From: “Joan Hansen” hansjoan@alaska.net>
To: news@peninsulaclarion.com>
Subject: Kenai Neighbors Column for May 29, 2007
Date: Thursday, May 24, 2007 10:31 AM

KENAI NEIGHBORS COLUMN for MAY 29,2007

Every so often you run across a person who is actually able to work at a job she loves. Such a person is Susan Jordan. Although originally from Colorado, Susan is in no way a newcomer to our area, because she lived on the North Road and attended Nikiski Elementary school in her youth, as well as living in the Eagle River, where she met her future husband, Porter. She and her husband lived in Fairbanks for 14 years, where he worked for Coca-Cola. They had two boys who still keep her in stitches: Joseph, who still lives in Fairbanks and works at UAF, and Michael, who lives in Bellevue, Washington and is the dad to granddaughter, Cecile.

Susan, who was born with green thumbs, had a dream of having her own greenhouse, and was thrilled when they decided to make Kenai their home. She brought some of her favorite plants from Fairbanks and they bought and remodeled the old Nustate Nursery property on Forest Drive and turned it into Fireweed Herb Garden and Gift Shop in 1999. . She says that she was glad they were able to keep the agricultural history of that property alive. The space, formerly owned by the Bannock family, was once a rhubarb farm in the 1950s; there still remains a row of rhubarb back in the trees. Ann Berg, Susan’s mother and author of three Granny Annie cookbooks, helps with the gift shop.

Susan says that she gets attached to the seeds she plants. “They’re just like kids-they say ‘feed me, feed me’, and I sometimes have to tell them that they have a new home. You can’t take a vacation once you plant a seed.” Susan is excited about modern technology and the new possibilities in the plant world. She says that they take the strong points of one plant and breed it with a strong point of another plant and end up with a variety that can withstand our harsh Alaska weather.

The couple loves the Kenai area because of the small town life here. “It is wonderful that were able to fulfill our dream of moving here. Kenai is the gem of Alaska, and often gets overlooked”.

Susan is a four-year breast cancer survivor, and credits her survival of that ordeal to the power of prayer and the help of treasured friends. “I give more thanks to all around me.” Always the purveyor of positive attitudes, Susan quoted one of her favorite thoughts: “Give us a sense of humor, Lord, Give us the grace to see a joke, to get some humor out of life, and pass it on to other folk.”

Happy Birthday today to Sheila Steiner and best wishes to Paulene Rizzo on the 30th, James McKinney and Dora Nelson on the 31st, Lucas Peless on June 2, and Lisa Duncan on June 3. Anniversary congratulations to Trish and Bill Rackley on May 30 and to Derek an Mandi on May 31st.
 

            If you have attended a PTA function at Nikiski North Star Elementary, chances are you have noticed Samantha and Travis Moore.

            The couple each logged in more than 400 volunteer hours at the school and is instrumental in many functions.

            “My biggest contribution was being in charge of the fall carnival,” Travis said. “I also helped with Fun Fests, yearbook, field trips, Young Shoppers club, book fairs, shoveling snow and general clean up after school events.”

            Samantha took on a larger position as head of the school’s PTA.

            “I have fumbled through my first year of being PTA president; the faculty has been more than supportive as I had a lot to learn,” 

            “Volunteering at Nikiski North Star Elementary has been a wonderful experience. I have been fortunate to work with people whose character far exceeds my own and of whom I have learned a great deal from,” she said.

            Both Samantha and Travis have lived in the area for a while. Travis’ family moved to Nikiski in 1971 and he has been living in the area since, with the exception of the four years he spent in the United States Marine Corps.

            “I love small towns, we are close enough to the school that is quicker to take our kids to school than down to the bus stop and wait for the bus,” he said,

            “We have a small community but we have a great wealth of people and businesses that when we ask for help with our school or PTA, (they) help us when we ask them,” he said.

            Quilting is a hobby Samantha loves and she has been quilting for the last 10 years. Travis said he also enjoys a bit of quilting, as well as woodworking and baking. 

            Samantha has lived in Alaska for 21 years; she moved from Portland, Ore when she was 8-years-old.

            “What I love most about Nikiski is its beauty, not only the landscape, but it’s community,” she said. “I love that Nikiski is a safe place in which I can raise my children.”

            Now that school is over, Samantha said she is looking forward to the opportunity to relax with their kids, Tayalur, Katelyn and Trevor, and spend some quality time at a nearby beach or Stormy Lake.

            Travis’ work season is only just beginning; he has his own construction business.

            “I am planning on working a lot this summer since it is construction season,” he said.

            But he said he will find time for his family.

            “Spending quality time with my family (and) maybe doing a little sight seeing and camping,” he said.

            Around town

            The Nikiski Fire Department is selling adult T-shirts for $25. Sizes include small though extra-large and proceeds with go to the Nikiski Fire Fighters Association. For more information, call 283-4202.

            Happy belated birthday to Joy Beckley on May 28.

            Happy birthday wishes go out to Anna May Miller, Sharon Nowell, Gene Getchell and Deni Pennison on May 31; Joyce Kunkel on May 30;  Nancy Delene, Georgeanna Eckert, Bill Idleman and Karen Morris on June 2 and Dale Crouch on June 3.

            Happy anniversary to Jack and Bonnie Porter on June 1.

Horses and Katie Schollenberg go together like bread and butter. Ever since she can remember, Katies life has been all about horses. Katie is the daughter of Butch and Shirley Schollenberg of Happy Valley. Her passion for horses was passed down from her mother who has been highly involved in training horses, riders and developing horse related activities on the Kenai Peninsula.

After graduating from Ninilchik high school in 2003 as valedictorian, she attended University of Alaska Anchorage. Her sophomore year was spent at the University of Wyoming where she enjoyed seeing another part of the country. Katie finished her degree in natural resources management at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, graduating this spring on Mother’s Day. Shirley said, “What better Mother’s day gift is there but to have your daughter graduate from college?” Katie’s brother Jason graduated from Ninilchik School in 2004 and is attending Eastern Oregon University.

This summer, Katie is working for a large resource development company. “I think we should develop Alaska’s natural resources and I intend to use my degree to make sure it is done right,” commented Katie. Agricultural experimentation is what Katie really enjoys, and by her research she has improved her family’s hayfields.

Butch and Shirley also passed on to Katie their love for the outdoors. Her favorite part about living in Happy Valley is being near the ocean, where she loves to ride her horse on the beach. Katie’s Australian shepherd, Adidah, (acronym “All Day I Dream About Horses”) loves to run along. Katie has trained Adidah to run barrels which entertains the crowds at rodeos.

From 2nd to 7th grade Katie liked being home schooled because she could ride her horse every day. When she was twelve, she won her first of 13 saddles for barrel racing and has won numerous buckles for being “All Around Cowgirl” at the Ninilchik rodeo multiple times. Katie now trains horses and riders, but prefers to train horses because they are predictable. “After you have been around them a while you can identify their quirks and predict a problem. If you treat them with fairness and courtesy you become a team working together to achieve a goal,” she said.

While growing up, Katie was very involved in 4-H and continues to volunteer and teach others. Katie helps at the annual Trail Blazers 4-H Horse camp in Ninilchik, which starts up today. Katie said her favorite part about teaching at camp is seeing kids make progress and watching young riders mature She is also involved in the Kenai Peninsula State Fair. One of her responsibilities is pig race coordinator, which involves buying and feeding the piglets and training them to race.

From rounding up cows at the head of Kachemak Bay, to rounding a barrel on her horse, Katie stays active doing what she loves while giving back to the community where she was raised.

Around Town: “Get a Clue” is the theme for this summer’s reading program at the Ninilchik Library which begins today, May 29.

Ann Letzring did “paste-up” layout work for the Clarion in 1971-2, when Clint Young of Kasilof owned the paper. She was born in Seattle a couple years prior to World War II. Early in that war her dad, John Swanson, worked on the Alcan Highway construction. He later got a job on the Navy base in Kodiak. Ann’s parents divorced during the war, however, and she and her mother, Earlita “Irish” moved to Kodiak after the war. There, as a child of perhaps 8, Ann attended a Baptist church and received Jesus as her savior.

Meanwhile, her dad married Ganelle Davis and their baby, Ron, was born in 1945. About 1949 Ann moved to Anchorage to live with them. In 1951 John went to Kenai and formed a partnership with Al Poore to start a lumber store. The next year he brought his family to Kenai, where they lived in a tent until winter, when their house was closed in. About 1953 John bought out Al, built a new building on the Spur Highway and moved Peninsula Builders Supply there. The Salvation Army now operates next to that building. John became Kenai’s first mayor in 1960. As a youth, John had been injured in a logging accident resulting in one arm becoming fused at the elbow. In spite of which…

“He could do anything,” Ann said.

About her second year in Kenai, Ann flew with famous bush pilot, Don Sheldon, to a gold mine near Talkeetna, where she spent the summer with her mom. Ann attended grades 6-11 at Kenai and then went to Anchorage her senior year as a boarding student. Graduating from Anchorage was thought to be more prestigious, so she and her friends Barbara Sandstrom Jewel, Jean Stock and Carol Jones all did it. One of her Anchorage classmates married Don Sheldon.

After high school Ann worked at a Christian Camp. She wanted to attend Prairy Bible Institute in Canada, but her dad forbade it. So she went to Milwaukee Institute of Technology in Wisconsin. During this time she met Dave Letzring and, in 1962, got a gold band on the ring finger out of the deal. She also worked at a print shop where she became friends with Jackie Prey. Letzring’s had Mike, Steve, and Matthew in Wisconsin, but John asked them to come run his store. So they moved to Kenai in 1969 and built in Kasilof on Pollard Loop in 1971. About 1968 Ron started Ron’s Rent-it Center in Kenai. In 1970 Jackie visited Ann and decided to move to Alaska. Ann introduced her to Ron and they later got married.

Ann became the treasurer and a Sunday School teacher at Kasilof Community Church. She also got her teaching certificate from the University of Alaska and became a Title One tutor at Tustumena and Kenai Middle School from 1988-97. She was president of the Kenai Christian Women’s Club in the 1980s. Ann also actively supported Dave who started the Alaska Bowhunters Association in 1971 and spearheaded formation of Kasilof Historical Association. After staffing her Dad’s store for five years, Dave went to work for Marathon Oil Co. Letzring’s have four grandchildren and one great grandchild.

            Sheryl Woodin recently saw beluga whales from a beach in Nikiski. Walking on the beaches and seeing wildlife just reconfirm her love for the last frontier.
            Sheryl came to Alaska from Lewiston, Idaho in 1986 to meet her future husband, Bill.
            “He came to work up here (before I met him). He loved it here and moved,” she said.
            The two formed a long-distance relationship and once she came to Alaska, she decided not to return home.
            “I met a friend of his that pestered me to write him. After writing and talking on the phone for a few months, I came to visit and have been here ever since,” she said.
            Sheryl said she loves the beauty of Nikiski and how wonderful the residents are; explaining it as all the amenities of civilization and that we still have elbow room.
            “We can park the plane in the driveway. I get moose in my yard. There are trails beside the road for four-wheelers,” she said.
            She also enjoys the well rounded features of Nikiski, with beaches within walking distance, wonderful teachers in the schools and a recreation center with varied programs for everyone.
            Like many Alaskans, Sheryl is multitalented. During the winter months she is a long arm quilter and in the summer she enjoys the freedom of helping her husband with his air charter business.
            “I have met many interesting people since I started quilting,” she said. “Switching jobs for a while each summer gets me outdoors and makes me feel like I have had a vacation.”
            Quilting is one of her main hobbies, but she also likes to knit and bake, all of which she started in seventh-grade home economics class. She said while she does not see herself particularly creative in vision, she often sees things and says to herself ‘I could make that.’
            She also teaches Sunday school at Mount Redoubt Baptist Church.
            Sheryl loves horses and they hold special meaning for her.  
            “My grandpa had horses. He gave me a pony when I was four-years-old and I have loved then ever since,” she said.
            She said she owns a horse that lives on a ranch in Wyoming and is not able to see it often, but she visits a nearby farm with horses when she is missing hers.
            Sheryl said she will make the most of her summer spending as much time walking and picking blueberries as she can.
Around town
            Bon Voyage to Dave and Linda Machado who have packed up and are moving to Washington.
            Also, congratulations to Elaine Lehl on her retirement. Nikiski North Star Elementary students and staff will miss you.
            Don’t forget Family Fun in the Midnight Sun planned for June 16 from noon to 4:30 p.m. at the North Peninsula Recreation Center.
            Happy birthday this week to Tony Collinsworth on May 25, and Debbie Grimes on May 27.

            Happy anniversary to James and Maralee Hover on May 22 (today) and Barney and Betty Jo Barnes on May 26.

Madeline Thompson grew up in Washington State, but her natural instinct was to return to her roots. “I told my mom, ‘I’m like a little salmon, I want to migrate back home’,” she said. Madeline and her twin sister Marlene were born in Anchorage, then put up for adoption at three months old. Robert and Helen Thompson adopted both girls allowing them to grow up together in a loving home. Robert served for 20 years in the armed forces before he died in 1977. Madeline and her husband, Craig Haulk, together with her mother moved to Ninilchik from Naches, WA in 2002. They first visited Alaska in 1998 and checked out the Matsu Valley area, but it did not have the atmosphere they were looking for. Helen’s friend, Jeannie Mondar, of Ninilchik, introduced them to Ninilchik’s peaceful setting, and they proceeded to buy property in 2001. “My mom was so awesome to support our move to Alaska,” Madeline said. “She knew that this is what I wanted and left everything behind in Washington to help me follow my salmon nose back to the land of my birth.”

Madeline’s three adult children, Burdette, Brady, and April Kent currently live in Washington State.

As a youth and now as an adult, Madeline’s passion is volleyball. She received a two-year scholarship from Yakima Valley Community College when she graduated from high school. This will be her 18th year as a volleyball referee, and her sixth year refereeing for Ninilchik School volleyball. She said that she is excited that the 2 A Regional Tournament will be hosted at Ninilchik School next fall. Those who have watched Madeline referee will agree that she knows the rules and she is consistently fair.

Last year Madeline volunteered for the Arctic Winter Games and said that the event left her with lasting memories. Madeline is also an active on the Ninilchik Emergency Services board of directors. Currently she is tackling the job of coordinating all the volunteers for the pancake breakfast that benefits NES annually on Memorial Day weekend.

“This is the annual pancake breakfast’s 25th year,” she said. She proceeded to say that she appreciates all the volunteers who are stepping up to help, and especially admires Sue Simonds for directing the annual fundraiser for so many years in the past. She readily admitted that it was a bit overwhelming to prepare for the event.

“I can set up a volleyball tournament with my eyes closed,” she exclaimed. “But if I can get through Memorial Day weekend it will be a highlight of my year!”

She said that Jeff Berger has ordered the breakfast supplies, and his brother Michael Johnson will be the head chef.
“This is an event that takes the whole community’s help to be a success,” Madeline said. “The best neighbors are those who step in to help when there is a need.”

Around Town:
Mark your calendar to attend the annual pancake breakfast to benefit the Ninilchik Emergency Services on Memorial Day weekend, Saturday through Monday, May 26-28, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bob and “Dolly” Christl live across from the Kasilof Post Office. Dolly’s Grandfather, Perry Cole, was a fur farm inspector from New York. He checked on farms in Alaska and decided an opportunity existed in Kasilof. Cole had a house built on what is now Pollard Lake. In 1927 he brought his wife, Lillian, and their six children there. The kids are Myrtle, Milton, Comer, Dorothy, Lucille “Tootles” and Burton.

Comer returned to New York to finish high school and, in 1933, married Edith O’Brian. They moved to Kasilof in 1935. Dolly was born in 1936 at the Railroad Hospital in Anchorage. Comer started setnetting on Humpy Point by Harry and Dolly Gerberg. Edith fished at first, but then went to work for Libby’s cannery in Kenai. A few years later Comer joined his wife at the cannery. Dolly spent summers with Gerberg’s, who were childless. They changed sites at some time and moved to the north side of the river. On a near-by site was Dolly’s friend, Betty Crocker.

“I just loved living on the beach,” Dolly said. “I had a summer home and a winter home and I loved them both.”

Dolly attended first and second grade at the Territorial School, by the airport. About 1942, however, the school closed because enrollment fell below the threshold level. Eight students were needed to keep a school open. Then, Dolly went on Calvert correspondence courses. When she was 10 her parents made a trip outside and put her in school because Edith was afraid Dolly’s education might be lagging. Two weeks of school showed her to be way ahead of the other children and they returned to Alaska.

Comer Cole had a horse and the only road went from his dad’s house, seven miles to the river mouth. Cole’s traveled by horse and wagon or horse and sleigh, depending on the season. McLane’s, another pioneer family, did the same. For high school Dolly was sent to Seward as a boarding student. She stayed with a different family each of her school years there. Dolly continued her Calvert studies as well and graduated in three years. She was 15.

She was still 15 when her parents sent her to the College of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. A class with alphabetical seating placed her next to Bob Christl. This proved to be a satisfactory arrangement for both of them. Bob joined the Marines, however, and was stationed in California. Just before he was sent to Korea, Bob and Dolly got married. After he was discharged, Dolly finished nursing school. Bob went to work in retail, eventually joining J.C. Penny’s. Dolly worked in various hospitals.

Bob and Dolly have three children, Barbara, Robert Jr. and Mark Joe. Christl’s moved to Alaska in 1984. By then Comer and Edith’s home-site had been gobbled up by Kalifornsky Beach Road. Someone bought the house had moved it to Reflection Lake Road. Comer was also gone. He had died of a trajic heart attack when he was only 50. Lyle Cole, Milton’s son, had helped Edith with the funeral. He reported that the mortician said Comer looked like an exceptionally healthy man. An earlier trajedy struck the Cole family when 6-year-old Burton and two Sandwick children fell through thin ice in Pollard Lake. All were drowned.

Dolly was clerk of Kasilof’s cemetery from 1997-2003. She is a Board member for Kasilof Historical Association. Her love for animals has inspired many years of helping at the Kenai Animal Shelter. I asked what her title was?

“A Super-Duper Pooper Scooper,” she replied jokingly. “I wash kennels and do whatever is needed. My dog came from the shelter 9 years ago. He was brought in with a bullet in the chest and in really awful condition. He had been beaten and was skin and bones.”

Dolly took him in and nursed him to health. Now he is deaf and half blind. His legs point at odd angles, but he is hanging in there.

“He wants to be loved so he gets a lot of that,” Dolly said.

Christl’s have eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

I have people give me hints about who to interview all the time.  One name has come up over and over, and I finally got Chris Thorne to slow down long enough to have a chat with her.

Chris is a constant volunteer at the Sterling Elementary School.  If you need help with anything involving technology, from finding a computer program to wiring the VCR, Chris is the person you need.  No matter what the question is, the answer is usually, “Ask Chris.  She will know”.

Chris moved to Alaska in  1995 from Las  Vegas.  Her husband Paul had gotten a book in the mail telling how great Alaska was and how, if you were willing to work hard, you could get rich working in the fishing industry.  Chris was pregnant and they didn’t want to raise a family in Las Vegas, so they decided to give Alaska a try.

“Paul went to Seward and found a job and then he called me and told me to come on up,” Chris said.

Since Chris was 8 ½ months pregnant Paul checked to make sure that Seward had a hospital, and since it did, she hopped a plane against medical advice and flew to Alaska.  Just 3 days after she got to Seward she went in to labor.  They took a taxi to the hospital only to find that they did not deliver Babies.

“Who ever heard of a hospital that didn’t deliver babies?” she said.

It was snowing and blowing and they had no car to drive to Soldotna, so the hospital ended up finding a doctor that could deliver the baby. 

“They plowed some old pediatrician’s driveway to get him to the hospital.  He showed up in his old plaid pants and a striped shirt.  It was just nuts.  Since they never delivered babies there Katie was the New Year’s Baby even though she was born on the 21^st of March,” Chris said.  “They sent us home with a ton a baby formula  and other free stuff because they never had babies to give it too.”

Although life in Alaska had a rather adventurous beginning, Chris and her family have grown to enjoy living here.  The lived all over from Anchorage to Clam Gulch, they settled in Sterling in 1998.

“We moved here because someone we knew had a house for sale and we were tired of renting.   We didn’t know anything about Sterling. We didn’t know anyone out here,” she said.

Although moving to Sterling was kind of a fluke, Chris is glad that this is where they landed.

“We stay here because it is a small town and I know tons of people.  We stay here because we love the school,” she said.

Like many folks here, Chris would like to see more opportunities for the kids in Sterling.

“It would be nice to have something like they have in North Kenai.  Something like their rec. center.  A pool and place for classes like Karate and dances.  A place for the kids to just hang out,” she said.

Chris would also like to see all the divergent groups in Sterling start working together.

“We have little communities within the community.  They are all trying to do good things, but they are all working on their exclusive little plans.  If we all worked together instead just think what we could get done.”

From: “Joan Hansen” hansjoan@alaska.net>
To: news@peninsulaclarion.com>
Subject: Kenai Neighbors Column for May 15, 2007
Date: Friday, May 11, 2007 11:08 AM

safe:morris
Kenai Neighbors Column for May 15, 2005

Don’t you think that most people have a secret yen to travel to somewhere exotic at least once in their lives? I would love to see blue water somewhere other than the Nikiski Pool and see an orange tree. Of India, however, the only connection I have is to love Indian-grown Basmati rice.

Lucy Mishou is another story. Her interest in India was piqued early in her life, and through films she saw and books she read, she “Had a curiosity I wanted to satisfy”. When a friend planned a tour to India, she decided to go along.

They went first to Delhi, the to Jaipur, to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and to Katmandu in Nepal. They saw camels, water buffalo and elephants pulling wagons along the same highways as semis, busses and trucks. She said there was no observation of lanes there, and it was a frightening experience to be amidst the traffic.

She described Nepal as being a poor but beautiful country with terraced gardens on the steep mountainsides. She got to ride an elephant in a forest where there were rhinoceroses, which was pretty exciting. They also got to see the pilgrims bathing in the Ganges River in Varanasi.

Unfortunately, the Indian experience was rather unsettling for the tour group, in that everywhere they went they were besieged by relentless vendors and very aggressive beggars that wouldn’t leave them alone or take no for an answer. “We had the feeling that someone was trying to cheat us from morning to night, and we were stared at everywhere we went”. Everything cost tourists up to ten times more than it did locals.

The group stopped in Amsterdam, Holland on the way home, and Lucy mentioned that it was wonderful to ‘feel safe again and not have people stare at me all the time”. She stated that she was so grateful when the plane set down in Anchorage that she literally could have ‘kissed the ground’. She felt fortunate to see India, but her next trip will most likely be to New York.

Lucy has been in Kenai for 25 years, and worked for the Department of Corrections for 20 years. Her children, Matthew, Joshua, Hillary and Claire, all attended Kenai Central High School. She has 12 grandchildren, some of whom live in Kenai.

Currently, Lucy’s daughter, Claire, is here visiting from Greensburg, Pennsylvania and they are enjoying time with Hillary and the grandkids.

Lucy likes to read and make jewelry, and is an avid fan of walking the beach to find agates. She has been active in the Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus and toured Italy with that group last year. She has the voice of an angel, and music is important to her.

As for Kenai, Lucy says, “It’s home.” She likes the slow pace of life here.

Around Town: Thanks to all of you busy peninsulites who have been out there filling those bright yellow bags with the litter of our winter. We all appreciate your efforts.

Happy birthday, today, May 15, to Viola Brown and Robert Dolan, and to our fearless leader, DoriLynn Anderson, on May 19th.

From: “Joan Hansen” hansjoan@alaska.net>
To: mmkn@ptialaska.net>
Subject: Kenai Neighbors Column for May 8, 2007
Date: Thursday, May 03, 2007 3:40 PM

Kenai Neighbors Column for May 8, 2007
If you were to look up the word, “epitome” in the dictionary, you would see that it means “to serve as the perfect image of”. If you were to look up, “Public Service-Kenai”: you would see the name MARION NELSON listed there.

Marion has been in Alaska since 1963, the year before the big earthquake, and she’s been movin’ and shakin’ ever since.

To try and list all the projects she has been involved with in the ensuing years would take a whole page, so this list will be greatly abbreviated. Marion started out by helping form the Arts and Humanities Council and the Kenai Art Guild, both as an artist and as a “making it happen” person. For ten years she worked on an annual month-long annual celebration of the arts, which was the beginning of local dance concerts and juried art shows. Public radio was also important to her, and was a driving force in it’s support systems.

For years she worked for Carrs-Gottstein in the old Kenai Mall. It was the center of the community for many years, and Marion organized community events from “mutt shows” to break-dancing demonstrations to chocolate contests. She has served on dozens of boards, helped pass bond issues to build the high school auditorium, has been supportive of Chamber of Commerce events and attends borough assembly meetings. Of her community involvement, Marion said, “I’m driven. It’s a person’s right and responsibility to be involved in their community. It’s fun to be part of them and to make things happen. Besides, you get to meet a lot of great people along the way. I hate to miss out on anything”.

Marion has three children and six grandchildren, all living in Alaska. Hockey has always been a burning interest of hers, and her sons and grandsons still play locally.

When the Neighbors columns began, Marion said she would fill in for Sue Carter for a few months, which turned into much longer. She then passed it on to me, and I was delighted to meet this enthusiastic, productive member of Kenai’s community, knowing full well that my big feet could never fill her fast-moving little shoes.

For 12 years Marion has been the advertising sales representative for the famous Milepost guidebook, serving the Kenai Peninsula from Girdwood to Seldovia. She says she “knew a lot of people to begin with, but has met a couple of thousand more” through her travels from one end of the peninsula to the other.

If you miss seeing Marion’s happy face in any local parade, it might be because she’s dressed as a pickle or is wearing reindeer antlers, but rest assured, she’ll be there somewhere.

Thanks, Marion, for working so hard to make Kenai such a great place to live.

AROUND TOWN: Hey-it’s officially spring. There have been lots of Belugas sighted in the mouth of the Kenai. Check it out.

Happy Birthday today to Connie Nelson, and best wishes to Art and Barb Waters, who celebrate their 38th anniversary on May 10. Happy tenth birthday on May 13 to Jenna Joy Hansen .