Lincoln Burke Jones was born at 3:21 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, to Lauren Clark Jones and Brian Jones of Chicago. Arriving about a month early, he weighed 5 lbs., 11 oz. and measured 17.72 inches. Grandparents are Judy Heinmiller of Haines, Rick Clark of Vancouver, Wash. and Kathy and Steven Jones of Columbia, S.C. Lincoln is the couple’s first child.

Biologist Tim Shields of Haines earned a mention in a November article in Smithsonian magazine about Joshua Tree National Park. The magazine credits Shields with helping keep alive Mojave Desert tortoises through a program using robotic tortoises to repel ravens, a leading predator species. The desert tortoise has been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1990.

Haines Public Library Director Carolyn Goolsby’s dream of hosting a televised cooking show came true, thanks to the skills of Brandon Wilks, who works as the library’s education director. Wilks did the filming and editing while Goolsby hosted the show, “Carolyn’s Cooking Corner.” She made homemade cranberry sauce, vegetables, lump-free gravy and pumpkin pie in a makeshift “kitchen” set up in the library. Goolsby said she had a great time and would like to film more shows in an actual kitchen. Library workers Erik Stevens and Joe Altman-Moore devoured the holiday dishes. Check out the show by typing “HBPL Carolyn’s cooking corner thanksgiving” into the YouTube search bar.

Charlie Henry reports bumping into Vaughn Avery at the recent Eugene Christmas Market in Eugene, Ore.

Artist and art teacher Kelleen Adams has been working on a giant mural at Juneau’s Safe Harbor Church on Glacier Highway. Adams said daughter Blakemore Weatherly introduced her to church pastor Kermit Wilson and the project took flight in a hallway in the children’s ministry of the church. The scene from a pier includes Eldred Rock, a tugboat, cliffs, seals and whales. Adams painted more than 100 murals on interior walls of homes while living in Austin, Texas, including the solar system in glow-in-the-dark paint for a space enthusiast.

Former KHNS reporter and Native rights activist Matt Gilbert has re-published his memoir, “Sitting at Their Feet: A Young Gwich’in Athabascan’s Memoir.” Politicos Peter Goll, Bill Thomas and Joe Hotch are featured in the chapter about Haines. Gilbert worked a short stint at the station about seven years ago, during a controversy over Klukwan, Inc.’s proposed use of herbicides to foster tree growth on Long Island.

Haines Salvation Army Capt. Kevin Woods said he’s still looking for volunteer bell-ringers to host the fund-raising kettle for one-hour shifts or longer. The job is a great way to see neighbors and spread cheer during the holiday season. Call him at 766-2470 to help out.

Sisters Nori and Amelia Nash hosted a family celebration for the 50th wedding anniversary of parents Dwight and Nancy Nash, which coincided with Thanksgiving. Guests included Dwight’s sister Carol Lawrence, daughter-in-law CaSandra Nash, granddaughter Delilah, Amelia’s business partner Andrea Nelson and Nori’s husband Brian Pindel. Highlights included a surprise scrapbook with photos Dwight and Nancy hadn’t previously seen, as well as tributes from out-of-town friends Susan Oliver, Claudia Frost, Karen Bertroch, Reed Scott-Schwalbach and Bob Schwalbach. Juge Gregg hailed Dwight and Nancy’s First Avenue home as “built on an obvious and abundant love of each other.” The party meal included ham with a Haines cherry glaze, cocktails made with local gin, and Dwight’s cranberry relish and pumpkin pie. More submissions from friends for the scrapbook, an ongoing project, are welcome.

Helen Alten, husband Tim Huber and son Brandt Alten-Huber returned on Thanksgiving from a nine-week, 11,000-mile road trip to the East Coast in their refurbished 1993 Ford ambulance. Expanding from Helen’s enrollment in a class in art conservation in Philadelphia, the trip included building a tear-drop camper in another class and crashing a party of Studio Incamminati in South Philly. (The art program holds a summer class in Haines.) The family also visited daughter Aurora Alten-Huber, a sophomore at Bryn Mawr College, and Tim’s cousin Tom Huber and son Otto. In Washington, D.C., they saw Helen’s brother Peter Alten, wife Jan and their children. Mechanical problems along the way led to a Philadelphia tow company owner who is friends with Daniel Bissinger of Haines and a North Dakota mechanic who knew the Jenna Hayes family. On the return trip, the trio visited Tim’s mom Katherine Huber in Woodinville, Wash., and Helen’s sister Barb Alten, a Bellingham, Wash.-based architect, and her son Juan. Cataclysmic flooding slowed their progress in Washington and British Columbia.

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