Piper Grall reached out to Melissa Ganey and encouraged a collaboration with artist Cara Murray to turn her painting ‘Haines Stay Strong’ into a fundraising opportunity for those impacted by the December storms and landslide. Cara is an artist who grew up in Haines and currently lives in Sitka with her husband, Rob Murray, and four children.
Piper also grew up in Haines and now lives in Port Angeles, Washington with her husband Richard Grall, two horses and three dogs. She lives a short 10-minute drive from her father and former Haines resident, Brian Lemcke.
Melissa co-owns 907 Clothing Company with her sister, Kaitlin Combs. Melissa and Cara both graduated from Haines High School in 1999. “The print ‘Haines Stay Strong’ was more a prayer than anything. I make art that hopefully speaks to the ones it needs to. In this case, it was needed. It was a way for me to process how I was feeling about being away from my hometown while it was literally in chaos,” Murray said.
Murray donated her print to the Haines Borough and provided Ganey with the rights to the art work to use for the fundraiser. Framing for the print was completed and donated by Teri Podiski (Melissa’s mother) and the original art is currently hung in the Haines Borough Assembly Chambers. Melissa organized and ordered the print to be produced on youth and adult tees, unisex sweatshirts, stickers and prints. Shirts Up in Anchorage completed the printing and donated the shipping costs. So far, they have raised $2,864 which has been donated to the Haines Salvation Army for Disaster Relief. Melissa says there are plenty of hoodies, adult and youth tees, and stickers still available. You can reach Melissa at 907-314-0576 or find her on Facebook to place an order. 100% of future orders will be donated.
Sergeant Major Michael C. Eberly serves as drum major for Pershing’s Own U.S. Army Band in Arlington Cemetery. He was recently seen on all news channels as he marched the band to the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” for the ceremony as part of the Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20. Mike is the son of Claudia (Eberly) Frost, who lived in Haines in the early 80s as the vocal music teacher. At that time, Haines had both a band teacher (Woody Bausch) and a choir teacher. Her husband Steve Eberly was the basketball coach. Claudia performed often with the Chilkat Valley Trio (Nancy Nash, Gary Matthews or John d’Armand, and Claudia) locally and in Skagway and Juneau. Claudia played the mother in a big local production of the Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors during the time she was here, with Mike playing her son Amahl.
Mike lives outside of Washington D.C. with his wife, Brooke Eberly, who also plays in the Army Band, and their five-year-old daughter, Cora. Claudia Frost lives in Maine.
Stuart and Lexie DeWitt and their children Charlie, Loralai, and Lucas returned home from a two-month journey south. They started in Washington, visiting Lexie’s parents Steve and Carrie Conley. From there they headed to Seaside, Oregon where they met up with visiting Haines locals Paul Carrington and Erica Loomis, their daughter Drew, and Paul’s son, Orion. The family explored the Tillamook Creamery and also the Columbia River Maritime Museum. They enjoyed a beach walk with Haines summer residents Skipper and Sabine Sparks. The family headed back to Washington to spend Christmas with Lexie’s parents and her brother and his family. After the new year they traveled south to Arizona to visit Stuart’s parents Charlie and Toni DeWitt and his aunt Shannon Willard. In Arizona the kids enjoyed a race car event at the Lake Havasu speedway and also rock hunting in California. After Arizona the family ventured on a 15-hour road trip from Las Vegas back to Seattle where they met with friend Alisha Young and her boyfriend Sam Horne. They also connected with more Haines locals: Walker Blair, Cameron Bauer and Jimmy Thomsen who were also visiting Young. From Seattle the family went on an impromptu trip to Hawaii and attended a luau for Loralai’s sixth birthday. The kids missed Haines and their friends and are happy to be back and snuggle with their dogs Titan and Calli.
The Haines pool has hired new lifeguards following their training course last month. New lifeguards are: Sydney Wray, Journey Rettinger, Brandt Alten-Huber, Riley Harrison, and Clif Miller. Clif Miller will be assisting with P.E. classes for the school starting Feb. 8. Lifeguard and Haines Dolphins’ coach Jae McDermaid will be taking over all classes, courses, and programs as the new program coordinator.
The pool has started warm Wednesdays and weekends where the pool will be at 83-84 degrees. They will also have swimming lessons for children available Wednesday mornings.
On Wednesday evenings at 7:15 p.m. Sid Moffat has started a relaxing evening of floating on your paddleboard while doing yoga. The class consists of 45 minutes of SUP yoga and is followed by optional pool and sauna time. You can sign up through Moffat at 766-2696. Manager Amanda Painter reports, “We have a few lanes available around 7 a.m. if anyone is hoping to get back into swimming and the sauna is available anytime the pool is open.” She reminds users to always call in at 766-2666 and reserve to swim as space is limited in accordance with their COVID-19 safety plan.
Former English teacher, library supporter and founder of the Duly Noted column, Doris Owen Ward, died peacefully at HAL early Sunday morning with loved ones at her side. There will be an obituary next week.