Chun Williamson thanked John Katzeek for the keys to her new home Friday, and told him he could bring her a burger.
It was an old joke between Williamson, who lived in Klukwan for most of her life, and Katzeek, who would bring her burgers for lunch from the 33 Mile Roadhouse.
Katzeek was construction manager for Williamson’s home, the first tribe-built house that’s fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Williamson lost use of her legs in a car crash 10 years ago. “Owning my own home, that was a dream I thought would never come true when I got hurt,” she said Friday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Chilkoot Estates subdivision.
The three-bedroom, specially-built house is adapted for Williamson and her two children, including ramps, low cabinets, wider doorways, a roll-in shower and thick wooden floors to support Williamson’s motorized wheelchair.
Williamson said all she wanted was the roll-in shower, but she’s also grateful that her 13-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son each have their own room now. “So there’s no more fighting over whose time it is to have a time-out,” she said.
Williamson was thankful to the Chilkoot Indian Association for the land for the house and to tribal administrator Dave Berry for shepherding the funding for the home, a process that started six years ago. A limited pool of funding and a competitive ranking process slowed progress, Berry said this week.
“Every year, the project got scored higher and higher. We had to wait a long time, but it was worth it,” Berry said.
The Chilkoot Commercial Development Corporation built the home, its fourth in the Chilkoot Estates subdivision, with money from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Housing Improvement Program. Other homes in the subdivision were built with Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act funding, but as those funds annually were cut in half to about $170,000 per year, it may be years before the tribe can build another house, Berry said.
Williamson moved to town two years ago, living in an apartment in the Chilkoot subdivision. Her new home is next to sister Cheri Martin and husband Rob. “My heart’s in the village, but there are things I had to weigh to be in town,” she said.