Kaitlin Sloan and Steven McLaughlin were married at Mosquito Lake’s New Fellowship Church on Saturday, May 18. Friend Zack Ferrin officiated the ceremony that was attended by close family and friends. The bride’s parents are Freddie and Nancy Sloan; the groom’s parents are Sean and Margaret McLaughlin. The reception was held at the American Legion. The couple have two children, Landon McLaughlin and Rylee Sloan.
The University of Alaska’s annual golf tournament was a sunny and pollen-filled event at the Valley of the Eagles Golf Links. Organizer Niall Hackett said it was a great turnout with about 36 people from Juneau who participated. The first-place team included locals Joe Parnell, Tom Heywood, Lee Robinson and Niall’s girlfriend Tami Hudella of Phoenix, Arizona. The winning team received customized Valley of the Eagles golf jackets. Jerry Burnett of Juneau hit closest to the pin and received a $50 Amazon gift card. Tyler Swinton and Toni DeWitt won the grand prize, a round trip ticket from Alaska Airlines, for longest drives in the men’s and women’s division.
Third grader Orion Grimes stumbled upon a unique item at Battery Point beach on a field trip with his class and teacher Kristin White and Mario Benassi. A 24-karat gold-plated Maruti Spiritual Puja Yantra from India is supposed to protect its owner from accidents and helps a person free themselves from fear of death, grave dangers, fatal diseases and make them courageous and healthy. Orion found the item on the trail as it approaches the beach. “He also found an amazing rock that looked tooth-like,” Kristin said. He’s great at finding things.
Larry Larsen got an interesting voicemail early this week from a cousin who said they were on the large Princess ship at Port Chilkoot, but didn’t leave a number. Larry called his sister in New York, Kay Larsen, who gave him the number to his cousin Suzanne Reiter of Iowa. When he called her she said she was home. Confused, Larry called his sister back. Kay suspected it was another cousin with the same first name, Suzanne Mihara. Larry called that Suzanne and they reunited briefly at the cruise ship dock with Larry’s wife Ellen Larsen and daughter Tori Larsen before Suzanne and her husband Nate Mihara ventured to Skagway for an excursion. “They haven’t seen each other in 60 years!” Ellen said. “It was so amazing and we just had an instant connection.”
Kit Brown’s best friend since eighth grade made her way to Haines from Clarkston, Washington. Amanda Clark enjoyed her week stay with the Brown family to help Kit with her five children and with graduation preparations for her oldest daughter, Morgan Cloke.
Shane and Michelle Oakley and daughters Willow and Maya traveled to Nova Scotia in early May to see Sierra Oakley graduate from St. Francis Xavier University with a Bachelor of Science in biology. Sierra is back in Haines for the year to work for her mom running the vet clinic and filming the “Dr. Oakley Yukon Vet” television show on National Geographic Wild. The clinic has been moved to a new location at the old firehall in the Fort where they will run the clinic year-round. Also in early May, Dr. Tina Palmieri from University of California Davis, a human burn surgeon specialist, and Dr. Jamie Peyton, a veterinary burn specialist, came to Haines to assist with Cody Hotch’s dog Archer’s burn care. Archer needed surgery to correct his eye and side, which is one of the final steps of his healing. He is looking great and most of his hair has regrown, Dr. Oakley said.
Sibling duo Libby and Ketch Jacobson have finished their 100-ton captain’s course at the Pacific Maritime in Portland. The siblings are headed back to work on their parents charter express business in Haines this summer.
A good-sized crowd turned out for the Police Week Open House last Friday. Many enjoyed the “Haines Has Got Talent Show,” karaoke, jokes and dancing. “The community building is so imperative and the Haines Police and Dispatch team have really come together to make this event a grand success,” said volunteer organizer Candice Scott.
Correction: Chandler Kemp raced against 4,000 runners in the Vancouver Marathon rather than the quoted 18,000 in last week’s paper. The 18,000 runners were for all the events.