Theodore Lende Lynch was born to parents Stoli and Nels Lynch Saturday, April 20 in Juneau. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces. Grandmother Heather Lende said Nels helped deliver his son, and Theodore’s Aunt Eliza Dorn kept Nel’s sisters, Lani and Silvia Rose, “happy and occupied during the blessed event.” Local relatives include aunt and uncle Sarah and Brian Elliott and cousins CC and Ivy; grandmother Holly Lynch; aunts Teo and Summer Lynch and cousins Lila and Teal Tarleton. “Everybody’s just thrilled,” Lende said. “He’s got a lot of people that love him around here.”
Bodie Reid Barrson was born to Brianna Barrson in Minnesota on April 16. He weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces. Grandpa Don Phillips said his grandson was born 10 days late, “but better late than never.” Grandma Kim Phillips is staying with Brianna in Andover, Minnesota. Local relatives also include aunt and uncle Vanessa and Ryan Salmon and cousins Sydney and Oliver. Don said everything worked out well and that everybody’s doing great.
Joan Snyder returned Tuesday from a trip to Whitehorse to visit long-time friend Alice Cyr and to see the swans at Watson Lake. “We walked down to the lake edge and there were swans flipping around, flapping their wings,” Snyder said. Cyr was a former resident of Skagway when Snyder worked as a public health nurse there. “We became scrabble buddies,” Snyder said. “I’ve known her for 40 years.” Snyder said on her return to Haines on the ferry from Skagway, she saw hooligan in Lutak Inlet. “Yes the swans are in up there and the hooligan are in up here.”
Melina Shields assisted summer resident and yoga teacher Sarana Miller at a yoga retreat at Wilbur Hot Springs in California. Melina and husband Tim Hockin spent 10 days at the retreat. She said she helped teach 30 students at the retreat. “We had a great time,” Shields said. “It was so rainy in California. The wildflowers were off the hook.”
Fisherman Andrew Friske sent 100 pounds of herring eggs from Sitka to Haines friends. Lucky recipients included Stuart and Lexie DeWitt, Jeff Klanott and Chun Williamson. “We found some and we thought it would be a good thing to send some up to folks,” Friske said. “I know how much I like them and it was fun to share.”
Alison and Glen Jacobson’s daughter Libby came home in April and will work with her parents this summer as she’s done since she was 14-years old. Along with her brother Ketch, Libby is working to earn her captain’s license. They both plan on taking the written test in early May in Portland. She’s been working on her degree in Landscape Architecture from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
Actor Seymour Cassel died at age 84 on April 7. He was well-known for his roles in several acclaimed John Cassavetes films and as Lt Cdr Hester Dealt in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also played Skunker in the Disney film White Fang and hung out with Ethan Hawke, Klaus Maria Brandauer and others in Haines during January and February 1990. The three actors visited Dan Henry’s English classes, which incited near swooning among some students as 19-year-old Ethan Hawke sat among them and talked about his perceptions of Haines.
Haines High School English teacher Alex Van Wyhe brought students to the 2019 Alaska Association of Student Government conference in Bethel earlier this month. Students Skylar Smith and Marirose Evenden both crafted resolutions that passed unanimously. Smith earned the title of “delegate of the region” for rewriting her resolution after it received opposition at a conference in Skagway. Evenden was awarded the “resolution of the conference” for its relevance and statewide reach. She drafted a resolution that supported continued state funding of the ferry system. When she presented, she had other students, whose homes were served by the ferry service, hold placards up displaying their school’s name.