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Photo from the Kenai Historical Society Peter F. “Frenchy” Vian and William N. Dawson, co-owners of this store in Kenai, pose on the front porch, circa 1911-12. Vian was instrumental in helping to have Alex Ryan imprisoned in 1908.

Life

Exerting control in Old Kenai — Part 4

This is the fourth installment in a series about two killings that occurred in Kenai on April 8,…

White men and women in Kenai tended to congregate with people like themselves. This typical outing, in Kasilof, includes (far left, back row) Hans P. Nielsen, superintendent of the Agricultural Experiment Station. (Photo from the Alaska Digital Archives)

Life

Exerting control in Old Kenai — Part 3

This is the third installment in a series about two killings that occurred in Kenai on April 8,…

Photo from “Once Upon the Kenai” William N. Dawson chats with Captain Rose, of the S.S. Tyonic, in front of Dawson’s Kenai store in 1915.

Life

Exerting Control in Old Kenai — Part 2

The second installment in a series about two killings that occurred in Kenai on April 8, 1918.

A few days after surviving an Aug. 2, 1967, crash in this single-engine Maule Rocket, Dane Parks poses near the front end of the wreckage. (Photo courtesy

Life

Dr. Gaede drops in, Part 3

This is Part Three of a three-part story of an airplane crash more than a half-century ago.

In the early 1890s, one of the few men willing to stand up against the bullying and brutality of Alex Ryan was the Russian Orthodox priest, Father Alexander Yaroshevich. (Photo from the Alaska Digital Archives)

Life

Exerting control in Old Kenai — Part 1

This is a complex tale of a changing Kenai and of four men — not just the two…

Four-year-old Lowell Fair indicates the backseat of the Fair family stationwagon during a 1972 photo-op set up by his father. (Photo courtesy of the Fair Family Collection)

Life

Sometimes you just gotta laugh

This is the story of one of my favorite family photographs.

Will Morrow (courtesy)

Life

Getting old is hard to do

Based on the survey questions, I’ve apparently been old for a while now

Friends of Elmer Gaede effect repairs to the doctor’s Maule Rocket airplane, which crashed a short distance from Forest Lane between Soldotna and Sterling on Aug. 2, 1967. The airplane was eventually made “fly-able” again and was sold in the early 1970s. (Photo courtesy of the Gaede Collection)

Life

Dr. Gaede drops in, Part 2

By Clark Fair

Dr. Elmer Gaede relaxes at home a few weeks after his airplane crash. His facial hair and glasses hide much of his scarring. (Photo courtesy of the Gaede Collection)

Life

Dr. Gaede drops in, Part 1

Part 1 of a three-part story of a single-engine airplane crash more than a half-century ago.

In 1964, two years after the Fairs moved to their homestead at the end of Forest Lane, Calvin Fair took this photo from neighbor Dan France’s SuperCub. Note the dearth of large trees in the foreground, where the 1947 Kenai Burn wiped out much of the hillside forest. (Courtesy Fair Family Collection.

Life

One man’s misfortune becomes my family’s good fortune

Without his misfortune, almost everything changes for me.

Russell Wagner graduated from the dental school within the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco in the spring of 1931. Shortly thereafter, he made his first trip to Seward. (Photo courtesy of college archives)

Life

When the Kenai had just one full-time Dentist, Part 2

Part One discussed how Dr. Russell Wagner, the Kenai Peninsula’s only full-time dentist in 1960.

This is the 1908 birth certificate of Russell Martin Wagner. (Certificate courtesy of ancestry.com)

Life

When the Kenai had just one full-time dentist, Part 1

Wagner graduated from dental school at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco.

Will Morrow (courtesy)

Life

Everything in its place

The Great Garage Reorganization of 2020 is under way.

Photo from the Anchorage Museum of History and Art Dr. David Hassan Sleem stands on the front porch of his large Seward home in 1906.

Life

The multitalented D.H. Sleem, Part two

Syrian-born David Hassan Sleem settled in Seward in 1903.

Anchorage Museum of History and Art Dr. David Hassan Sleem stands on the front porch of his large Seward home in 1906.

Life

The multitalented D.H. Sleem, Part one

Most people, if they have heard of D.H. Sleem at all, know the name because of his Alaska…

Ed Haun entertains tourists w saw—In this 1972 photo, 87-year-old Ed Haun entertains tourists on his porch with musical abilities on a handsaw. (Courtesy of the Hope and Sunrise Historical Society)

Life

How ‘Red Hat’ fits in

How the life of a man long since dead has jarred loose and clarified a nearly 50-year-old memory.

Walter and Beverly Christensen are shown in a newspaper photo in their Clam Gulch store and post office, probably in the 1960s. (Photo provided by Mona Painter)

Life

From Nomadic Life to Stability

The Journey of Beverly Christensen — Part 3

Cooper Landing characters (from left): “Little Jim” Dunmire, Harold and Gary Davis, Beverly and Joe Sabrowski, and “Big Jim” O’Brien, circa 1940s. (Photo provided by Mona Painter)

Life

From nomadic life to stability

The journey of Beverly Christensen — Part Two

Beverly Christensen speaks at a historical society meeting, circa 1980s. (Photo provided by Mona Painter)

Life

From Nomadic Life to Stability: The Journey of Beverly Christensen—Part One

Christensen spent most of her final decades in long, peaceful stints in Cohoe and Clam Gulch.

This portrait—one of few that Richard Shackelford reportedly allowed to be published—graced the 1909 commencement booklet for the California Polytechnic School, of which he was the president of the Board of Trustees. (Photo courtesy Clark Fair)

Life

A tale of Two Shacklefords, in a way — part three

Untangling the origins of Shackleford Creek’s name.