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Nick Varney

Life

Unhinged Alaska: I should have known better

It all started off rather quietly.

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Life

Minister’s Message: Living like lambs (in the midst of wolves)

The only chance lambs have of survival is if they have a shepherd watching over them, guarding them,…

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Life

Minister’s Message: Connecting meaningfully with God

What is church, and how is the body of Christ to be lived out?

Virginia Walters (Courtesy photo)

Life

Life in the Pedestrian Lane: AI or not?

AI is here to stay, for better or worse, and we have to recognize that there are limitations…

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Life

Minister’s Message: ‘Be still and I will fight for you’

Letting go of control and embracing faith and silence can encourage us in peace and divine trust.

Photo courtesy of the Melchior Family Collection
Between 1879 and 1892, Stephan Melchior (far left, middle row) performed his mandatory Prussian military service. He was a member of the Eighth Rhineland Infantry Regiment No. 70 in Trier, Germany.

Life

Steve Melchior: Treasured peninsula pioneer with a sketchy past — Part 1

Did anyone in Alaska know the real Steve Melchior? That is difficult to say.

Frank Rowley and his youngest child, Raymond, stand in knee-deep snow in front of the protective fence around the main substation for Mountain View Light & Power in Anchorage in 1948 or ’49. This photo was taken a year or two before Rowley moved to Kenai to begin supplying electrical power to the central peninsula. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)

Life

Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 2

In July 1946, the soft-spoken Rowley was involved in an incident that for several consecutive days made the…

Homer’s Cosmic Creature Club performs at the 2024 Concert on the Lawn at Karen Hornaday Park. (Emilie Springer/Homer News file)

Life

July events to provide entertainment and fun on lower Kenai Peninsula

Events include the Highland Games, Concert on the Lawn, local art camps and the Ninilchik Rodeo.

Nick Varney

Life

Unhinged Alaska: Flashback dreams and the cold sweats

When summer arrives, every personage in the known cosmos suddenly seems to remember that they have kindred living…

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Life

Minister’s Message: Freedom is not what you think

If freedom isn’t what we first think it is, what is it?

This is the Kenai Power complex. The long side of the plant faces the Frank Rowley home, seen here at the right side of the photograph. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)

Life

Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 1

Frank Rowley made one of the most important steps toward modernization in the history of Kenai.

Mary L. Penney and her son Ronald, circa 1930, probably in New York prior to her move to Florida, where she lived out the final years of her life. (Photo courtesy of the Penney Family Collection)

Life

Mary Penney and her 1898 Alaska adventure — Part 10

Stories of their adventures persisted, and the expedition’s after-effects lingered.

Virginia Walters (Courtesy photo)

Life

Life in the Pedestrian Lane: A bug in the system

Schools are in the news lately, both locally and nationally.

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Life

Minister’s Message: Long sleeves

I chose the easy way in the moment but paid the price in the long run.

Kenai Lake can be seen from Bear Mountain, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo by Meredith Harber/courtesy)

Life

Minister’s Message: Speaking the language of kindness

I invite you to pay attention to languages this week.

Herman Stelter, seen here in front of his home in the Kenai River canyon, was another of the Kings County Mining Company members to stay in Alaska. (U.S. Forest Service photo, circa 1910s)

Life

Mary Penney and her 1898 Alaska Adventure — Part 9

Brooklynite Mary L. Penney seemed to know that she was not ready to settle into middle age and…

Local musician Silas Luke Jones performs blindfolded during his performance at the inaugeral HomerFest on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)

Life

Inaugural ‘HarborFest’ draws hundreds to Spit over weekend

The inaugural event was aimed at bringing tourists into the area during the slower, early summer season.

At some point after William B. Hurd was buried in Kenai in 1899, his family asked that his body be exhumed and sent back to New York, where it was reburied. This image, from findagrave.com, shows the marker on his final resting place.

Life

Mary Penney and her 1898 Alaska adventure — Part 8

Despite Mary’s dreams and the newspaper’s low-brow assessment of her experience, the culmination of her journey was decidedly…

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Life

Minister’s Message: Watching and waiting for the Lord’s return

The Lord Jesus wants you to be with him.

A room full of community members pack the audience during the 2025 Mary Epperson Day celebration on May 30 at Pier One Theatre on the Spit. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)

Life

‘Well worth remembering’

Community gathers to celebrate Mary Epperson.