Justin Swinton and Courtney Reay were married at Love Lane Barn in Bozeman, Montana on May 14. The bride’s mother is Patty Reay and the groom’s parents are Ralph and Sarah Swinton of Haines. Justin’s grandmother Charlotte Olerud and uncle Mayor Douglas Olerud were in attendance with Justin’s siblings: Tyler Swinton with wife Lynzee Swinton, Dylan Swinton, and Kayley Swinton. Friends James and Ashley Sage and Dave and Inez Gross also traveled to Bozeman for the ceremony.
The newly married couple live in Three Forks, Montana and both work in Bozeman. Justin is working construction and Courtney is an ultrasound technician. Justin graduated from Haines High School in 2014. Grandfather Dave Olerud of Haines is looking forward to celebrating the marriage at a local reception in August.
Kayley Swinton, Haines High School Alumna, class of 2016, recently completed her second year of graduate school for physical therapy at Pacific University in Hillsboro, Oregon. She is home for the summer and is working at the family grocery store.
Meagan Elizabeth Nye and Gregory Gabriel Bolshakoff were married on May 14 in a small beach wedding on Fox Farm Trail at the end of Fritz Cove Road in Juneau.
Parents are Kevin and Shannon Nye of Juneau and Greg and Mary Bolshakoff of Ketchikan. The ring bearer was Meagan’s dog, Wilfred. Haines’ friends Alex and Kendra Knight with their children Evan and Roy were in attendance. Additionally, Amy Baylous, formerly of Haines, traveled for the wedding from her home in Washington. The newlyweds both work for the Alaska Marine Highway System and became friends and shipmates back in 2006. Meagan reports, “It wasn’t until after the great IBU strike of 2019 that our love blossomed! Gabe is the handsomest Bosun in the AMHS fleet and sails on the M/V Matanuska. I’m the 2nd Assistant Engineer on the M/V Columbia.”
The couple plans to make their home in Juneau and is looking forward to visiting Sri Lanka for their honeymoon in winter 2023, global politics and pandemics depending. Meagan is a 2003 Haines High School graduate.
Darsie Beck visited his son Darsie Culbeck with wife Courtney and their youngest son Griffin in Haines from his home on Vashon Island, Washington. While visiting Haines, Darsie taught a travel journal sketch workshop to 10 participants at Chilkat Inlet Retreat. The one day workshop took place on May 21 and was outdoors as it was a beautiful spring day. Darsie is on faculty at Northwind Art School in Port Townsend. He typically teaches a class every other month and, pre-pandemic, traveled frequently for workshops.
Beck has been journaling each morning for over 30 years. He said his writing journals are private, similar to a daily diary, whereas his sketch journals are public.
The tenet of Beck’s practice is developing the habit of writing at least three pages first thing each morning and sketching daily observations whenever possible. He reported, “The most important gift we can give ourselves is time. Both writing and sketching afford us that important gift.”
Teaching at the Chilkat River Retreat with the idyllic water and mountain view setting afforded Beck and his students the best classroom setting he has experienced to date.
To learn more about Beck and travel journal sketching you can visit www.northwindart.org.
Haines Animal Rescue Kennel staff reports retired veterinarians Dr. Meyers and Dr. Morris of Wasilla came to town and spayed and neutered 50 local animals, the majority of those being spays. They additionally provided 72 rabies vaccinations to dogs and cats. HARK Executive Director Stacey Clark said she was grateful for the visiting vets and said it was exciting how many animals they were able to serve. The visiting veterinarians were former colleagues of local retired vet Dr. Elizabeth Wolfe and had visited Haines in the past to assist her.
Friends of Haines Police hosted a Frito Pie and Cake Walk for community members to kick-off the nationwide Police Week. Almost 100 people came to the event and board chair Lexie DeWitt was thankful for the turnout. She said, “I am really happy kids and adults came and participated. It was a good way to connect with local officers and I am happy this nonprofit is doing good things for the community.” Board member Kevin Woods and the Salvation Army helped pay for the food. Board members Toni DeWitt and Greg Podsiki served food along with volunteers Karl and Bonnie Johnson and Brooklyn DeWitt.
Duly Noted
