Barb Koval is a fairly recent addition to the Sterling community, but she has spent a lot of time getting to know the people in the area and has become a vital participant in community events.

A few years ago Barb and her husband Paul purchased Moosequitos Bar on the banks of the Moose River.  Shortly after that, the opportunity presented itself to also purchase the Naptowne Café & Inn. 

“My husband and I decided that I would take over running Naptowne full time,” she said.

Barb moved into a cabin behind Moosequitos and Paul works in Anchorage during the week and joins Barb at the cabin for weekends.

It’s not like Barb planned on running a restaurant at this point in her life.  Her children are all grown and she is retired for teaching.  This might be the time when most people think about slowing down.  Slowing down doesn’t seem to be on Barb’s agenda.

“Paul and I lived in Anchorage for 30 years.  Since not everyone has family here in Alaska, your friends become your family.  I have always loved to have gatherings of all our friends at our house.  There would be food and good times.  I guess running Naptowne has just become a natural extension of those family gatherings,” she said.

From Barb’s descriptions, the restaurant does seem more like a family gathering place than a typical restaurant.

“I have had Tea Parties where I use my Mom’s good china that is over 50 years old.  We have had everything from religious services to a 7-course Valentine’s day dinner here.  We even have a Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead wine tasting party planned for April” she said with a laugh.

Barb is impatiently awaiting the birth of her first grandchild this summer.  She said that even though the baby will be born right in the middle of the busiest time of the year, she is planning on dropping everything to be there. 

Barb has joined the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce and enjoys getting to an occasional meeting there. 

When I asked Barb what she would like to see change in Sterling she said she would like to see more community events.

“I took a few trays over to the winter festival that was held over at the cabin this winter.  It was a great even and I would like to see more things like that happen.”

She also liked the idea of eventually having some type of community center or recreation building.  

‘When we first came here people were a bit hesitant. They wanted to know if we were here to stay or if we were just here for the short term.  I’m happy to say we are here for the long haul. The people in Sterling are friendly and warm.  They’re just a great group of folks.”

Growing up on a 100-acre homestead in Anchor Point with six brothers, Mary Haakenson Perry thoroughly learned the meaning of hard work and getting along with others. She was born in Anchorage and was the fifth child of Lionel and Esther Haakenson. Mary said that since her parents did not want to raise their children on a city lot, they decided to settle on a homestead on the North Fork Road near Anchor Point and started off in a 12×16-foot log shack without any modern conveniences. After building several additions, they built a new house and moved in on Thanksgiving Day in 1960.

Lionel purchased a setnet site near Kasilof where the Haakenson family spent many summers commercial fishing. Half of the family would stay home and keep things going at the homestead while the other half lived on the beach. This setup kept all the kids–Jim, Tim, Robert, John, Mary, Ron, and Ken–busy during the summer.

Mary had a special relationship with her oldest brother, Jim, who had a profound influence on Mary’s life. Because he was born with Down’s syndrome in a day when no special education was available, Mary was inspired to become a special needs teacher. “I hated seeing him not get the education that he wanted so badly,” she said.

After graduating from Ninilchik School, she went off to college to study special education. She worked her way through college as a book keeper and eventually earned her master’s degree in teaching at Grand Canyon University. As an intensive needs instructor for 21 years at Paul Banks School in Homer, she said that she found her job very rewarding.

Mary met Charlie Perry at the church she grew up in, Anchor Point Church of Christ, and in 1992 they flew to Hawaii and were married during spring break.

Even without an education, Mary’s brother, Jim was a well-trained by his parents and was well-known and loved in his community. He worked at Chapman School and Homer High School as a volunteer custodian for several years until he became employed by the school district in 1976 and worked until he retired in 1998. Soon after his retirement, Jim suffered from Alzheimer’s which eventually took his life in 2001. Mary said that after his death, she took walks and contemplated all the special memories and humorous incidences Jim left behind, which inspired her to write a book on his life.
 
On the back cover of her book entitled, “Onward Crispy Shoulders,” she wrote,
“When Jim Haakenson was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, conventional wisdom said he could not have much of a life and should be institutionalized. But Jim’s parents–and Jim, himself–went on to prove that where love is strong, even the experts can be wrong.” 
Mary is active in her community and serves as a board member of Anchor Point Library. She is also a member of Kachemak Bay Writer’s Group.  She enjoys encouraging families dealing with special needs such as Down’s syndrome.

      Linda Price-Albers says she can’t remember exactly why she moved to Alaska from Michigan in 1989.  “Our intention was to come up years before but we were never able to.  1989 was the year of the oil spill and we . . . lived on Nuka Island (on a fishing boat) tending booms,” she continued.
      Linda and her kids drove up in a bus as her (former) husband had come up previously.  After a break up in the marriage Linda stayed in Alaska to raise the three youngest of her five children.  Melissa now lives in Michigan, Dane in Florida, and Bethany in Anchorage. Rebecca and Cara Ann live here.
      Linda received her Associate’s degree in the 90’s and, later, her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing at UAA.  “I was accepted in the nursing program 10 years before I actually went to Anchorage.  I had three girls I was raising alone, and I couldn’t just leave them.  Although they were teens and would have loved that!,” she laughed.
      “My real passion is naturopath medicine.  I started making herbal potions in the 60’s and 70’s and continued to keep learning, going to every seminar I could,” she said.
      Linda has just returned from IACT (International Academy of Clinical Thermography) conference in Toronto.  Infrared Imaging (Thermography) is used to monitor breast health and changes associated with breast disease. It also can be used to determine pain disorders. “It’s completely risk free and can be used on people (and animals) of any age and size”, Linda said.
      “The procedure may show a disturbance in breast tissue up to eleven years before a tumor formation will show on a mammogram.” Linda shared.  She quickly pointed out that it is not a replacement for mammography, but works as an adjunct.  She quoted Dr. Robert Kane who presented at the conference:  “Using this information determines the risk of breast cancer and increases the accuracy of mammograms, ultrasound & other tests”.
      Linda raises alpacas, angora rabbits and a cashmere goat named George, and spins their fiber on one of her five spinning wheels. Linda used to demonstrate spinning in the schools. “The little boys just wanted to see how fast it could go. The little girls really wanted to work with the wool,” Linda said.
      While she doesn’t knit – “not for other people. I’m too slow. (Instead) I like to spin the fiber into yarn and let other people use it,” she said.
      About four years ago Linda met Steve Albers at Buster’s Coffee House (now gone).
      “It was a fundraiser – to get a sign for the restaurant. We bid against each other for a necklace. He won it and gave it to me. We dated about a year and a half,” she laughed. They’re still newlyweds at 2 1/2 years of marriage and share beekeeping, organic gardening and the fiber animals.
      Linda has and loves ten grandchildren.

——————————————————
AROUND TOWN: Happy birthday today to Morgan Burdick, to Lindsay Lockwood the 29th, and to my sis, Deb Keaton, the 30th.

Ray Blake began, “I graduated from high school in Mandan, North Dakota in 1934. There was no work there so I just went ‘on the bum’ and ended up in Cordova. I asked about working on the railroad. The man in charge said he didn’t have anything just then but maybe in a few days. We got talking and found out we were both from the same town. He would mention a family and I could name the children, so he knew I wasn’t lying. A few days later he hired me. I met Archie Ramsell, another guy on the bum, and we lived together to cut expenses. We worked there a couple years; until the copper mines shut down.

In 1938 I got a job in Anchorage, working on the Alaska Railroad. The government ran this railroad and they were short of money so they stiffed the workers. Sometimes they wouldn’t pay us for months. I worked a couple years. They finally sent me to Seward and worked me day and night. I told them if they didn’t get some help, I was going to quit. After a couple weeks without a break I just quit and never went back.

I spent a couple years going to school in Los Angeles. They trained me to be a machinist and to do electrical work. In 1946 I followed Archie Ramsell to Cohoe and homesteaded. I put up a tent at first and later built a log cabin.”
He held up a collage of two different log cabins and a nice, modern house. The house was the building we were in.
“Here are the building phases,” Ray said.

He went on, “I joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and worked in Anchorage and all around the state. I was the first electrician out of the union hall to work on an oil platform. That was for Shell Oil. We would ride out there in a chopper. It was a cold winter and the ice on the Inlet was thick. I also worked at Wildwood when it was being built.”
I asked if he knew Wally Lahndt, who also worked there?
“Oh yes!” Ray nodded. “And his dad.”

I asked how he met Lorraine?
“In Cohoe the bachelors would gather to play pinochle. One winter, about 1957, they all left and a friend suggested I go to Acapulco, Mexico. Well, I had just bought an Oldsmobile the year before. I decided not to stay here with so many friends gone, so I drove my Oldsmobile to L.A. and bought a trailer. I towed the trailer to Acapulco and my friend showed me around. It was there that I met Lorraine. She was a nurse from Minnesota but was vacationing, like me. I went back in 1958, saw Lorraine again and gave her a ride back to Mexico City (254 miles). I told her if she ever wanted to come to Alaska to just let me know and I’d take her hunting.
She wrote and I met her in Anchorage. We went up the Kasilof River and all around Tustumena Lake. She could have shot a moose but didn’t want to. I already had plenty of meat. She took pictures and we had a good time. We got married in 1960.”

Ray and Lorraine adopted two children who were born in Canada. Bill was about a year old and LaRae was only a baby. Both children grew up and made homes in the area. Bill married Lynda and his family lives across the road. LaRae married Paul Bartolowitz and they live near Paul’s parents, who came to Clam Gulch in 1948.

When the cemetery was being organized, they needed money. Isabelle Heckle sold Ray a lot for $10 when he was a bachelor. Later on he bought three more lots, for about $25 each. Lorraine was the clerk of Spruce Grove Memorial Park from 1975 to 1983. Clerks meet with families who purchase burial lots, take care of paperwork, and tend to chair meetings of the cemetery board.

Ray knew Emil Berg, whose brother, Andrew, had been a big game guide on Tustumena Lake. When Emil died, Ray bought his property on Tustumena Lake and recovered Andrew’s journals. It was Ray who preserved them and made the information available for two books, “Once Upon the Kenai” by the Kenai Historical Society and “Alaska’s No. 1 Guide,” by Gary Titus and Catherine Cassidy.

Currently Ray is 90 and is caring for Lorraine, who has become ill. She has been bedridden for over a year. Ray has home health care workers come in and help. They include Leila Mattox, who lives on North Cohoe Road and Victoria Blakeslee, who lives on Crooked Creek Road. Meanwhile, Ray is a fountain of information from a sweet spring with ever fewer sources.

KENAI NEIGHBORS COLUMN for MARCH 27, 2007

PAM SALZGIVER was born in Medford Oregon, and grew up on Anchor Point. She graduated from Ninilchik High School and met her future husband, Kelly, when he came up to Soldotna to work for his cousin, Kearlee Wright. It was instant chemistry, and before long there were six little Saltzgivers for their dad to play basketball with.

Pam says, “we pretty much live and die basketball. In our big house on K-Beach, we even had a basketball hoop in the living room. That sport was always in season. I will go out and ‘shoot hoops’ with the kids, but they’re all faster than I am. Basketball is something the kids all have in common. They love to play together as siblings, and whoever wins gets the bragging rights.” Kelly, of course, is right in the midst of it, whether playing or coaching.

All of the Salzgiver kids graduated from Kenai Central High School, and all but one of them played in sports there. Supporting the team was a family affair, and even Pam’s mother, Lorraine Ashcraft, goes to every game wearing a shirt that says, “Kenai Kardinal Grandma”. The Saltzgiver siblings are somewhat scattered now, with Ryan living in Logan, Utah, Dave, Kayla and Jenae in Wasilla, and Breezy living in Bountiful, Utah. Their ranks have swelled to include six grandchildren.

With just one son left at home, Pam continues to be a busy supporter of everything involving sports or KCHS. “It has been fun to watch Nate’s team grow and improve every year.” Pam says that she has seen the face of basketball change through the years from being so competitive that there was team enmity, to seeing the players become friends with opposing players outside of the court.

Pam is one of those “wind beneath the wings” type of people who are an integral part of the success of any team effort. Always supportive, she has worked in Boy Scouting and makes sure Nate makes it to early morning scripture study. Recently during regional tournament, she served as the boy’s rep to the Kenai Basketball booster club by working in the hospitality room with Kim Foley. They provided breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to coaches, referees and anyone who was working the tournament. She and Kelly, who both worked 16 hours the first day of regionals, said that local volunteers, businesses, and parents  “generously donated tons of stuff. There was food constantly from 7 am to 10 p.m., and dishes, too. It was exhausting, but fun,” summarized Pam. They were disappointed that the team didn’t make it to the state tournament this year, but she said “We’ve got a lot of juniors and we can go next year.” And when they do, you will be sure to see Pam, Kelly, and family along the sidelines

afe:morris

Subject: KENAI NEIGHBORS COLUMN for MARCH 27, 2007
Date: Thursday, March 22, 2007 12:12 PM

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KENAI NEIGHBORS COLUMN for MARCH 27, 2007

PAM SALZGIVER was born in Medford Oregon, and grew up on Anchor Point. She graduated from Ninilchik High School and met her future husband, Kelly, when he came up to Soldotna to work for his cousin, Kearlee Wright. It was instant chemistry, and before long there were six little Saltzgivers for their dad to play basketball with.

Pam says, “we pretty much live and die basketball. In our big house on K-Beach, we even had a basketball hoop in the living room. That sport was always in season. I will go out and ’shoot hoops’ with the kids, but they’re all faster than I am. Basketball is something the kids all have in common. They love to play together as siblings, and whoever wins gets the bragging rights.” Kelly, of course, is right in the midst of it, whether playing or coaching.

All of the Salzgiver kids graduated from Kenai Central High School, and all but one of them played in sports there. Supporting the team was a family affair, and even Pam’s mother, Lorraine Ashcraft, goes to every game wearing a shirt that says, “Kenai Kardinal Grandma”. The Saltzgiver siblings are somewhat scattered now, with Ryan living in Logan, Utah, Dave, Kayla and Jenae in Wasilla, and Breezy living in Bountiful, Utah. Their ranks have swelled to include six grandchildren.

With just one son left at home, Pam continues to be a busy supporter of everything involving sports or KCHS. “It has been fun to watch Nate’s team grow and improve every year.” Pam says that she has seen the face of basketball change through the years from being so competitive that there was team enmity, to seeing the players become friends with opposing players outside of the court.

Pam is one of those “wind beneath the wings” type of people who are an integral part of the success of any team effort. Always supportive, she has worked in Boy Scouting and makes sure Nate makes it to early morning scripture study. Recently during regional tournament, she served as the boy’s rep to the Kenai Basketball booster club by working in the hospitality room with Kim Foley. They provided breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to coaches, referees and anyone who was working the tournament. She and Kelly, who both worked 16 hours the first day of regionals, said that local volunteers, businesses, and parents  “generously donated tons of stuff. There was food constantly from 7 am to 10 p.m., and dishes, too. It was exhausting, but fun,” summarized Pam. They were disappointed that the team didn’t make it to the state tournament this year, but she said “We’ve got a lot of juniors and we can go next year.” And when they do, you will be sure to see Pam, Kelly, and family along the sidelines rooting for the home team.

            Leon “Buck” and Wanda Nichols came to Alaska for the first time in 1974 to help Buck’s father with his auto repair shop. While the stay was temporary, the beauty of Nikiski kept them from leaving.

            “That was 1974, we came for two years… we got taken in with the fishing, slower life style and the people,” Wanda said.

            The couple rented their home out in Oakland, Ore., to move up with their two children, Anthony and Sara.

            Buck and Wanda met in Roseburg, Ore. at children’s church. They started dating when Buck got his drivers license; their first date was on Easter Sunday.

            After graduating in 1962, Buck joined the Navy and the couple was later married in 1965.

            As longtime residents of Nikiski, the couple has been involved in many parts of the community and has witnessed many changes.

            “We love out neighborhood and our little town; it has so cleaned up since 1974. You can see the pride coming through more and the crime rate going down,” they said.

            Wanda taught for more than 20 years at the Kiddie Korner Pre-School and the Nikiski Nazarene program. Buck was a machinist for many years, working for Land and Marine, API and Tuboscope. He suffered a work related injury in 1998, yet the couple viewed the injury in a different light.

            “We have refused to let it rule us and turned it around to be a blessing as we are now free to travel and fish when we want,” she said.

            Buck said he makes the most of the free time he gets, spending much of it with their grandchildren, Kathleen and Tucker.

            “I love to spend every moment I can in my shop, making things, teaching my grandkids, until fishing season hits then we are in Homer or on the river,” he said. “Thursdays find me at (Nikiski) North Star, loving on the kids at the breakfast program.”

            For Wanda, a recent injury has not kept her from doing most of what she loves.

            “Wanda loves to sew, camp out (in the trailer) and spend time on the beaches with her grandchildren. She is recouping from a broken arm and hates being held back,” Buck said.

            The couple, along with eight other Nikiski residents, recently returned from a trip to Israel. Buck and Wanda agree that returning to the destination is a must in the future.

            “It is life changing and opens your mind up to new scene’s, sounds and spiritually so many tender moments,” he said, adding that the area reminded the couple of their native Oregon.

            While they love the Nikiski area, both agree they have seen one too many cold Alaskan winters.

            “(Nikiski) has been good to us, but we do long for warmer weather during the winter,” Buck said “This year the trailer is going south”

Around town

            Happy belated birthday to Buck Nichols.

            Happy birthday wishes for this week go to Jean Earl and Nadine Gabbett on March 20, Jepson Dixon on March 21, Barbara Brinkerhoff and Don Leeper on March 22.

            Roger and Judy Dixon celebrate their wedding anniversary on March 31.

No matter what you are doing at Sterling Elementary School, if you spend more than an hour there you are likely to meet up with Connie Ferguson.  She is a smiling presence helping in her son Jode’s classroom or working with one of the many clubs and groups she is involved in.

Connie is the local AmeriCorps Raven member for Sterling.  Her focus is on the environment and on youth development, a job that seems tailor-made for some of Connie’s favorite causes.  Her love of kids is evident in everything she does.

She leads the local 4-H group and also runs a recycling club that meets at the school one Saturday a month. 

In her position as an AmeriCorps member Connie has worked to help Sterling Elementary become a Green Star school, a school that gets recognition for their efforts to help the environment.

“We have worked hard to find ways to reduce reuse and recycle.  It is sometimes hard to change habits like just throwing used paper in the trash instead of in a recycle box, but we are making great progress,” she said.

Connie has started a Green Star club and each classroom of 4^th through 6^th graders has a representative.  The kids work with the other students in their class to help come up with ideas on how to keep things like paper, plastic and aluminum out of the landfill.  Some of the kids have written an article in the school newsletter and one is working on a PowerPoint presentation to help educate people about recycling. 

Sterling Elementary also has a new collection bin to store aluminum cans.  They are saving cans and participating in the Great American Can Round-up.

“We collect cans and then once a month we take them to the landfill and they weigh them and keep track.  The school gets paid approximately 20 cents a pound for the cans.  We also have a chance to win prizes for the schools that bring in the most cans,” she said.

Connie has lived in Sterling for 13 years.  She and her husband Rob and their two boys, Bud and Jode live out Adkins Road.  They have a dog team and always seem to have at least one old dog that lives in the house, a “kitchen dog” that spends lots of time sleeping by the fire.

Connie has spent a bit of extra time outdoors this winter.  She worked helping the Soldotna Middle School cross country ski team all season.  Her son Bud was on the team and she skied with the kids almost every day.

Connie asked me to remind you all that our local transfer station has bins for recycling all kinds of material from mixed paper to glass and cardboard. 

“To recycle office paper, tin cans or plastic you have to go to the Soldotna landfill, pretty much everything else you can take to the transfer station,” she said.

Around Town:

Hey folks, I need to hear your news!  If you have a birthday you would like acknowledged in the paper or know of someone I should interview, give me a call.  I would be glad to hear from you.

One of the best parts of my job is getting a chance to visit with some of the great young adults in our community.  I had a chance to chat with Molly Lamborn this week, and was so impressed with this confident, well-spoken young lady. 

Molly is 18 years old and is a Senior at Skyview High School.  Even though she is starting to get a case of Senioritis, she is enjoying her last year of High School.

“I was a manager for football since I was a freshman, and this year was the first year I didn’t manage for the wrestling team.” She said.

Molly is on the Site Based Council and the Student Council. She is also a member of the Christian student club, Interfaith.  They are not an official school sponsored club, but rather a group of like minded kids who meet during lunch time.

When she graduates, Molly plans on taking advantage of the scholars award that pays the tuition of the top 10% of each graduating senior class in Alaskan schools  to an Alaskan University.  She is planning on attending UAA to study nursing.

“I did a project for my Senior economics class where I spent time at the hospital.  I got to follow one of the doctors in OB-GYN and it was awesome.  I got to help with the babies.  The mothers were so generous to allow me to observe so much of the birth process.   I’m excited to get into the nursing program.  I think I want to work as an OB nurse,” she said.

Molly lives with her mom and dad, Kit and John and her sister Jaci.  This year she has also had another member of the family, a German foreign exchange student named Claudi.

“It has been fun getting to know her and know more about Germany.  Her family sent photos from her home town and food she likes from home.  She cooked some of her favorites for us.”

Molly moved here in July of 2005.  Coming from another town, she has a unique perspective on the local high schools.

“We have lived all over the place.  I have attended 3 different high schools.  One was about the size of Kenai High, the second one was between 1,220 and 1,300 kids, and now Skyview.  I think I have gotten a good education at Skyview.    It bugs me that there is so much nonsense between SoHi and Skyview.  I think it needs to be dealt with.  I don’t know what the answer is, but somehow the boundaries issue needs to be sorted out.  Kids feel forced to pick between the two schools, and that doesn’t seem fair.  You get out of school whatever you put into it.  If you challenge yourself you will do fine no matter which school you go to.  If  kids just went to the school within their boundaries things would be split up much more evenly.  I think it would make for more balanced schools for everyone,” she said.