Picture: Bev and Carl, our very good friends, in Petersburg, Alaska.

The main reason we came to Petersburg was to visit Bev and Carl, whom we worked with in Bethel, Alaska. Bev was my supervisor at the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) between 1995 and 2010. LKSD includes most of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. She was the Academic Director for the district and the best boss that anybody could ever hope for. She recognized everybody's strengths and trusted them to do their best. She is easily approachable, kind, fair and understanding. Her influence in building a strong academic program for the district was incalculable, especially in maintaining the Yup'ik Eskimo language program. Since there were no printed materials for that language, we had to develop our own reading materials. Each year we had summer institutes with Yup'ik teachers on literacy programs and to translate and write books for the Yup'ik language arts program. Bev was also responsible for the English as Second Language (ESL) program and literacy training.

My last three years under her involved working on the "Arts Grant" along with my good friend, Nita, whom I have talked about in an earlier blog on our visit to Seward, Alaska. It was a fantastic and fun-filled three years of training teachers to integrate art (traditional and cultural), music and movement into the curriculum by organizing workshops, institutes and modeling in classrooms.

For many years Carl was the beloved site administrator of Akiuk School in the village of Kasigluk on the Yukon-Kuskowim Delta, about 20 miles from Bethel by snow machine. Even though it is not a big village it has two schools because part of the village is on one side of the river and part on the other side.

Carl was known for his dedication, and firm but loving approach towards staff, students and village people in general. I worked with Carl on a few occasions and my experiences were all positive. I like his open-mindedness and believe it was very beneficial for students. For a few years prior to working on the Arts Grant I was in charge of the Migrant Education program. Yup'ik people were considered "migrant workers" if they moved a certain number of miles from their homes for a certain period of time per year for work purposes (including subsistence fishing). Most Yup'ik Eskimos move to their fish camps during the summer months to catch and process fish for subsistence purposes so their children qualify for the program. As part of that program we ran the "Kusko Book Express" to help develop childrens' reading skills during the summer months by passing out free books. Carl was one of the two people who delivered books to the fish camps. His face always brightens with a smile when he talks about the reception children gave him when he pulled his boat up to shore with the books. He said that was one of his most rewarding tasks. One summer, I decided to promote reading and needed more excitement, so I rented several book character costumes. These included "George and Martha" (Hippopotamus), the monster from "Where the Wild Things Are", "Curious George" and "Clifford the Big Red Dog". One day, Carl took me, and some students wearing the costumes, to his school to read books to the children. As we were walking through the remote village of Kasigluk, children ran out of houses, dogs barked and the faces of the adults were glued to their windows, as if we had bought Disneyland to their village. The fantasy world came alive. That was a memorable afternoon for them, and for us.

The last but not least of the stories that I encountered with Carl was one fine spring day on the Kuskokwim River when the ice was just starting to break up. Carl had promised his students that if they meet the reading goal for the entire school that he would kiss a pig. Well, the students worked hard and did meet the reading quota! So my colleague, Kathy, me, Carrie (newspaper owner/reporter) and her pet pig, Gertude, flew to Carl's school with fifteen boxes of pizzas for a parent/student workshop. The maintenance man was there by the river waiting for us to go across. All of us got into the boat with the pig and proceeded across until we came to a large patch of ice. We all got out and unloaded everything onto the ice; pushed the boat to the other side of the ice to some open water and then all got back into the boat. We did that three times. It was quite a journey across a river.

Of course the finale of the event was Carl kissing the pig in front all the students and parents. The entire audience roared with laughter and Carl almost got his lip bitten off by Gertude, the pig.

It was fun moments like that, that makes our relationship with Bev and Carl so special. Visiting them at their home in Petersburg was truly an experience to remember. They have a lovely three-story home next to a tidal creek and some picturesque woodland. Located at the end of a cul-de-sac they have the peace and quiet and yet are supported by many wonderful friends and excellent medical services. What a perfect place to retire!