1975 New Frontier, Inc. Sale

Alaska Business Brokers
June 8, 1972
Seward Phoenix Log
278-3541 or CA4-3082

For Sale:

Several choice lots in Jesse Lee Heights Subdivision overlooking Resurrection Bay.


Notice of Public Hearing
December 7, 1972

The City Council Meets Monday, December 11th, at 7:30 pm in the Council Chambers. A public hearing on the proposed option to purchase a portion of the Jesse Lee Heights Subdivision by the United States will be held. The public is invited to attend and to seak on this subject if they so desire.


Last Frontier Wins Jesse Lee Bid
Seward Phoenix Log
January 18, 1973

The bid opening for the Jesse Lee Land Sale was held on Monday, January 15, in the City Council Chambers. The only bid received came from Last Frontier, In., an Anchorage firm composed of shareholders in ATX Travel, Inc.

The bid price offered was $35,000 or approximately seven centers per square foot. The City had established a minimum acceptable hid of six cents per square foot.

Last Frontier, Inc. proposes to utilize the existing structures as a hotel/motel complex if a Feasibility study they will conduct if their bid is accepted proves that such a rehabilitation project is worthwhile.

Last Frontier, Inc., was represented at both the bid opening and the Council work session by Anchorage attorney for the firm and one of its stockholders, Mr. James R. Clouse. In discussing the future plans, Mr. Clouse noted the problems of rezoning, replatting and rehabilitating the existing structures. He was of the opinion the future of the buildings would have to be determined after the feasibility study had been completed.

The bid results will be officially presented at Monday’s regular City Council meeting and if Council desires to accept the bid, a public hearing will be advertised and held on February 13th (the Tuesday following Monday’s holiday).

If no objections of a substantial nature are received, the Council may pass a resolution authorizing the sale on February 26th and the sale will become final on March 26th following the mandatory 30 day waiting period.

When questioned if this time period represented a problem, Mr. Clouse indicated it did not affect the corporation’s plans. Members of the public may comment on this bid during Monday’s Council Meeting if they so desire.

Jesse Lee Sold Again
TV, Jesse Lee Are Council Topics
February 15, 1975
Seward Phoenix Log

Council voted unanimously to sell the Jesse Lee property to Last Frontier, Inc. for their bid of $35,000, after some public discussion Monday night.

Last Frontier, Inc., proposes to rehabilitate the existing buildings if economically feasible and make them into a hotel-motel complex to serve year-round travelers. ATZ Travel (parent company) has begun packaging tours – groups could be directed to Seward and entertainment facilities could be carried on all year.

If the structures cannot be saved, Last Frontier plans to salvage as much as possible and build the complex along the same architectural lines as the existing structures.

In public hearing local businessman Norman Waggy said, “This is one of the things Seward needs and I’m for it.”

“I’m listening to the bid,” said Pat Williams, “If Last Frontier finds they cannot make use of this land they could hold it. I would like to see the City hold onto this valuable property – raze the buildings and appoint a committee to study the best use of the land. If the committee decided to sell-the property should be advertised much more widely than has been done. I’m saying this in the interest of Seward-the future of Seward, although I know this will not be a popular opinion.:

Dick Beissner, location contractor, stated, :I didn’t hear a schedule offered of money to be spent over a period of years.”

Mayor Richardson replied, “There isn’t any. We tried to give a little latitude when we advertised this time – I don’t thing we can tie them down to any amount.”

Beissner then asked if Last Frontier under present regulations could subdivide into building lots and sold if they choose not to build. Richardson said this was prohibited.

Lyson and Lenore Morgan

Seward Phoenix Log
June 21, 1973

Lyson and Lenore Morgan, former Seward residents are visiting here for several weeks.

“We’re staying at the Rogers Apartments, 3rd and Adams, Apt.4”, said Morgan, “and would be happy to have our friends drop by”.

Morgan was administrator of the Jesse Lee Home form 1960-62.

“We went out to the Jesse Lee site and looked around”, said Mrs. Morgan. “Made up feel kind of sad to see the condition of the buildings because we have so many happy memories of the old place. But the rest of the town looks just wonderful”, she added. “It’s so nice to be back, even for a little while”.

“There have been so many changes here in 11 years”, Morgan said, “but they seem to be for the good of the community”.

Morgan retired two years ago after 38 years in social service work for the state of Wisconsin.

The Morgans report they saw Tom and Aretta Howell and Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Robbing last year while on vacation in Arizona.

Miss Bertha McGhee

Former Seward Resident
May 13, 1973
Seward Phoenix Log

The friends of Miss Bertha McGhee, a former resident of Seward, will be interested to know that she plans to leave Alaska in July to make her home in Kansas.

The Women’s Society of Christian Service of the Anchor Park Methodist Church of Anchorage invites all friends of Miss McGhee to attend a tea on Sunday, May 16, from 2:00 to 5 p.m. honoring her for her many years of service as a missionary.

Jesse Lee alumni who knew Miss McGhee are especially invited at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W.S. McDonald, 3027 Wentworth Street, Anchorage, who are also former Seward residents.

Miss McGhee came to Seward to Jesse Lee Home in 1940 and has served under the auspices of the Mission Board of the Methodist Church for 31 years. Before coming to Alaska she served for two years in the Navaho Mission School at Farmington, New Mexico.

During her years in Alaska she has served in various capacities at Jesse Lee Home, at the Seward General Hospital, which formerly was a mission hospital, and as a lay minister servicing Moose Pass, Hope, and Cooper Landing.

When Jesse Lee Home was moved to Anchorage in January of 1966, Miss McGhee moved with it, serving there until her formal retirement in October, 1969. Since that time Miss McGhee has served as secretary of the Anchor Park Methodist Church.

Ode to Arreta

By Elsie Whitmore and Virginia Wingo
July, 1970

From out of the West, came Arreta and Tom
In the Early 30’s, before the bomb.
To Jesse Lee Home, a place of reknown,
Becoming in the process, the busiest gal in town.

A pillar of the church, a Sunday School teacher,
A cooker of dinners, a friend of the preacher.

She sewed for Bazaars, she painted the Church,
She broke her leg, when she fell from her perch.

She swished her skirts to a Western beat,
And even I this was excessively neat.

As was her house, ’twas a star in her crown,
It was homey and right for the busiest in town.

A weather taker, come rain or come shine,
No matter the meeting, was always on time.

An Eastern Star, a Homemaker too,
With the Library Board she had much to do.

She baby sat without a frown,
And Rainbow made her the busiest gal in town.

She made a good chief, and an Indian Grand,
A positive woman, never bland.

She has kept the same old husband from the very first,
Always implied he was best not worst.

She has two sons of which she is proud,
And Grandsons praises she sings aloud.

Now she’s retiring and with her things,
In a sliver trailer will spread her wings.

She’ll travel and visit all over the land,
Many a journey she has planned.

Now Arreta, my dear, we’d like you to know,
How much we’ll miss you, wherever you go.

No one can ever fill your gown,
Or take the place of the busiest gal in town.

Tom and Arreta Howell have traveled the country enough for a while now, and have settled near their son Harold. If you’d like their winter address it is: 16 Triplet Way, Marysville, California, 95901.

Alaska State Fair Poultry Show

Have never entered anything in the Alaska State Fair. We thought about it a couple years ago after attending the Ninilchik Fair for the first time. My daughter wanted to enter her two heritage bronze turkeys, Buck and Miss Cuba. Casmir had eyeballed the competition and figured they were a shoe in.

Came home and discovered that Russ Maddox's dogs had used them for chew toys, and they had passed away. Not a pleasant thing to deal with.

This year we decided to enter our goats and birds. This move was also hit by tragedy. Our handsome roan, Craigafer, developed congestion issues and passed away. Taylor was the unhappy receiver of this news, she loved that little goat. Our other goat, Oliver, is also coughing, so we put him on antibiotics and left him at home with a couple chickens for company.

Packed up the rest of the birds, and are headed north. Stop by the Poultry Exhibit and give the birds a gander. They will be on display until August 31st.

Last Frontier Development Efforts

Borough P&Z Gives Thumbs Down on Jesse Lee Rezoning
The Seward Phoenix Log
July 26, 1973

The Borough Planning and Zoning Commission met in regular session Monday night in Soldotna and after discussion, voted down rezoning of a portion of Jesse Lee property in Seward to R-3. The rezoning would allow Last Frontier, Inc., to continue their proposed plan to construct a hotel-motel complex in the area. The firm is purchasing the property from the City of Seward.

Five of the ten borough commission members were present to vote – with three no votes, two yes, and one abstention. The vote was taken after the commission had received a call from the Seward City Council approving the rezoning request, and after public hearing in which area property owners Larry Urbach and Margaret Deck posed objections,

Urbach and Deck said they were not opposed to a hotel-motel complex but were opposed to the possibility of boarding houses, trailers and other such projects. They felt R-3 zoning would not protect against this.

A borough spokesman told Radio KRXA the main objection of the commission in voting the measure down was that “not enough thought had been put into the matter, especially in view of the fact Seward is in the process of writing a new zoning ordinance”. The measure was described as “too early.”

About three weeks ago the Seward Planning and Zoning Advisory group voted the rezoning down, with only five of a nine-man commission present. Last week the City Council chose to take no action and let the matter rest-Monday night they took the matter up once more and this time approved it.

The rezoning now must go to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly for final action. It will be taken up by that body at 7:30 p.m. in a regular assembly meeting to be held at the new Homer High School on Tuesday, August 7th.

Letter to the Editor
Seward Phoenix Log
November 21, 973

As a citizen of Seward, I feel I should say something about the Jesse Lee property, along with those who testified at the recent Planning and Zoning Advisory Commission meeting. After all, each citizen of this City owns as much of that property as the next one. Right!

The property is an important asset, one of Seward’s finest pieces of ground, and should be carefully administered.

The action of the Planning and Zoning Commission in turning down a Limited Commercial zoning in the area is difficult to comprehend. To my knowledge, they gave no reason for this action – at least not in public hearing. With feelings running high, and the fact Last Frontier, Inc. had no concrete plans, no money on hand, the Commission apparently felt they’d better cool it.

A look into the future might be in order here. The City has a stipulation in the contract with Last Frontier limiting the type of commercial enterprises suitable for the property to hotel-motel complex, including related businesses.

It appears only one person was against the hotel-motel complex for the buildings. In fact, those who live in closest proximity didn’t object to this. That is what Last Frontier wanted originally, and was not objectionable to the majority of citizens present.

Apparently the City contracted with Last Frontier with this in mind, they accepted money from them, but made no provision for zoning to allow for what the contract called for. This appears to be a case of blatant poor faith on behalf of the City.

For Last Frontier or any other prospective buyer to make hotel-motel development use of the buildings and property- there must be a zoning change. The property is worthless fore any like development without the zoning change. PERIOD!

The City, on, the other hand, has two choices – to rezone, with stipulations on use – or to tear down the existing buildings and sell the property for residential lots (with more engineering costs, and all else involved).

Several thoughts come to mind:

1. We need another hotel-motel, especially in the event of our being able to bring to being a Civic Center. The complex would be needed to house several hundreds out of town people during conventions, and other functions of this kinds. The Civic Center itself would be useless for conventions if people could not find sleeping accommodations!

2. Other areas available for downtown hotel development include:

(a) The area next to Bear Mountain, which is bordered on the south by “Industrial” zoning, and could conceivably result in a fine complex being bordered by a fish cannery,-already two large warehouses are in place.

(b) The area beyond Armstrong Avenue, near the Bay which is unsafe for development.

3. No matter what is said, the Jesse Lee buildings are basically sound yet today, and with the price of new construction rising continually, the “shell” is an expensive item when it come to building.

4. Removing the buildings and zoning residential is also a long-range waste. The present Jesse Lee subdivision , in the same general area, contains 66 residential lots. Those are all prime single-dwelling properties. Of those 66 privately owned lots, only two homes have been built in the last five years – making a total of three homes in this subdivision. Owners in this area have hung on to one or more lots for as much a seven years –apparently fore speculative purposes since they haven’t built on them. Why zone more to be used (or un-used) for the same purpose?

I don’t want to see the Jesse Lee buildings razed. I’m not a sentimentalist except for actually “liking” the architecture of them- which is certainly more in keeping with old Alaska than some of the “boxes that are being built today. Even in disuse the buildings look good all painted from top to bottom. To begin from scratch on buildings that size could result in a monstrosity which we could condemn as an eyesore for the rest of our lives.

I am a realist. Before we condemn Last Frontier too hastily, let’s remember that they have been extremely patient throughout his ordeal. The City has been patient also, but this is what it takes to make binding contracts. Let’s rezone this area before another buyer bites the dust!

Sincerely,

Donna Kowalski

p.s. If the new P&Z code had been adopted, R-3 zoning could cover the hotel-motel complex, with associated enterprises, but this is probably far in the future.

Letter to the Editor
Seward Phoenix Log
November 21, 1973

Dear City Council Members:

The controversy over Jesse Lee is about to be resolved thru the rezoning of Tract A-1A and Tract A-2A in Jesse Lee Heights from Multi-family residential (R-3) to Limited Commercial (C-L) and the subsequent signing of the contract and sale to the developers for a price of $35,000.

I appreciate the fact that Council and the City Manager have put forth a lot of effort and many hours to bring us to this point, however, I have serious misgiving s about both the proposed rezoning and sale. I would like to have this letter considered at your meeting Nov. 26 so please place it on the agenda.

First, I feel the property is worth more than $35,000. If it was to be appraised by qualified real estate people, I’m sure the value would prove much more. If the City had divided the land and sold residential lots, it would have realized more profit and it would have been less complicated than the development contracts, law suits, etc.

Second, under rezoning to Limited Commercial, the present property owners have no protection or assurance any ONE or all of the Uses Permitted could not at ONE TIME OR ANOTHER become a reality. The City does not have the same plan for orderly development that it had sever years ago when residential lots were originally sold.

There is NO ASSURANCE that a hotel-motel complex with related businesses in this area, will be the FINAL OUTCOME of City Planning seven years from now. Councils change, people come, people go. Some of us stay thru all the changes and those of us who stay, have to live with the action taken today – both good and bad,

The third point I would like to make is the matter of development of the property by the buyers now under consideration.

It appears up to this point, this Corporation is ‘speculating’. Suppose the zoning goes Commercial, the Development Contract is signed, and the Corporation is deeded the property upon payment of the full sum.

Does the Council REALLY THINK IT CAN TELL THIS COMPANY WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO DO OR WHAT THEY ARE NOT GOING TO DO WITH THEIR OWN PROPERTY?

Think about this. Any contract drawn with the best of intentions, is subject to disagreement and subsequent court action. This is unfortunate, but a fact of life in this day and age.

I respectfully urge the City Council to reconsider the sale of tracts in Jesse Lee Heights to the Corporation being considered.

I suggest the property be divided into residential lots and sold to the highest bidder.

In addition, I would like to see us all work towards a Borough Planning and Zoning Ordinance where by Special Uses would be provided for various areas, without throwing it wide open to any kind of development.

Yours very truly,

Margaret Anderson


City Extends Lease on Jesse Lee Home Property
Seward Phoenix Log
June 13, 1974

The Seward City Council acted Monday night to extend for one year the period in which Last Frontier Inc., has to begin construction of its proposed development of the Jesse Lee Home property. Extension was granted after a presentation by the firm’s attorney, James R. Clouse.

Clouse requested the extension because although a feasibility study contracted by Last Frontier indicates use of the present structures is possible, the architects have not had time to compete the development plans. He added that the firm had been in contact with the Hilton Corporation to seek franchising for managing the completed facilities. He said Hiltons require at least 100 rooms and original plans had called for 75. This resulted in architectural changes and delays according to Clouse. He said he was prepared to present the City with the due payment of $9,240 but would not do so if the extension was not granted.

Clouse then stated the firm planned to change its plans somewhat and immediately construct a camper trailer parking area so that some revenue might be coming in and a manager would be on hand to prevent further vandalism of the present structures---which have been vacant for nearly 1 years. The proposed camper parking would be in a secluded are and Clouse estimated costs at $35,000.

From the audience Dorothy Urbach asked Clouse his definition of camper parking and stared she was opposed to a trailer park. Close assured her the firm has at no time contemplated trailer parking – only for transient campers and motors homes.

Also in reply to a question Clouse stated his firm had secured liability insurance to save the City from liability in case of injuries on the property. City Manager Jim Filip asked for copies of the policies.

Pat Williams questioned the wisdom of putting in the camper park for $35,0000 before knowing if the hotel-motel complex can be financed. She also objected to the camper parking itself.

When asked about financing of the complex, Clouse stated his firm would first seek assistance from the state tourism revolving fund because it is 8% money, a lower interest rare than available at present through conventional financing. Pat Williams expressed doubt the firm would be able to secure financing from the state in less than a year.

Lary Urbach requested Council to demand ta performance bond if the extension were granted. When the vote was taken however, no mention was made of such a bond.

City Manager Jim Filip recommended against the extension, stating he was not sure the firm was dealing in good faith. He didn’t, however, indicate that perhaps six months had been too short a time to allow the firm to get the feasibility study done, have the completed plans and secure funding so that the construction of the hotel-motel portion could be started.

Since a bare quorum of four Councilmembers was present, and apparently fearing one vote would have a deciding factor, Councilman Vincent moved to table the issue until more Councilmembers could be present. His motion failed. When the motion to grant the extension was introduced there was no further discussion and Council voted unanimously in favor.

The City is not some $9,000 richer and Last Frontier has a year to being construction of the hotel-motel segment of the development. Construction of the camper park is expected to being immediately.

Whether he Jesse Lee building s should be preserved if possible or razed due to their nuisance value, has been a hotly contested issue in Seward since the Methodists relinquished the orphanage property in 1965.

Jesse Lee Again!
Seward Phoenix Log
June 27, 1974

An emergency ordinance providing for the amendment of Chapter 21 of the City Code failed on a 3-2 vote with Vincent and Hum dissenting. The measure was intended to allow Last Frontier, Inc. to install a camper trailer facility at the Jesse Lee Home property.

Both Vincent and Hulm felt the measure worded as it was, would open the door to trailer courts in the City. Though both have long been proponents of the development of Jesse Lee, they said they feared the ordinance would go against public will.

“I am in favor of construction beginning tomorrow but I don’t like the wording of the ordinance”, said Vincent.

“I don’t want future Councils to use this as a lever to allow a trailer court as such”, Hulm said.

Dague said he understood from the motion made approving an extension for the firm, that only camper and recreations type vehicles would be allowed.

A special Council meeting may be necessary to clarify the ordinance –after the City Attorney has the opportunity to review the Ordinance again. The City Manager also revealed that the check received by by the City to meet the contract with issued by A.I. M. incorporated, not by Last Frontier. He said he was not sure who the City is now dealing with.

Herman Leirer said A.I.M. is a group of Anchorage realtors.

“You are dealing with some sharp people now,” he said. “You had better be careful.” Leirer further suggested the need for a different City Attorney.. “I don’t think that ordinance meets the requirements at all, it doesn’t coincide with the wishes of the people,” he added. He hazarded a guess that the City would be involved in another lawsuit over the Jesse Lee property, no matter how Council acted. The City Manager had earlier in the meeting stated for the first time in six years the City would not be faced with litigation.

Councilman Dague questioned the status of the Jesse Lee property. Filip said though there hadn’t been much development accomplished by Last Frontier, Inc. this past summer, they had gotten the sewer and water installed. He added, however, that the City insurance firm ad been alerted o the fact that a youngster had fallen from the roof of part of the structures and had sustained a fractured jaw and leg.

He said the City had copies of Last Frontier’s insurance policy but was not sure that the City is completely free of liability. Over the years it has been predicted by those who favored razing of Jesse Lee, that at some time this attractive nuisance would result int eh injury of some youngster.

Jesse Lee
Seward Phoenix Log
November 14, 1974

Council McCloud asked the status of the Jesse Lee property. The City Manger reported it appeared the city may be sued along with the company now claiming ownership, resulting from injury of a young person who fell from the roof some months ago. Work on the building has been suspended for the winter by the firm purchasing it.


And Jesse Lee…
Seward Phoenix Log
November 28, 1974

A lengthy discussion evolved when Pat Williams said she would be worried from the standpoint of the liability of the City, upon learning of the cancellation of the insurance for Last Frontier on the Jesse Lee property. She reminded Council a boy had been hurt recently at the suite and the firm was being sued.

Fred Lammers of Clary-Pioneers Insurance, which carriers the city policies, indicated agreement. He said in his experience in similar cases, the municipality could be liable.

The City Attorney said chances were 90% against the City being judged liable even though a suit could result in any injury case which would involve the city.

Mayor McAnerney asked if the cancellation of insurance did not constitute a default if another policy was not secured. The attorney answered in the affirmative but said the City would have to take action to get the property back, the default did not automatically make the property revert back to the City.

Further disclosures indicated that Last Frontier was also in default for not having put up a fence around the property as called for in the sales contract and for refusing to do any further boarding up.

Councilmen Neve indicated he felt the City would have the property back soon because the developer had not in fact done much if any developing as required by the extension asked for last spring.

Filip and the Attorney were asked to immediately contact the firm and take proper action to get insurance restored.


Jesse Lee Report
Seward Phoenix Log
December 5, 1974

Councilman Hulm said he had taken the liberty of contacting representatives of Last Frontier, Inc. the firm which has purchased the Jesse Lee property. He assured Council that AIM, the firm which now has 51% of the stock in Last Frontier, had taken out a new liability insurance policy on the property, and it is insured.

Hulm said AIM plans a 2-phase construction of a hotel-motel complex at Jesse Lee and plans to begin as soon as the architect completes the plans sometime in January. He said the physical appearance of the present buildings would change but they would be utilized.

Pat Williams said AIM was the firm which owns the Camelot-By-the-Sea subdivision and expressed fears that the Jesse Lee land would be subdivided. Hulm assured her that under the contract with the City subdivision was prohibited. He also said that the firm intedns to complete the camper-trailer park started last summer.

What About the Real Eyesores?

What about the Real Eyesores?
The Seward Phoenix Log
Editorial Comment
December 12, 1968

Monday night the City Council reaffirmed their stand to burn down the Jesse Lee Home. Okay your writer can take this gracefully since for two years now the building has been deteriorating—an because although a room full of people were present at the public hearing none spoke in defense of the structures.

Now that the problem of Jesse Lee is settled at least to the satisfaction of a few – how about the many structures in town that are far worse eye-sores – some of which are even located right down on 4th Avenue where visitors and potential investors are sure to see them?

What about the old Seward Bakery Building and the Surf Bar? I realize they are on the tax rolls but if Ihad a business on 4th Avenue I would be voicing my objections long and loud to allowing the owner to let the buildings get into such disrepair. They make Seward a laughing stock – indeed a couple of tourists this summer stood and remarked on how lively they make main street look! I know because I stood smoldering a few feet away and listened.

As they stand the buildings certainly must be a fire hazard – and I’ll bet I kids took the notion they could get in to them – oh, the City wouldn’t be liable you say – they owner would! But in speaking of Jesse Lee concern was shown for the “attractive nuisance” – and the children who could be injured in it – does it really make that much difference where someone burns to death? You say the police would be sure to see any such activity on Main Street – or a passer by would spread the alarm – really” They didn’t two weeks ago when a Seward boy was struck down by a hit-and-run driver!

What about another well-known structure that stands despite condemnation by the city? It is again because the building is on the tax rolls?

Much, much was said about how ugly Jesse lee has become in the past few years – how the windows are broken, how it is a blight on the landscape – that it is a mess! Well folks – at least it is out of the immediate sight on someone who comes to twon to visit. Take a close look at one side of the street on 4th Avenue next time you are town twon – look at those buildings!

An empty building in itself is not particularly offensive but when it is completely derelict then it is offensive. The old Seward Bakery and the Surf Bar look offensive. Action that the City Council takes in the future will indicate if genuine interest is being shown concerning the welfare of our youth and the beauty of our town – how Seward citizens shoose to instruct (or whether they chose to instruct at all) the Councilmen as to their feelings on the subject will also be revealing.

Are you ashamed of 4th Avenue too? Enough to let your Council known the taxes derived from the aforementioned building is not worth the blight they present to our visitors?


New Roof on Jesse Lee
Peggy Dolliver
July, 1962

Jesse Lee Home, Seward Alaska. Notice the newly painted red roof. For years, the roof of the famous children’s home has been painted in camouflage. The people of Seward think the roof symbolizes a new day in Alaska.

The Rest of The Fannie Kerns Story

The Rest of the Fannie Kerns Story
By Millie Sorenson
Seward Phoenix Log
2004

The Fourth of July is over, as is the anniversary of Alaska’s flag-raising at the Jesse Lee Home on July 9, 1927, and the dedication of the Emblem Club memorial for Benny Benson at the Seward Lagoon. Iron Mountain by Forest Acres was renamed Benny Benson Mountain by the Seward City Council in the 190s when Council man Bernie Hulm made the motion and it passed the commission in Juneau approved it.

With all the hoopla about the flag over with, I honestly believe is it high time to finish the rest of the story about the neat lady who actually sewed up the flag using materials from her sewing at Jesse Lee Home. She worked at the home and sewed for the children who lived there She mended torn sheets, patched pants, made clothing of all descriptions. She was a very crafty-type lady and made things out of scraps of material and buttons, some lace or bias tape. She made cute things out of nothing of value. This lady was Frances (Fannie) Kibsgaard Kerns.

Fannie has repeated this story to my mother and me about sewing up the flag after seeing Benny’s crayon drawing at Jesse Lee. I think it’s time to tell who took the time to actually sew the flag and never got a word of thanks from Alaska’s citizens. Her name should be included in the book, “The Story of Alaska’s Flag,” recently published, but it wasn’t in there.

Fannie had two sons – Raymond and Billy Kibsgaard, raised in Seward. The tidal wave and earthquake of 1964 washing their home across the bay. Their home was located on the corner where Bayview Apartments on Third Avenue have their parking lot now. The little home road the waves and they lost everything except the Holy Bible, which rode safe and sound on the floor. Fannie and Raymond then moved to a little house near Western Auto. Th house is now torn down.

Benny Benson, Raymond and Fannie have passed on now but her words are fresh in my mind She loved to sew and made many lovely things she gave away to friends and at times she’d get a generous gift of money fore her work.

Let’s not forget this awesome lady. Its’ a beautiful flag and long may it wave.

Editor’s Note: Fannie Kerns was born March 19, 1905 at Hope, Alaska. Shelved at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward from age 17. She died November 18, 1983.

Letter to the Editor
Seward Phoenix Log
September 3, 1977

Thank you all so much for thinking of me while I was in the hospital in Anchorage for cataract surgery.

Your visits, letters, cards and flowers meant a great deal to me. It’s nice to know I have so many good friends.

I am doing just fine now, though still under a doctor’s treatment.

It is great to be home and feeling fine.

Thanks again,

Frances Kerns

Fannie Kerns Grand Marshal of 4th Parade
By Larry Straley
Seward Phoenix Log

In 1928 the Jesse Lee Home was moved to Seward from Unalaska-building, personnel and children.

Among those children was a young boy who became well known as the designer of the Alaska Flag. Many stories have been published about Benny Benson. Other cities have claimed him. But one of the lesser known orphans, but dear to Seward, was Benny’s classmate Frances Kern.

Born of native Alaskan and Hawaiian stock, result of the whalers and Capt. Cook’s ventures, Fanny has been a true representative of Alaska and Seward. She has been concerned about projects to raise money to help other unfortunate children. She has worked for these projects for many years.

A classmate and friend of Benny Benson, Frannie has been selected to take part in the Benny Benson Memorial dedication on the 4th of July. She will also serve as Grand Marshal of the 4th of July parade this year.

LOG NOTES
Seward Phoenix Log
January 15, 1976

Frances Kern stopped in the LOG Offices to remind us that Mrs. Swetman was a charter member of the Seward Post No. 5, American Legion and was a past president of the Auxiliary. “She also helped us to rebuild after the fire and earthquake”, said Frances.

(Ed. Note—As we commented in the issue last week, man of the causes that Mrs. Swetman supported were unknown to the community at large. We are sure there are many organizations and projects she has supported that most of us will never know about.)

Frances Kerns, better known to her many friends as Fanny, was once a student at Jesse Lee Home. She was asked to do the Jesse Lee square on the Seward historical quilt being done for Bicentennial. Though not many people know it, Fanny was at Jesse Lee Home when Bennie Benson designed the Alaska Flag, and Fanny herself created a design that received sixth place in the statewide contest sponsored by the American Legion which resulted in the official Alaska Flag.


LOG NOTES
By Norma Weaver
Seward Phoenix Log
February 1970

Fanny Kerns has returned from a trip to Seattle. While outside she visited with son Bill and family-Bill wishes everyone in the old home town well and says Hi. Fanny also visited with George and Paul Wolcoff and their families. Paul & Rosie took her to see Mary Hughes who especially want s to be remembered to her oldtime Seward friends. Fanny also visited with former Sewardite Ann Kitchman in Tacoman. Good to have you back Fanny!

Fanny Ill
Seward Petticoat Gazette
March 1967

Fannie Kearns has gone to Seattle for treatment.

Fannie and Jesse Lee Featured

Fannie and Jesse Lee Featured
Seward Phoenix Log
January 21, 1982

Frances Kerns of Seward was featured in and August 22 “Weekender” article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. The article tells about Kerns and Jesse Lee Home, the orphanage that brought her to Seward.

Kerns, better known as “Fannie” locally, came to Seward in 1926 along with 18 other girls who had previously lived in Unalaska, the first home of Jesse Lee. Fannie had come to Unalaska from Point Hope in 1922 after the death of her mother.
The article tells a lot of the history of Jesse Lee Home, and tells of Fannie’s early days here.

Fannie was born and raised at Point Hope. Her mother was Eskimo, but her father Polynesian-from Tahiti she believes. At any rate, he was kidnapped by sailors on a whaling ship and when they traveled from the South Seas to Alaska to ply the trade of whaling, they brough her father along. He ad only been 12 years old when he was shanghaied.

At Point Hope he was known as Thomas George and Fannies says she cannot pronounce his Polynesian name, no matter how hard she tries.

Her father died in a harpooning accident and was taken 27 miles into open water and buried at sea as he had requested.
Fannie lived with her mother until she was 17 after her three sisters – Elizabeth, Nellie and Betty – all died in flu or diptheria epidemics.

When Fannie’s mother because ill, she wrote to one of her husband’s whaling companions, who saw to it Fannie was sent to school. That is how she came to Jesse Lee – first in Unalaska, then in Seward.

As the News-Miner article relates, all the children at Jesse Lee were taught a trade. Fannie was taught to cook and sew, which is what most girls were taught to do in those days. She is still good at both, although she doesn’t see as well as she did when she was younger, and this slows her down her sewing some.

Fannie has lots of memories of Jesse Lee Home and wishes it could be restored-perhaps by one of the Native Associations since it was primarily native children that lived there.

Fannie remains active in local organizations. She belongs to the American Legion Auxiliary, and Rebekahs and is active in both. Right now she is just completing a vest that will be raffled off by the Rebekah Lodge.

The dark green corduroy vest lined with flowered beige cotton is decorated with a white sailboat on blue waves: all the handiwork of Frances Kerns, reknown for a deft hand with a needle and thread. “It’s the kind of sailboat my father had in Point Hope. We girls helped make the sale. We’d travel as far as Kotzebue and Nome in the summer,” she recalled. Kerns has donated this vcst to the Rebekah’s to be raffled off February 14, with proceeds to the Ambulance Corps. She recently made a similar vest, in blue with a polar bear on the back, for Chugach Natives president Edgar Blatchford. “He said, ‘Fannie, It’s so pretty I don’t want to take it off,” smiled Kerns.

LOG NOTE

Bob Richey Sr won the Alaska Vest that was made by Fannie Kerns and araffled off Feb 14. By the Seward Rebekah Lodge.
Lodge members would like t that Fannie Kerns for donating the vest, AVTEC for tickets as their donation to the Seward Volunteer Ambulance Corps, McMullen’s for displaying the vest and selling tickets, and to all who purchased tickets helping make the project a success.

$241 was netted from the raffle, and the Rebekah’s added $9 to this to donate $250 to the ambulance corps in memory of Rebekah Jean Trotter.

Teacher returns After Fifty Years

Teacher returns After Fifty Years
By Edgar Blatchford
The Seward Phoenix Log
Juy 3, 1985

Over half a century ago, a 19 year old Seattle school teacher stepped off the steamer eager to begin her duties at the Territory of Alaska school which served the children of the Jesse Lee Home. The home used to stand on the outskirts of Seward.

“I can’t believe all the changes,” Edith Neese Belcher said as she describer her first visit to Seward in 50 years. On September 20, 1930 she stepped off the steamer “Aleutian” to begin a five year position at the Methodist Mission Orphanage.

She remembers buying milk from Leirer’s Dairy for 25 cents a quart which was ten cents higher than Lower 48 prices. Still, downtown Seward hasn’t changed that much with Urbachs, Brown & Hawkins and Seward Trading Co. remaining family owned and operated businesses. It’s the area north of the lagoon that has changed. New homes, businesses and the small boat harbor and fish processing plant are all new.

Belcher said there used to be some beautiful gardens in the Jesse Lee Home area where they grew spinach, lettuce and other vegetables. The home also supplemented its pantry with wild game and fish which they caught in the streams.

Belcher also remembered the legend of the famous artist, naturalist and author Rockwell Kent who lived out on the of the islands in Resurrection Bay.

Of the over 100 kids of Aleut, Eskimo and Indian heritage, many of them had Scandinavian blood. When diseases and epidemics decimated native populations the Swedes and Norwegians from the Aleutians and Western Alaska brought their motherless children to the home.

She enjoyed her five years here and visited with Martha Peterson, one of her students.

Martha later married one of Edith’s other students, the late Andy Petersen who was an “excellent person, always dependable and trustworthy.” Martha has lived almost her entire life here after her arrival from Northwest Alaska in her early childhood years.

There was no road across the lagoon. Instead, to get out of town, you had to go along Dairy Hill. The road went as far north as Primrose, Mile 18.

Edith’s years in Seward ended when she married a Washington school teacher named Merlin. After living one year in Kodiak they moved to Washington state where she taught school and farmed for 22 years.

Vacationing in Alaska, they plan to drive to Homer where many Jesse Lee boys homesteaded after completing their schooling. They were “good kids” as she reminisced about her wonderful days in Seward 50 years ago.

Orphaned orphanage

Orphaned orphanage
Seward’s historic Jesse Lee Home, hurt by time and vandals, may be razed
By Jon Little
April 23, 2001
Anchorage Daily News

SEWARD – Billy Blackjack Johnson wasn’t 2 years old when his mother, a Nome woman stricken with tuberculosis, placed him in the Jesse Lee Home.

It was 1926, and the towering, three-story orphanage on a hillside overlooking Seward had just opened. Already, children were teeming within its tan, stuccoed walls Most of them were Alaska Natives from villages racked by waves of epidemics such as TB and influenza.

More than 100 youngsters packed its open dorm rooms, scrambling out of bed when the 7 a.m. breakfast bell rang, ushered by harried young matrons who were outnumbered 10 to 1.

“They gave us a home, they gave us food, they gave us a warm bed, and they taught us religion, and we should never forget that,” said Johnson, 77.

But how the Jesse Lee Home will be remembered has been the subject of speculation since it closed in 1965. Would=be developers have come and gone while the home – once an imposing and attractive Tudor-style mansion – molders.
Recently, the orphanage where John “Benny” Benson Jr. designed the Alaska flag and where it was first raised in 1927 has become the subject of legislation making its way through the House.

Rep. Ken Lancaster (R-Soldotna), who visited the school in its latter days, has introduced House Bill 96, asking the state Division of Parks to figure out how the state might develop and manager the property. The bill calls for spending $65,000 for an architect to analyze the abandoned orphanage.

Two of the three buildings still stand: the boys’ dorm known as Jewel Guard Hall and a 1936 dining hall and heating plant dubbed the Balto Building, after the lead dog from the famous 1926 serum run to Nome.

A statue of Balto once adorned a monument in front of the building but long ago disappeared.

The mansion, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, makes a striking first impression. But closer inspection reveals damage from age, abuse and neglect.

The home has attracted vandals armed with spray paint and liquor. Water pours in rivulets through holes in its wood-shingled roof and has warped the rotting floorboards three stories below. Stairways have collapsed. Insulation, possibly containing asbestos, drapes over rusting pipes in the basement.

In the early 1970s the hallways and dorm rooms were stripped over everything of value – windows, bathroom fixtures – leaving nothing but exposed wooden beams.

“It’s a slasher palace now. You could make a great horror movies here,” said Tim Sczawinski, a member of Seward’s historic preservation commission.

He wandered through its hallways recently, pointing out dorm rooms, house-parent apartentms, the curving ceiling of the scissor-trussed chapel and an airy gymnasium that rises to the attic rafters.

“I’d like to see part of it restored.” He said.

“I’ve seen 8,000-year-old Egyptian boats hauled back to the United States for preservation, and they were in a…lot worse shape than this place,” said Sczawinski, who describes himself as a “rabid historic preservationist.”

But is the old orphanage worth saving? Could part of it be restored as a museum? Should it be razed to the 2.6-acred lot with a vista of Resurrection Bay can be sold to developers or should It be turned into a state park?

City officials say Seward doesn’t have the money to address those questions, even though circumstances are forcing the city’s hand.

The city is wrapping up foreclosure on the property after the home’s former owner, Frank Irick of Anchorage, failed to make utility payments. The city council recently approved spending $50,000 to board up windows and erect a fence to keep people out.

“The private sector has given up on its ability to salvage the place, now it has become a public issue,” said city manager Scott Janke.

Janke said the statewide historic significance of the Jesse Lee Home begs for state oversight.

Besides its role in birthing the Alaska flag and accepting children orphaned by epidemics, the home also was converted, briefly, into barracks for US officers during World War II.

But the violent 1964 Good Friday earthquake may be most responsible for the home’s fate. The Methodist Church, which established it in 1925, abandoned it the year after it was damaged by the quake. It has been empty since.

“The deterioration is kind of growing exponentially now,” Janke said. “It’s been standing so long, vacant and open to the elements; that we need to make something happen. Something needs to be done before there’s no opportunity to salvage any of it.”

Johnson remembers Benny Benson as a kind, older boy who looked out for him. He has spent the last dcade working to reserve the old buildings where he grew up.

He wrote a 1991 book about his childhood at the Jesse Lee Home, “Shelter From the Storm,” and tried to assemble a nonprofit group to pay for the orphanage’s restoration. He said he has stacks of historic photos of the facility and its staff and still is willing to help out.

“I would volunteer my help at no cost to restore it,” he said via telephone form his home in rural North Carolina. “I would give my guidance and advise anytime they want me to come up there.

Deserves Better

Deserves Better
By Dorene M. Lorenz
Seward Phoenix Log
Letters to Editor
February 13, 2003

I am extremely dismayed to discover that the Jesse Lee Advisory Board seems set on turning this historically significant building into a housing project. Three options were recently offered to the public: apartments, condos, or dormitory.

This is a shortsighted and inappropriate use of what should be a public building. With it’s ideal location next to residential neighborhoods and local schools, it begs to be made a place where friends and neighbors join together to explore the legacy of our past and to bring to fruition the hopes we have for our future.

If the building is physically fit to be an apartment complex, it is fit to be an interactive learning libray and museum that greatly enhances the quality of life for all of our citizens. Revamp the stage that is already there and you have a delightful place for a reader’s theater, road shows, one act plays, music recitals and small group meetings. A place to grab a cup of cocoa, talk about the latest mystery novel, and research on the Internet would draw regulars.

By combining an interactive museum with the public library, we can have displays that education and stimulate, storage room for archives and researchers, and greater staff coverage. We would be able to have traveling exhibits and symposiums. A few well-placed meeting rooms and Jesse Lee could help support its own maintenance by hosting small conferences. That year-round income doesn’t hurt the rest of Seward either. Such a venue also brings the perpetual grant money that housing will never find.

Anyone who suggests that it it too far away from downtown and no one would go there, or that moving the museum/library from downtown would somehow diminish the quality of what Fourth Avenue has to offer is being less than progressive in their thinking. Seward is only three miles long, access is not an issue, and Jesse Lee has earned its right to be a focal point in this community.

Seniors have a great transportation network in this city, no doubt the trolley would be happy to follow the same route that school buses do. The lots behind Jesse Lee could be paved and landscaped into an attractive parking lots.

Jesse Lee could be successfully marketed as a destination location for the tourist trade, but the best possible use of this building is to dedicate it to enhancing the quality-of-life of the people of Seward – honoring our past, meeting the needs of our present, and ensuring the strength of our future generations.

This building has been plagued by naysayers since the earthquake. It is a legacy, not just for the people of Seward but for all Alaska. It deserves better than to be dummied down into a housing complex. I beg you to reconsider the proposed use of this remarkable building and under your stewardship give Jesse Lee the opportunity to make as discernible a difference in our future as it has made in our past.

Good Memories of Growing Up in Jesse Lee Home

Good Memories of Growing Up in Jesse Lee Home
By Nancy Erickson
Seward Phoenix Log
December 12, 2002

Jim Simpson doesn’t remember what his father told him in 1929 when he put him on an Anchorage train in the early evening dusk bound for Seward.

“I don’t remember being frightened-more awestruck,” the 78-year-old Simpson said from his home in Oregon last week.
The young child was met at the Seward depot by Jesse Lee Home superintendent Charles T. Hatten and his wife and escorted to the orphanage northwest of town.

“I remember it was large and had lots of beds. And I wasn’t used to either,” Simpson said recalling his entry into the C dorm on the first floor of the Jewel Guard Hall that housed boys to the age of 11.

Simpson said he remembers getting ready for bed that first night and telling the matron he wouldn’t go until he said his prayers.

“He’s the first heathen who came here with a prayer,” Simpson remembers Hatten’s young teenage son commenting.
Simpson spent the remainder of his childhood at the home, leaving after graduation in June 1942, when he was drafted into the Army shortly after the start of World War II.

Simpson remembers a good life growing up at the home.

“Holidays were very nice. We had a full Christmas tree in the chapel” (on the second floor of the Jewel Hall), he recalled.
“Each dorm marched through all the other dorms and we displayed our gifts on our beds,” Simpson said of the Christmas holiday.

In the 1930s he recalls receiving gifts of mittens made by staff, an occasional orange or apple if available and “maybe a bar of soap.”

“Those fortunate to have parents got added gifts,” he said. Simpson remembers getting one gift from his father when he was in about fourth grade.

He mother lived in Chickaloon, but she didn’t come to see him at the home. His father came once when Simpson was about 10.

“He thought I should study electricity and become and electrical engineer,” he said. “In 1932, he said that was the coming thing.”

Instead, Simpson went on to obtain a Ph.D. in Education.

With many children housed in a self-sufficient orphanage, chores began at an early age.
Simpson remembers coming home as a first grader from the school built for Natives about a ½ mile from the home and going directly to the darning room on the first floor. There he learned to mend socks.

Saturday was floor waxing day. The older boys would way the first and second-floor hallways and polish them by pulling the younger boys on a blanket.

“The older you got, the more complicated the jobs became,” he said. A new job list was posted monthly.

In the spring the children would pick rocks and plant a huge vegetable garden next to the mountain that is now covered with houses.

Simpson was probably 14 when he was assigned to milking the home’s dairy cows and slopping hogs.

The barn was still in operation after the war when Simpson returned for a visit in 1950.

Simpson wasn’t aware until a few years after he left Jesse Lee that the home was evacuated in 1942 due to the threat of the Japanese bombing interior Alaska during World War II.

Some of the children were sent to Wrangell, Mount Edgecumbe and a boarding school in Eklutna, he said. Simpson was unsure, but he said the home may have re-opened in 1946.

Simpson remains in contact with a few of his acquaintances from Jesse Lee and expressed concern for the abandoned structure’s future.

Simpson once taught classes in facility planning and his vision for the future of the Jesse Lee Home will be presented at the Dec. 18 meeting of the Jesse Lee Advisory Board.

The public is encouraged to attend the 7:30 p.m. meeting in the basement of the Seward Community Library to furnish input on the home’s past and its future.

For more information, contact the Seward Planning Department at 224-4048 or e-mail city planner Malcolm Brown at mbrown@cityofseward.net or Donna Glenz at dglenz@cityofseward.bet to contribute information.

A Flag for Jesse Lee flies in Seward

A Flag for Jesse Lee flies in Seward
By Dan Walker
We Alaskans
General Delivery
January28, 1996

SEWARD- A while back, I went to a flag raising. It was a small event, just my wife, Billy “Blackjack” Johnson and me, raising the Alaska flag above the Jesse Lee Home in Seward. Billy smiled and said, “We raise this flag in honor of Benny.” That was the closest e had to a speech. There was no band or honor guard. We hadn’t even planned on raising the flag, but as my wife says, “When Billy ‘Blackjack’ Johnson comes to town, things start to happen.

Billy was actually leaving town when the flag raising occurred. On his way back to Anchorage, he’s stopped at Jesse Lee to take a few more pictures of his boyhood home. We were at our home discussing what to do with the hat he’d left behind when the phone rang. Billy need our help. During his side trip, he noticed the monument in front of Jesse Lee had the appropriate plaque and flagpole – but no flag. No “eight stars of gold on a field of blue” where our flag was created and first flown.

So Billy stopped at a store and bought an Alaskan flag and 50 feet of cord to solve that oversight. He needed a ladder to thread the cord through the top of the pole. So off we went with two ladders and our summer optimism to help an old Eskimo raise and Alaska flag in honor of Benny Benson.

The flagpole was too tall for my ladder, so I left my wife and Billy standing in the shadow of the old, three-story, wooden home with its empty, black windows staring down at them and drove to the Catholic Church. I borrowed a ladder without asking and left a note. (If you can’t get forgiveness at a church, where can you?)

Then I was back at Jesse Lee, climbing a ladder leaning against a thin, metal flagpole, hoping on the hope that it was trong enough to hold me. Snaking the quarter-inch line through the eye at the top of the pole, I scooted down and attached the flag. Then I handed the line to Billy, who beamed at me with that schoolboy smile. I snapped pictures with his camera as the flag rose slowly to the top.

There was so much force, history and emotion around that moment, standing uncer a cloudy sky with that little man in the baseball cap and jacket as he raised the state flag his boyhood friend had designed in the home they both shared. It was a moment without litugy, pomp or ceremony, yet imbued with some sort of inexpressible significance. We talked of the need to plant forget-me-nots around the concrete pillar with its commemorative bronze plaque. Billy showed us a place where little boys had brought home a hornet’s nest to entertain a playmate who lay in an isolation room, dying from tuberculosis.

Started by Methodist missionaries in Unalaska as a home for Native orphans, the Jesse Lee Home moved to Seward in 1925.

After the earthquake, its name moved to Anchorage, where it remains today in the form of a home for the mentally handicapped.

Billy “Blackjack” Johnson and his brother came to the Jesse Lee Home in Seward after their mother in Nome was hospitalized with tuberculosis. Billy lived in the home for 10 years, then returned to a subsistence life in Nome, where he lived the day-to-day life of the old ways. He went on to serve in Europe duing World War II, After the war, he stayed in Germany, where his skill in languages was employed. Active in the Native lands-claim legislation, Billy served as a lobbyist and organized the 13th Regional Corp., composed of Alaska Natives who live outside the state.

Jesse Lee Home has been vacnt for three decades now, abandoned after the 1964 earthquake. It stands on a hill in the northwest part of town gutted and weather-beaten. The growing neighborhood is crowding it. The spruce and alders try to vover it. A few more yeats, and the elements will tumble it to the ground.

But Billy is on a mission. He wants to save the old building from rot and ruin. He wants people to remember where Alaska’s flag was created and first flown. He remembers all the children who found shelter, food and companionship at Jesse Lee. He fears the building will be lost and, with it, our memory of what took place there. He passes no judgment about a place that educated Alaska Natives in the white man’s way at the expense of their ethnic culture. For Billy, this is about home, about remembering a childhood and the people who shared it.

Granny's New Pad is Cooler Than Yours

By Dorene M. Lorenz
Alaska Standard Contributer

Alaskans are on the verge of a cultural shift - threatening to send your non-compliant parents to a nursing home isn’t going to work any more, they will prefer to live there than with you.

Blame it on the new Seward Mountain Haven Long Term Care Facility. This small, picturesque, and quirky community decided that it likes the old and infirmed, and that they deserved a better level of care than what was currently available in the Alaskan market. Seward discovered the innovative Green House Model of elder care, an approach Seward City Finance Director Kris Erchinger feels is more humane.

“They are not called patients or residents, they are called elders,” advises Erchinger. “And in a nutshell, that is the difference between this facility and most others. The Green House Model restores dignity by returning them to a homelike environment.”

Developed by Dr. William Thomas, the Green House model creates a small intentional community for a group of elders and staff that focuses on the relationships that flourish during the last stage of ones life.

A radical departure from traditional models, the primary purpose of Seward Mountain Haven is to serve as a place where elders can receive assistance and support with activities of daily living and clinical care, without the assistance and care becoming the focus of their existence.

It is intended to de-institutionalize long-term care by eliminating large nursing facilities and creating warm, habilitative, social settings.

Seward’s old long term care facility, the Wesley Rehabilitation and Care Center, was like most in the state. Staying there was like staying in an old hospital. The institutional facility consisted of two buildings located under the dark shadows at the base of a mountain, which served well beyond their effective life spans.

According to the City of Seward, the buildings house mechanical and electrical systems for which parts are no longer available. Some portions of the buildings have been closed to access due to serious safely concerns, including structural collapse of one section of the building.

So when it came time to re-build, it also became time to re-locate the new facility to a prime residential neighborhood known as Forest Acres; a large sun-soaked campus with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and old growth spruce forest.

The Providence Hospital website says that Seward Mountain Haven will offer all the quality medical services of an institutional nursing facility in the setting of a traditional home – with a hearth, a shared dining room and kitchen, private bedrooms and bathrooms.

The flat roofed cement block buildings have been replaced by what appears to be upscale houses with massive timbers, wood shingles, and large divided-light windows. Gone is the institutional kitchen that filled plastic trays three times a day, replaced by residential-style kitchens with granite countertops and a warm fireplace.

The Green House Model is a change in not only the architectural approach, but also organizational structure, staffing patterns and the philosophy of care.

“What I like most about this project is that it returns freedom of choice about care,” explains Erchinger. “If you feel like folding socks or baking cookies you can. You get to pick what color your room is painted. You can bring in your own furniture and decorations for your bedroom. The house gets to decide if they want pets or a piano.”

Having elders active in making decisions most of us take for granted, such as planning menus and activities, and controlling their own schedules, has been proven to be beneficial to overall health. A University of Minnesota study found that Green House elders reported less decline in late-loss activities of daily living such as bed mobility, transfer, eating, and toileting.

Compared to those in traditional nursing care settings, they had less prevalence of depression, increased sense of privacy, dignity, and individuality, and more meaningful activity, relationships, and food enjoyment.

Green House elders were also found to experience more active participation by family members and better relationships with direct care staff. Generally, the study found that elders who lived in Green House homes experienced a better quality of life and improved health, and that is the kind of care Seward felt it needed to offer its community.

“A lot of the bureaucracy is eliminated,” explains Erchinger. “The caregiver closest to the elder has the most say in how care is given. The decision making is directly tied to the wants and desires of the individual.”

So if an elder wants pancakes for breakfast at 11:00 a.m., instead of eggs at 8:00 a.m., they can expect the pancake brunch at a well set table with music, flowers, and good conversation with people who care about one another.

If someone wants to read a book while looking out the great room’s expansive windows onto the beautiful scenic vista at midnight, it is okay. The elder is free from the limitations of an institutional schedule and lives a comfortable daily life - sleeping, eating, and engaging in activities as they choose.

Families are encouraged to share meals, participating in activities, volunteer time and services, and help the elder to decorate their personal space. Well-behaved family pets also are welcome to visit if elders in the house have no medical restrictions.

There is easy access to all areas of the house including the kitchen, laundry, outdoor garden, and the patio. Safety features are built into the house to minimize injury.

“Tracks in the ceiling can be used to assist in lifting an elder out of bed and into the shower, significantly lowering the risk of accident and injury to both patients and caregivers,” suggests Erchinger. The small size of the Green House home promotes less use of wheelchairs.

A $1.6 million Denali Commission grant covered planning and design on the 34,000 square foot facility that would house 40 residents in four separate Green House Model homes. The bulk of the remainder of the $29 million cost was financed by the City of Seward via revenue bonds.

The Wesley’s current resident population consists of around 30 individuals, 90% of whom come from other Alaskan communities. The Wesley serves a unique niche in Alaska, as it includes patients with multiple and physical diagnoses, patients whom no other Alaskan facilities will admit. They are all scheduled to move over to Seward Mountain Haven on October 1st.

Erchinger believes that 28 of the 40 beds are currently filled, The patient costs for Seward Mountain Haven are equivalent to the traditional Medicaid costs for nursing homes. Those interested in more information should contact Chris Boltin at 224-2872.

Gay Afternoon with a Bitch, a Stud, and a couple of Quacks

Friday my hometown of Seward finally got a break from the vicious raging of what a few locals have been referring to as Hurricane Sarah. The storm clouds broke, the sun shone gaily, and locals came out-of-doors to assess flood damage.

Our property across the bay, the Alaska Hamptons, is in the flood zone but never floods as it is directly adjacent to a water sucking marsh. During my inspection, I discovered a temporary gift from God that tipped the arrow all the way to the right in my fun meter.

An unused and uncapped well decided to purge itself during the two weeks of heavy rains. Like a garden hose gone crazy, the gay brook trickled politely past the outhouse, made its way through the picnic area, graciously around the garden, and into a depression in the middle of the shooting range.

I have the pond I have been yearning for years, the pond that everyone tells me is a bad idea. Added bonus, it is only a foot deep so the water is, dare I say it…warm.

I had desperately dumped over 30 pounds of wildflower seed over the shooting range this spring, but months of constant blistering sunshine meant that few seeds had actually developed into plants. Previous to becoming a gay water feature, the area looked rather like a bomb went off there. Damn that Global Warming!


Ugly no longer, the pond is a well-polished mirror. It reflects the blue sky, glacier-clad mountains and white spruce, as well as the gay yellow flowers of the vegetables I failed to harvest in a timely manner.

Hamptons poultry are mostly made up of threatened and rare breeds. Our seven-pound Cayuga, Goth and Punk, lost their duckling fuzz and matured into an iridescent black duck and drake over the last month. I carried one in each arm and set them down in the middle of the pond, which they took to like a duck to water. They gaily preened, they gaily glided, and they gaily splashed. They defined gay.


They caught the attention of my five-pound Papillion stud, Moondoggie. He had been gaily roughhousing with our bitch, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, and bounded over the shooting range berm a good ten feet into the lake before setting the ducks with a very distinctive point.

Yes, a point. Moondoggie has been out fetching black labs his entire life and firmly believes that even though he is smaller than most waterfowl, he is still a continental spaniel, aka field dog.

Moondoggie pointed at Goth and Punk, adjusting his position as they swam around him. Chest deep in water, he looked at me, looked at the ducks, looked at me, looked at the ducks, looked at me, looked at the ducks. Completely dedicated, Moondoggie held his point for over half an hour.


‘Dorene,’ he seemed to say, ‘the ducks are swimming in a pond in the middle of our gun range. Hello! Aren’t you supposed to do something drastic about this? What ever happened to that Winchester Sweet 16 you were killing orange clay disks and political signs with just last week? Seriously?’

After fielding some very disapproving looks from my stubborn dog, who refused to respond to repeated commands to ‘come’, I walked over and physically removed him from the pond. Moondoggie enjoyed the rest of the afternoon gaily helping Gidget herd the African pygmy goat kids in and out of their pen.


I know that a few of those who are still reading this story are fuming right now, that I would dare to use what they consider inflammatory language in such a cavalier manner.

Could it be that the American advertising industry has so engrained the idea of branding words into our fabric that if a word has a pop culture meaning every other meaning for that word can no longer be used? We regularly crucify people over using words in proper context with their traditional meaning. Force a written public apology, expel them from school, fire their asses because some one might be offended.

I am offended! When did we become so myopic? Why are we giving so much power to the agenda of haters? Why do we allow them to take away our ability to express ourselves in a proper and fitting manner? Linguistic terrorists. Vocabulary Inquisition.

I am over it.

This is a spike for all of the Freedom of Speech quashers: instead of complaining that it is offensive when I say that I threw some faggots on the fire or that my shirt is gay, instead invest your time in doing something constructive - like actually living a lifestyle of acceptance, civility, and tolerance.

Bitch
-noun
1. a female dog.
2. a female of canines generally.
3. slang
a. a malicious, unpleasant, selfish person, esp. a woman.
b. a lewd woman.

Faggot
-noun
1. a bundle of sticks, twigs, or branches bound together and used as fuel.
2. a bundle of pieces of iron or steel to be welded, hammered or rolled together at high temperature
3. a male homosexual

Gay
-adjective
1. having or showing a merry, lively mood.
2. bright or showy.
3. given to or abounding in social or other pleasures.
4. licentious; dissipated; wanton
5. homosexual