May 5: Snyder’s, Bobby Bush Jr., Kasilof Library, Paul Fischer, Haeg’s movie
Last week I mistakenly credited Nancy Kitchen with a bronze medal in a state bowling tournament. Louise Snyder actually won that medal, which was for a local seniors tournament. Her husband, Charles, died in November, and she will have a ceremony for scattering his ashes on Memorial Day at Snyder’s Hole in the Kasilof River. Louise plans to eventually move to Virginia to be near a son who lives there.
The Bush family has started a petition to name the Kasilof River bridge after Bobby Bush Jr. He was 41 when he died last July following a battle with diabetes and liver failure. The disease showed up out of the blue after he returned from a four-year stint in the army and a tour of duty in Iraq. Bobby was in a tank division involved in the initial attack of Desert Storm. At the time he got the disease, no one on either side of his family had any history of it. For Bobby, diabetes led to kidney failure and dependence on dialysis machines.
Soldotna’s bridge is named after David Douthit. Like David, Bobby graduated from Soldotna High School in 1984. David was the only Alaskan killed in Desert Storm. He was 24 and left behind a pregnant wife. Captain Benjamin Tiffner, son of Timothy and Judy Tiffner of Soldotna, was killed in action on November 7. Tiffner’s have called Soldotna “home” since 1998, but their roots are in West Virginia. That state has named a major highway bridge after Benjamin. Seventeen service men and women from Alaska have been killed in the on-going Iraq war. Including soldiers stationed in Alaska, that number jumps to 109.
Before joining the Army, Bobby Bush Jr. married a local woman and had a son, Blade, and daughter, Lacy. His marriage broke up, however, and while stationed in Germany he married a German who already had several children. They added a son, John, together but also divorced. Later Bobby had a second daughter, Mantanya, but didn’t remarry.
Frank Bush served in the Navy during WWII. Frank and his wife, Irene, moved to Kasilof in 1958. They raised nine children, several of whom, like Frank, have worked in the petroleum industry. Their children are Jimmy, Billy, Eddy, Bobby, Shiela, Ronny, Donny, Johnny, and David. Bobby married “Buttons,” and they had two children, Bobby Jr. and Karen. Buttons, from Tacoma, is an only daughter with 10 brothers. Karen works at the Mercantile, where the petition is available. Ultimately, the authority for naming a state bridge belongs to the state legislature.
Kasilof Public Library raised over $2,000 in their book fair, an amount considered excellent by librarian, Katja Wolfe. She extends her sincere thanks to the community for their support.
Assemblyman Paul Fischer had a Pacemaker and defibrillator installed during surgery in Anchorage on May Day.
On May 8 at 9:00 p.m. PBS television will air “Alaska, Off The Beaten Path,” a movie about the Haeg’s life in Chinitna Bay.