Duly Noted

Recent Hammer Museum intern Sofia Lago has received heart-wrenching news from family in Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria destroyed the San Juan home of her father Gerard Lago and wife Marisol Marabuk. Her aunt and uncle, Fernanda and Ilya Lago, are missing in the mountain town of Cidra. Sofia is studying in Florence, Italy.
Mary Jane Valentine is asking for the return of painted rock mandalas that daughter Tammy Hamilton created. About three inches wide, the stones decorated the Jones Point gravesites of Judy Berry and Edith Jacquot. Mary Jane sets out art and flowers at the graves each summer, a family tradition that dates back to her grandmother, Nellie Berry. “I went out each year with my mom. It was such a precious thing… Hopefully, somebody just moved them and will bring them back.”
North Tide Canoe Kwaan leader Wayne Price says the giant red cedar log next to his house on Officer’s Row is attracting attention. The 40-foot Western red cedar log, four feet in diameter, was cut in Thorne Bay. It’s slated to become a 35-foot, Northern style dugout canoe. “A lot of tourists who’ve come by stand by the log for photos. It’s an attraction,” Wayne said. He has led carving of 11 Tlingit-style canoes, including two 40-footers. Wayne also recently made a non-traditional spruce strip canoe. “That’s a Wayne Price invention, truly. It’s proved its way, too. It’s the new kid on the block,” he said.
Marsha and Troy Warner threw an 80th birthday party for her dad Ralph Strong, Sept. 26 at the American Legion. Ralph’s brothers Gene, Chip, Jack, Henry, Jim, and Tony were on hand, along with Lani Hotch. Other Klukwan friends on hand included Elsie and Charlie Spud, Beverly and Jeffrey Klanott, Kath Hotch, Joe King, and village ministers Jami and Jason Campbell. About 40 people, including friends from town and the American Legion, attended. Chip made pork roast, Jack did the mashed potatoes and Tony covered gravy, green beans, focaccia bread and chocolate cherry cake. Felicia and Hunter Hildre from Klukwan and kids, Kyle and David, helped out. Jack and Lani led Tlingit dancing.
Credit HARK’s Tracy Mikowski with the Southeast Alaska version of rescuing a kitten from a tree – untangling one from a gillnet. Mikowski was called when a Lutak Road resident discovered a small black cat entangled in a pile of gillnet. The cat had been wrapped up for a few hours and one of its paws was swollen to twice its normal size, due to loss of circulation. Mikowski was able to fish out the six-month-old cat without cutting any web. “The trick is to pull it out the same way it went in,” Tracy said. Cats sometimes get stuck chasing birds that get caught in a net’s web, she said. A similar situation a few years ago led to a cat losing a few toes. The cat was reunited with its owner.
Tim June, Sue Nelson, and Len Feldman attended the 41st Northwest Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, Wash. Sept. 7-9. A highlight was riding on a 100-foot schooner under sail, Tim said. Among the 300 boats featured at the festival was the Felicity Ann, a historic vessel previously located in Haines. Ann Davison used it to make the first solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a woman in 1954. Former magistrate John Hutchins owned the vessel in Haines, partially restoring it before donating it to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. The school rebuilt the hull and expects to sail it by next summer. The 23-foot boat was built in 1939.
Haines School will host Family Science Night, 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11 in the elementary and middle school wings. A free lasagna dinner is provided and Halloween-themed stations set up at the school will expose participants to different scientific phenomena. Kim Cunningham, the district’s director of student services, is organizer.
Stefanie Jenkinson is the new raptor program manager at the American Bald Eagle Foundation. Stephanie has a degree in conservation and wildlife management and has worked for Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium, Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Chalfont, Pa., New Jersey’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and New Mexico’s Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. The foundation recently brought on two interns, Jessi Schultz and Thomas Guillebeau. They’ll be here through February working on bird care and foundation projects and helping with the annual bald eagle festival Nov. 6-11. Foundation coordinator Katie Dickerson recently attended the Museums Alaska conference in Anchorage along with Helen Alten, Regi Johanos, and Aly Zeiger of the Haines Sheldon Museum.
Harold and Aileen Williams of Alabama have donated $25,000 toward the eagle foundation’s aviary redesign project. The donation –enough to build two, medium-sized aviaries– brings donations to the project from crowd-sourcing and private giving up to $46,500. A professor of Vocational and Adult Education, at Auburn University, Harold is a local landowner, seasonal resident and 40-year supporter and donor of the foundation and its efforts, said foundation founder Dave Olerud.
Dave “Vern” DalMaso died Sunday in Haines of an apparent heart attack. About 40 people attended a graveside service Wednesday at Jones Point for the service station attendant and former Chilkat Cruises and Tours manager. He was 65.
Former resident Mike Murphy, 57, died Sunday at the Mat-Su Medical Center in Palmer. Full obituaries will be printed in next week’s CVN.