Alissa Henry celebrated her 40th birthday at White Sulfur Springs with friends Sarah Elliott, Sierra Jimenez, Sara Chapell, Stoli Lynch, Jess Crowe, Jolanta Ryan, Sally Anderson and Courtney Culbeck. The group took a flight to Pelican where they chartered the boat “Destination” that took them to the springs. They stayed for three nights enjoying nice weather and soaking in the bathhouse and natural hot pool on the beach. “We even scooped up seaweed from the beach and wrapped ourselves, just like we were at the spa,” Alissa said.

Abigail Thorgesen drove down to Moscow, Idaho earlier this month with her mother Amy Thorgesen and brother, Titus, 1, where Abigail will be attending New Saint Andrews College. The trio left Haines August 2, which was also Amy and Chris Thorgesen’s 21st wedding anniversary. After four days on the road and a few more in Moscow, Amy and Titus flew back to Haines. “We had a fantastic trip,” Amy said.

More than 17 players came out for a Golf Fundraiser for Mary Folletti last weekend. “Almost $1,500 was raised to go to her medical expenses,” said Valley of the Eagles course owner Kathy Pardee Jones.

Celeste Grimes and her son Orion traveled to Seattle, exploring the Pacific Science Center, Chinatown and Pike Place Market. They also flew to Billings, Montana and drove to Worland, Wyoming where her dad, Doug Walker, and his wife, Karla Lockwood, live. They met up with Celeste’s step-siblings that she hadn’t seen in almost 20 years and Orion got to meet many of his cousins. They also ventured to Yellowstone National Park, drove to Devil’s Tower, saw the desert parts of Wyoming and saw petroglyphs.

Army Lt. Col. Russell Price, son of Mary Price of Haines, has been in town fishing. Russell retired July 23 after 30 years, 8 months and 10 days in the military. He drove down to Haines three days later. Russell earned seven service stripes while being stationed in Afghanistan, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Russell’s sister Nadine Price also retired this year. Nadine worked as a health and physical education teacher for more than 30 years at Wendler Middle School in Anchorage.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game technician and former resident Esther Bower found a unique fish species left on a cleaning table at Statter Harbor in Auke Bay in Juneau last week. Esther took the fish to groundfish biologist Aaron Baldwin who identified it as a frostfish or cutlassfish, which is usually not found in Alaska. The fish species typically exists in the South Pacific near Malaysia and Southeast Asia. According to Fish and Game, the specimen will be donated to the Burke Museum in Seattle where it will become part of the largest fish collection in North America.

Stella Ordoñez celebrated her 15th birthday at Carr’s Cove last weekend. Stella’s parents Joe and Edie Ordoñez and sister Sapphire were there for the quinceañera, a special coming-of-age ceremony widely celebrated in Latin America. About 50 people attended, including Stella’s aunt Rita Ordoñez and uncle Ron Farrell from Mount Vernon, Washington. “We had fabulous food and flowers from Foundroot and a cake from Cambria Goodwin,” Edie said.

Tim Holm, EMT/firefighter with the Haines Volunteer Fire Department, recently graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Firefighter Academy. “His fellow candidates and instructors elected him to give a speech at the graduation as well,” said his wife Nicole Holm.

Scott Ramsey recently published the piece “Dancing with the River to the Center of the Universe” in the book “Why We Boat.” Scott is donating a copy of the book to the Haines public library.

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