With a respectful bow, I heard piano teacher Carol Comfort Waldorf say, “I am ready to teach,” and her student politely replied, “I am ready to learn.”

Carol and her husband, William “Wally” Waldorf moved to Alaska in 1985. They were drawn to the end of the road on the Kenai Peninsula because they had heard that Homer was an artsy town. Carol studied music as well as medicine at the University of Puget Sound and Evergreen State College in Washington, and was eager to put her education to work. Carol met Mary Epperson of the Etude Studio and was soon teaching piano. Mary suggested that Carol pursue training in the Suzuki Method of teaching piano and Carol said that it didn’t take her long to become a convert. “This method considers the whole person,” Carol explained. “It takes more of an investment on the part of the parent than the traditional method of teaching piano, but it is very successful.”

In 1987, the couple moved to their current home near Anchor Point where Wally works as a carpenter. They have two children, Kelsey, 15, and Trevor, 12, who are home schooled with the Connections Program. The Waldorf family has been very involved with the Nutcracker production held annually in Homer. Carol also directs and plays the piano for the choir at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Homer.

Recently, Carol was invited by a former piano student’s parents, Paul and Lois Andrews on a trip to Turkey for two weeks. They toured the cities of Atakya and Ephesus as well as Istanbul- the only city in the world that spans two continents. Carol said that the people were very friendly and she never felt unsafe. The food was delicious and uniquely different from American fare with the variety of spices, olives, shish-ka-bobs, fresh vegetables and feta cheese. She said that the oldness of the land was fascinating as she viewed ancient ruins from as far back as the third century.

Carol not only teaches out of her studio at the Etude Studio, but travels to Ninilchik to teach 11 home school students in both private and group lessons.

Painted on the wall of Carol’s studio is a quote by Shinichi Suzuki, the founder of the Suzuki Method. “When love is deep, much can be accomplished.” Carol’s enthusiasm and love for music was apparent as I watched her teaching one of her piano students right before our interview.

At the end of the lesson, I observed the teacher and student bow once again followed by Carol saying, “Thank you for learning.” With a smile her student replied, “Thank you for teaching.”

Around Town: Tables are available for the Christmas Bazaar that will be held at the fairgrounds on December 9th to benefit the music program at Ninilchik School. Contact Lara McGinnis at 567-3670 if you have any questions.

Rochelle Schneider and her husband David moved from California to Kodiak, Alaska in 1961.  David was stationed on Kodiak with the Coast Guard.  Two and a half years later they moved to Raspberry Island, near Afognak. 

They were living there when the 1964 earthquake happened.  Rochelle was 7 months pregnant with her first child, Dava.  When the earthquake happened the Island sank over 5 feet.

“I thought it was the end of the world,” Rochelle said.

After the earthquake the crab cannery where Rochelle worked as a secretary had to be closed due to the fact that it was now underwater at high tide.  The cannery was relocated to Port Lyons but instead of moving along there, Rochelle and David moved to Soldotna. 

“Soldotna was really tiny then.  We bought the only house that was for sale in town.  It was in a new subdivision that only had 3 houses in it behind the church,” she said.

The church Rochelle was talking about is Christ Lutheran Church where they are members.  Rochelle spends part of her time these days volunteering at the church.  Among other things she helps keep the kitchen stocked and helps to mail out the church newsletter, the Nugget.

Rochelle and David raised their two children in that house; Dava who is now living in Colorado and Ward who still lives here. 

After living in Soldotna for 25 years the Schneider’s moved to Sterling where they have lived since. 

One of the big draws for moving to Sterling was that David wanted to have more room to build the workshop he always wanted. They have grown to like the area very much.

“We have great neighbors,” she said.  “We baby sit each other’s cats when we are out of town and watch out for one another”.

Rochelle worked as a secretary, first for Kenai Middle School, and later for Soldotna High School.  She said now she is retired and loving it.  She has more time for her work at the church and her hobbies of quilting and reading, and of course, one of her favorite pastimes, spoiling her six grandchildren. 

“Mostly, I enjoy doing whatever I want, whenever I want,” she said with a laugh. 

Like most people I talk to, Rochelle likes Sterling pretty much how it is now.  One of the only changes she would like to see in the area is the addition of some chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Applebee’s. 

“Other than that, the only thing I can think of would be some lighting on the highway, which I can’t imagine will happen any time soon,” she said.  “I’m pretty happy with things just the way they are”.

      Bob and Colleen Currier moved to Alaska from Red Lodge, Montana in 1973. He came three months before Colleen and their daughter, Cary, who was three at the time. When she and Cary drove up, Colleen says that she didn’t even realize they were in Alaska until they got to Palmer. “It was all so beautiful,” she said.
      Colleen laughed when she told me her last name; “my dad always wore Currier & Ives - and then I married a man whose name was spelled the same way.”
      “Bob worked in the oilfield. But the economy got bad in Montana. He had always wanted to come to Alaska, so he came for a job at the Swanson Oilfield as a derrick man,” Colleen told me.
      Within two weeks of their arrival in Soldotna Colleen went to work at 4 Royle Parker’s on the Spur Highway. “We lived in a pink and white trailer in the park where Big K grocery (currently a fitness gym) used to be,” she told me. They later bought 3 acres and built a house on Gaswell Rd. You will know their house by the garden. “I love to garden,” Colleen said.
      Bob began to notice all of the school buses with women drivers. “He told me, ‘you could do that’,” she laughed. “I went to work for Burton Carver and have been with them ever since.” (Burton Carver later sold to Laidlaw.) These days she is an attendant on a special education route.
      There is family still in Montana. “I have a sister, Shirley, in Joliet and my sister, Faye is about ten miles away in Allen,” she shared.
      “My dad was one of the first men to cut runs (taking down the trees) at the ski lodge there,” Colleen said.  Her dad went on to run the chair lift at the ski lodge and Colleen remembers that she got to ski for free whenever he was there.
      The couple has been an integral part of our community over the past 33 years. Bob worked on the pipeline on the Slope in 1976 and later for Kodiak Oilfield Haulers. “He was always in oil work,” Colleen reminisced.
      “We also contracted to the Borough for summer and winter road maintenance for about twenty years,” she continued. He retired from that in 2004.
      In 1983 Bob began his own business, Slikok Gravel and Construction. “You may also remember him as ‘Country Boy’. He used to go Outside, buy a truck or trailer and fill it with fresh produce. He’d haul it up and had a business license to sell it on the big corner in town,” Colleen told me.
      “After all the produce was gone, our daughter used to have all of her friends over for a big sleepover with music and such in the back of the van,” she said.
      Bob and Colleen are raising their granddaughter, Hali, who is five years old. She attends the Soldotna Montessori Kindergarten. As Hali climbed into her lap Colleen laughed and said, “she’s the joy of our life.”

Born in 02-20-20, Trudy Webb sees Kasilof as the place to live. Her maiden name was Trudy Thorsness and she grew up in the Midwest. She applied to attend several nursing schools and chose Fairview School of Nursing in Minneapolis because of its affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. After she graduated from the three-year program, Trudy took the state exam and became a registered nurse. The Boeing Company was busy in Seattle as World War II brought high demand for airplanes, so Trudy got a job with them. Company nurses saw employees in little cubicles set up all through the Boeing plants.

Her brother, Lowell, was the captain of an air force boat, which docked at times in Seattle. Trudy visited him and onboard met an interesting officer named Wayne Webb. Wayne was the unofficial photographer for the vessel. Before the war, Lowell worked on the Alaska Railroad and Wayne was involved in Alaska’s fishing industry. In 1945 Wayne and Trudy got married and in 1946 they moved to Anchorage. Webb’s went north because Wayne wanted to get out of the service and he thought chances to do so were best in Alaska. For a while he worked with the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Richardson.

Susan was born at Anchorage in 1947 and that same year Wayne filed a homestead on the south bank of Kasilof River. Of course homestead requirements included building a house and living on the land. Wayne came down to get things set up and Trudy flew down with Susan to the Kasilof airstrip to join him in Jan. 1948.

“When I landed it didn’t look like anyone lived here,” Trudy said. “I hadn’t ever seen snowshoes before, but I had to put on a pair to reach our home.”

The trip wound from the airport, which is still in the same place, to Wayne Fellers place and then to Tom Schultz house. “We went down the bluff to the river there, which had just recently frozen. Then we came up the other side at Pete Jensen’s place,” Trudy recalled.“My first impression was it looked like northern Minnesota. I saw a moose and said it was huge. Wayne said it wasn’t even full grown.”

The area wasn’t as isolated as it appeared.
“Archie and Ann Ramsell had been in Kasilof a year,” Trudy told me. “They were less than a block away. I was so glad to have them. Roy and Ann Snyder lived near by, too. Pete Jensen was another fine neighbor until he went to the pioneer’s home in Sitka. We even had a group of women called the Spruce Hens. They were mostly from this side of the river and got together just to visit.”

While employed at Libby’s Cannery in Kenai, Wayne stopped at Chris Jensen’s place one day and found him anxious to sell his fish site. Wayne went home and made Trudy a proposition to buy it. Trudy had no idea what was involved, but consented. Their new setnet site was between the Hermansen and the Juliussen sites. Webb’s had an old jeep which replaced Chris Jensen’s wheelbarrow on the beach site. They typically loaded things in a skiff in the river below their cabin and boated supplies to their site. The jeep had to go through the woods. They spent the first few summers in tents that came with the site.

Wayne was active in some commercial fishing union. Most of the focus was on improving the price. Lottie Edelman was one of the leaders of the group, as also was one of the Shadura’s.

The Webb’s eventually had three more children, Steve, Shelly and Gail. The Kasilof River bridge was put in about 1949 and Steve was born in 1950. When Steve was a baby Webb-Ramsell Road was built. “I was the first one over it and barely got through,” Trudy remarked. All the Webb daughters were well known for being attractive, but the youngest, Gail, drowned at New Zealand in 1980 when she was just 24. Her husband had died six months previous. Wayne passed away in 1982.

In fact, an unfortunate string of losses started in 1979 with Webb’s house burning down. A diary kept since nursing school days was lost to the fire. Trudy has continued her habit of writing a diary since then, but couldn’t recoup the lost information.

Before she came, Trudy didn’t want to live in Alaska. “In the first place, I was inclined to freeze growing up,” she said. “I just thought Alaska was snow, like most people do.”

Now she wouldn’t live elsewhere. “In this day and age it’s so crowded,” she continued, speaking of the Lower 48.
An addition to her older brother, Lowell, two other brothers were also in Alaska before the war. Lowell moved to Australia and spent the rest of his life there, but brother, David, was an attorney in Anchorage. His sons still live in Anchorage and one is an attorney, too.

When Trudy arrived in Kasilof the community didn’t have a church. They did have a school, though, and eventually both Trudy and Wayne took a turn at heading up the PTA. “Mr. Bonnan was one of the teachers,” Trudy told me. “He was such a stickler for Roberts Rules!”

            Commercial fishing bonded Vern Kornstad to Alaska in the early 1970s.
            “Every Spring was filled with anticipation of returning and each fall leaving became more and more difficult,” he said.
            During the rest of the year Vern lived in Nampa, Idaho and attended Northwest Nazarene University where he graduated with a B.A in teaching. Nampa also was where he met his wife, Jan. Yet the college town could not live up to living in Alaska.
            “I had a job in Boise teaching in a Special Services position, but the call of Alaska never got very far from our hearts,” he said.
            The family made Nikiski their full-time home in 1978 and Vern is glad they made the move.
            “We have never looked back. I love the freedom here,” he said. Where else can you ride your snowmachine or four wheeler right from your front door?”
            While his summers are filled with days spent set net fishing, his winter months are spent inside Nikiski Middle Senior High School where he teaches seventh-and eighth-grade language arts and junior varsity boy’s basket ball.
            Vern is known at the school as Mr. K and he works everyday to motivate the youth to be their best and help prepare students for the challenges that lie ahead.
            He said he enjoys both jobs and their rewards.
            “After spending the winter indoors teaching, being outdoors doing physical labor with my family is the perfect balance,” he said.
            Vern’s family has been fishing together for more than 45 years and the fourth generation is beginning to participate. Two of his three grandchildren live in Nikiski.
            “It is simple honest work that our extended family has bonded around,” he said. “The heritage is a blessing from God.”
            After moving to the area, Vern was given some wisdom by Jim Arness Sr.
            “(He) told me that here in North Kenai we don’t care of you’ve got five bucks or 500 bucks in your pocket,” he recalled.
            Vern said he has found the statement true.
            “We are not overly impressed with what you’ve got in your pocket, but what you’ve got in your heart. Nikiski neighbors are there for each other anytime you need them,” he said.
            “It’s something that it not well understood outside of Nikiski. However, it’s a great blessing to be a part of,” he said.
            Around town
            The frigid temperatures are making playing outside difficult for little ones. Toddler time at the Nikiski Community Recreation Center, the former Nikiski Elementary, is held Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 11 a.m.

            Happy birthday wishes this week go to Louise Inman and Trish Roderick on December 1, Bruce Aitken on December 3 and Georgina Braun and Doug Vance on December 4.

Linda Kincaid met her husband Byron in college.  When they got married, 23 years ago, they moved here to Alaska.  Byron grew up in Sterling and Linda said that Sterling has been a great place to raise their family.

Linda and Byron have 4 children:  Melinda is 22 and is living in Anchorage working as a nurse at Providence Hospital.  Daniel will turn 21 in December and Tiffany is 18.  They both attend Pensacola Christian College in Florida.  Benjamin is 16 and is in the 11^th grade.

Linda and Byron made the decision when Daniel was in the second grade to try home schooling. 

“Daniel was struggling at school.  We taught him at home the second half of the year.  The next year we decided to home school all the kids,” Linda said.

For the Kincaid family, home schooling was a great success.  Having the kids at home doing their learning together allowed the kids to form great bonds and become the best of friends.

“Even now when they are starting lives on their own, they are still in almost daily contact with one another,” she said.  “We were able to use a bible based curriculum so they had a good foundation in their bible studies.  We were able to be a bigger influence on their daily lives.”

The family attends Emmanuel Baptist Church in Kenai.  Linda teaches a music club at church for children called the Patch the Pirate club.  Through music, the kids learn bible verses and study different positive character traits such as faithfulness or truthfulness.  The kids in the program then perform for the others in the congregation about once a month.

Linda said one of the great things about living in Sterling is all the super neighbors. 

“People take care of their own property and their pets.  They’re friendly; they’ll wave when they drive by.  We even have a neighbor who will come and plow us out when we get a big snow.  That’s a good neighbor,” she said.

Linda teaches piano lessons from her home.  She said that she has always loved music.  If she has spare time you can find her at the piano.

“I love teaching music to kids.  You think you are teaching them, but I am constantly learning things from them,” she said.

Around Town:

Katie is 80!  You are invited to join the family and friends of Katie Vasilie-MacLeod on Saturday, November 25^th from 2:00 until 4:30 at the Soldotna Senior Center for an 80^th birthday celebration.  No gifts please, but feel free to bring a story about Katie or any photos you may have to share.  Call Jeff or Kathy Foster for more information at 262-5329.

From: “Joan Hansen” hansjoan@alaska.net>
To: news@peninsulaclarion.com>
Subject: Kenai Neighbors Column for Nov. 21, 2006
Date: Friday, November 17, 2006 2:07 AM

KENAI NEIGHBORS COLUMN for NOV. 21, 2006

Hello neighbors. How come you let it get so cold here while I was gone? I left in my shirt sleeves, and returned in the same way, and like to froze to death getting off the plane.

Today I’ll introduce you to one of the most-appreciated members of the staff at the Kenai Senior Center.

Melissa Bailey moved here from Billings, Montana, where she was a sous chef for Sidney’s, in 2001 to be near her father, Jim Boyle. She has been the chief cook at the Kenai Center for nearly four years.

“Missy” told me they have been cooking nearly 35,000 meals a year, with a daily tally of 70 Meals-On-Wheels a day, and probably another 60 diners who eat at the center. To tell you what a busy cook she is, she will have cooked for 400 for the dinner theater last weekend, and will be feeding an addtional 250 for the annual Agrium Thanksgiving dinner this week. Then, she will help make cookies for the Christmas Comes to Kenai celebration this weekend.

When it comes to putting out dinners, Missy does most of the cooking, but has a “bull cook” who helps with the preparation and cleanup. Once they put the food up for the seniors at the window, however, the volunteers pitch in and really help. Missy says, “the volunteers are absolutely incredible. We would not be able to survive without them. There is so much to do each day to handle the volume of people they are feeding.” The Meals on Wheels program provides hot meals weekdays for housebound individuals, and they are also provided two frozen meals for the weekend. The kitchen also provides meals for the Forget-Me-Not Center.

Missy says that she loves cooking for the Center and relishes the challenge and the rush of getting it all out on time. She has found that the work is very rewarding, in that they have a kind of a “help-help thing going on: We help them, they help us”.

When people age, food is an important part of their day. The Senior Center helps to provide nourishment for their clients not only physically, but socially, and emotionally as well. Melissa has heard people say, “If this place wasn’t here, I would have nowhere to go”. She says that the staff goes ‘all out’ to protect and serve the seniors, whether it be by providing opportunities for service and activity, or providing information about programs to benefit the seniors.

Melissa loves living in a quiet community and the seclusion of her house.
“My independence keeps me here”. I’m betting that her fans would rise up and protest if she ever thought about leaving.

Around Town:

I met Carla Ashkenasy in the Anchorage airport waiting for the plane to Kenai and found out that she has come to Kenai from her home in Hayward, California to spend Thanksgiving with her son Marcus Ashkenasy and grandsons David and Danyel. She plans to cook up an old-fashioned dinner and just enjoy the family.

Eric Hittle was waiting for the same plane to Kenai to spend the holidays with his mom, Kimberley Wilder and siblings Cody and Amanda. He came from Portland, Oregon, and hopes to do some snowboarding on this, his first trip to Alaska. Maybe we should order some snow for him.

Happy Birthday today to Debbie Hansen and to Hal Smalley on the 22nd

Lori Johnson laughed as she asked “how can a person be born in two states? I was born in a teeny-tiny town called Louisiana, Missouri,” she answered. “But I had my first birthday up here if that counts,” she continued.

Lori’s parents, Dwight Downing and Willie (Grizzell), followed their dream of coming to Alaska in 1973, helped by the military. “We came to Anchorage first and then Eagle River,” she said. “Dad joined the military because he learned of the option to come to Alaska. They fulfilled their dream and I thank God everyday they did,” Lori continued.

The family lived in Eagle River about ten years when Dad moved to Eklutna. Lori moved to Anchorage with her mom and older sister Lisa. A younger sister, Samanda, was later born into her family. Willie, Lisa and Samanda all still live in Wasilla.

“We spent our time between the two towns. We (the older sisters) helped build Dad’s 1500 square foot house in Eklutna. And, it’s still there!” Lori laughed again as she told me that they also helped put up his fencing. “We had horses, mules, goats and chickens.”

While in high school - she graduated from Bartlett in 1991 - Lori had a crush on her best friend’s boyfriend, Tom, whom she met while she was a freshman. “We waited until she left the state to start dating,” she said. “We have her blessing.” Tom graduated from Service High School in 1989.

The high school sweethearts married in 1998, then moved to Soldotna and opened Peninsula Shed Company with a partner, Tim Benson. The couple works together in that business, and Lori is also the receptionist for The LeeShore Center.

An avid outdoors enthusiast, Lori shot her first big game animal, a caribou, when she was 16 years old. She and Tom enjoy the snow and love to snow machine and ride four wheelers. They share their home with three golden retrievers who are deathly afraid of guns. “They’re not good hunting dogs, just big lovers,” she shared.

Since I’m a city gal born and raised, and enjoy my in-town amenities, it always surprises me just a little bit when folks out there embrace Alaskan country-style living. Lori is no exception to that lifestyle.

“We have an outhouse, but I only use it in the summer,” she told me. “Tom offered to put a heater in it for the winter, but I said no thanks.” Lori shared that she loves to sit there with the door open to watch the moose and squirrels.

“It’s a good thing we don’t have close neighbors! Say, here’s a tip for anyone with an outhouse - use blue board on the toilet seat. It makes a world of difference!”

I guess if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.

——————-

AROUND TOWN:

Katie (Vasilie-MacLeod) is eighty! November 25.

Folks, be sure to send me your information (email or call) at least two weeks ahead of the date you want recognized. I have a deadline to meet and, especially with the holidays coming, I try to get things in a bit early. I don’t want to miss getting your news in print. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving - have fun at the sales and local festivities.

Neighbors are something to be thankful for in this season and all year long. Willie and Marilyn Morris have been our neighbors ever since we built our home in Happy Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are titles too formal for our relationship, so our family affectionately addresses them as “Mr. Willie” and “Auntie M.”

Mr. Willie grew up in Kansas and moved to Anchorage in 1968. Auntie M grew up in Colorado and moved to Anchorage in 1972. The couple met at a thanksgiving dinner 30 years ago this Thursday. They have grandchildren in California and in Montana.

While living in Anchorage, they began building a cabin on the Happy Valley beach in 1989, and continued spending weekends and vacations there while working on it. Marilyn said, “We moved to Ninilchik in 2001 when we found a wonderful church down here and Willie retired from managing sporting goods stores.” Auntie M said that they are now working on “the project of their lives” which is building a cottage on the bluff to live in during the winter.

Pets are a big part of the Morris’s family. Auntie M’s love for cats is apparent in their home as she has special kitty steps leading up to the loft. Several cats have adopted her over the years. Mr. Willie and their black Lab, Parker, competed in hunt tests and earned the Master Hunter title. After 14 long happy years, Parker died this past spring. Chester, their two-year-old lab, is the great nephew of Parker and is continuing his hunting legacy.

Mr. Willie is always ready to help any way he can, whether it is a project at church or lending a neighbor a hand. When we started building our house in 2002, he engineered our spring water system, and gave us advice on building and living on the beach. He took my brother fishing and helped stock our freezer for the winter.

Auntie M learned from her adopted Auntie Margaret how to make a perfect pie, and in turn, passed that skill on to my sister and me. Sometimes our real grandparents are far away during the holidays and birthdays, so we share those special times with the Morrises.

“We are thankful to live in Ninilchik away from the big city, and for our church family and wonderful neighbors,” Marilyn said.

For the third Thanksgiving in a row, the Morrises will enjoy a pheasant dinner harvested by Mr. Willie. This year’s birds were retrieved by Chester; a tradition that is bound to continue. Their meal will be even more special this year because Thursday is also Mr. Willie’s birthday.

Around Town: I heard glowing reports from various neighbors about the dinner theater “Death by Dessert” at the fairgrounds. About 100 people attended and it was a huge success according to fairgrounds manager, Lara McGinnis.

Molly Bosick grew up in Kasilof. Her parents, Gregg and Marina, live by the river (on Pollard Road). Marina’s parents, Grant and Shirley Fritz, have been in Kasilof for many years. Grant graduated from high school in Anchorage and then homesteaded in Kasilof in the 1950s. His parents also moved here and are buried in Spruce Grove cemetery. Shirley’s mom and step-dad were Dick and Millie Nelson. They lived in Kasilof, too, and are also in the local cemetery. Molly was born in Soldotna and attended Tustumena Elementary and Ninilchik High schools. Marina taught at Ninilchik but has since transferred to Tustumena. Molly was part of the famous Ninilchik basketball team. They were State runner-ups Molly’s freshman year and won the championship each of her other years. Molly got a scholarship to play basketball at William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. She played four years for them.

“I enjoyed it,” Molly said. “It was good to have some time to run around and not think about anything.”

In the spring of 2006 Molly graduated with a four-year degree in equestrian science. Now she lives in Sanger, Texas and works with horses. In October she drove her truck, pulling a trailer loaded with two horses, to Ohio. Her trainer rode with her. They went there to participate in the all-American quarter horse Congress. And came away with first place in “hunter hack,” which features a combination of jumps and rail work that includes walk, trot and canter. Over a hundred contestants participated in that competition. Molly also won a belt buckle for “novice amateur all-around.”

Asked how she was able to do all these things, Molly replied, “My parents have done so much for me. I just thank them and the Lord for making my dreams come true.”

Like Marina, who grew up helping Grant seine in Prince William Sound; Molly helped her dad in the same fishery. Gregg is Mary Joe McElroy’s godson. He originally came to Kasilof to work on Pat and Mary Joe’s setnet site. Pat and Grant are friends and Grant later hired Gregg to deck hand with his family. Gregg fell in love with Marina and the fishery. Then married both.

Bosick’s boat is the Miss Molly. Their other two children are Garret and Gregory. The boys took over helping on the seine boat, although Molly came up last August to work too. Gregory is a senior at Skyview High School and has made a name for himself playing basketball and football.

In 2002 Bosick’s took a winter off to see the United States and visit Molly. They drove a motorhome from Kasilof to Washington D.C. and then hooked back to Missouri. After reaching Molly they followed her college basketball team for a few games. Eventually, they went on to Mexico and round tripped back to Kasilof in the spring of 2003.

“I miss the fishing. I miss the summer in Alaska,” Molly told me. She might, however, stay in Texas to become the breeding manager of the stable where she works her horse. That is undecided, however.

Around Town

There will be an open house at Soldotna Senior Citizen’s Center on November 25 for Katie Vasile MacCleod, who is having a birthday. Katie was the health nurse at Tustumena School for many years.

Got Kasilof news? I’m all ears and a little nosey.