will be a one-of-a-kind rig,” he said.

            Around town            The Nikiski Senior Center Sunday breakfast buffet has started up again. Brunch is served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the center.

Traci Covey came to Alaska almost 6 years ago. 

“The move was the great adventure of our lives,” she said.

Traci’s husband Clint had been doing barge work all over the state of Alaska.

“He was working for Bering Pacific.  He worked in Nome, in Prudhoe Bay.  He worked all over the place.  We decided that we wanted to be living in the same place he worked,” Traci said.

Traci and Clint moved to Sterling with their family; Justin who is now 15, Jay who is 12 and Chase who is 8. 

“Sterling is a great place to raise a family,” Traci said.  “The Peninsula offers us great opportunities to do things as a family.”

The whole family loves living in Sterling.  They all enjoy the outdoors.  They do a lot of fishing and had good luck catching halibut this summer.

“We have a friend who has a boat in Homer.  We had a blast fishing with them this summer,” she said. 

In the winter they all like to go snow machining.  The fact that Sterling has so many great trails to ride on is a bonus.  Traci would love to see more community activities happen in Sterling, especially in the winter.  One of the things we talked about was a progressive snow machine ride, maybe ending with a chili feed. 

“It would be fun to get the whole town together for some winter fun,” she said.

Traci and Clint purchased Sterling Auto in March of this year.  They are still busy upgrading the inventory and making plans for the future.  One of Traci’s thoughts for the future is to utilize the side yard of the shop for a summer flea market.  They are also adding more fishing and camping gear to the store.

“If there is something people would like to see us carry, just ask,” she said.  “We want to offer as much as we can to the community.”

There was an unexpected visitor to Sterling Auto this summer.  Clint called Tracy and told her she would not believe what was in the yard.  She never would have guessed it was a big brown bear.  They have a photo of the bruin posted on the wall in the store.

“He just kind of walked around for a while and then walked off,” Traci said.

Traci and I talked about what she would like to see change in Sterling.  Other than possibly adding some type of community center, Traci likes things pretty much how they are now.  She likes the sense of community that comes from living in a small town. 

“Living in a small, caring community has made a world of difference to our family.  The schools are small and personal.  They really take an interest in the kids and interact with the whole family,” she said.

            Jennie Hammond, also known as the ‘box top lady’ at Nikiski North Star Elementary, organizes the many box tops turned into the school. If everyone turned in the small labels, she said the school could benefit from $20,000, rewarding individual kids, classrooms and schools with educational items.

            The super mom spends time in her children’s classrooms, is involved in PTA and facilitates the parent preschool program held on Fridays.

            When I asked Jennie what her occupation was, she giggled and said proudly, “I am a mommy.”

            She said the best part of her job is getting to spend time with her kids.

            Jennie got involved with the school when she brought her two kids, Brady, 8, and Brianna, 6, to parent preschool. Today she is a smiling face that is seen often in the halls of Nikiski North Star Elementary.

            She spends much of her time raising awareness of school issues and legislation. She is a strong advocate of parental involvement in public schools and she said getting involved is easy.

            “If everyone just gave ten minutes a day to learn,” she said, adding the internet is a great place to start.  

            “Parents have a voice and they need to be heard.” she said. “I always believed in public education.”

            She said she found it easy to get involved in organizations when she and her husband, Dan, moved to Nikiski eight years ago.

            Jennie grew up in Southern California and loves the trees and the Alaskan wilderness. The couple met in Tacoma, Washington.

            “I grew up in concrete. I love the trees and the green,” she said.

            “If I want that, I can just go to Anchorage,” she said.
            When Jennie moved to California, she said she recalls many fields around her town. She said when she left all the fields were gone.

            “Every year I would see those fields disappear,” she said.
            She also recalls school being cancelled in the congested city due to smog. These are a few of the reasons she said there was never a question about raising her two children in the city. Because our small Alaskan town is less commercial and everyone watches out for each other, she said she is content. Another reason Nikiski is special is because Dan grew up here.

            At home Jennie admits that her husband is the cook of the house, but she said breakfast is her specialty.

            Jennie said she belongs to a bible study and works in the nursery at her church weekly.

            She said her plan is to slow down and to enjoy family time.

            “I just like the slower pace of life,” she said.

Around town

Happy birthday wishes go out this week to Bill DeLong on October 19 and Marilyn

Every on October 21.

Geri Litzen will have a scrapbook crop October 28 at 10:30 a.m. at the Nikiski Senior

Center. All levels of scrappers are welcome and the gathering is free, with a snack

provided.