Clark Fair

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For many years, Abby (Lancashire) Ala (standing) gave horseback riding lessons at her home, the site of her longtime business, Ridgeway Farms. (Clark Fair photo from 2001)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 9

The Lancashire sisters came as children with their parents to homestead in Ridgeway in 1948

For many years, Abby (Lancashire) Ala (standing) gave horseback riding lessons at her home, the site of her longtime business, Ridgeway Farms. (Clark Fair photo from 2001)
Rusty and Larry Lancashire pose out in front of Larry’s Club, located about a mile north of Kenai, circa the mid-1960s. (Photo courtesy of the Lancashire Family Collection)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 8

Rusty Lancashire hadn’t allowed her first impressions of Kenai in 1948 to deter her from making the central Kenai Peninsula her home

Rusty and Larry Lancashire pose out in front of Larry’s Club, located about a mile north of Kenai, circa the mid-1960s. (Photo courtesy of the Lancashire Family Collection)
Rusty Lancashire kneads bread dough in her kitchen. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 7

Health care — especially emergency care — could be difficult to come by

Rusty Lancashire kneads bread dough in her kitchen. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)
Rusty Lancashire smiles for the camera in the frame house that in the late 1950s replaced the Lancashires’ original homestead log cabin. (Photo courtesy of the Lancashire Family Collection)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 6

The roads were lifelines between communities and among neighbors

Rusty Lancashire smiles for the camera in the frame house that in the late 1950s replaced the Lancashires’ original homestead log cabin. (Photo courtesy of the Lancashire Family Collection)
Rusty Lancashire does some baking. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 5

Ridgeway homesteader Larry Lancashire was reminded of the value of such friendship in December 1950 when he shot another illegal moose

Rusty Lancashire does some baking. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)
The Lancashire family shares a meal in their original homestead cabin. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 4

The Lancashires had settled in

The Lancashire family shares a meal in their original homestead cabin. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)
1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine Rusty Lancashire backs up the family tractor so her husband Larry can connect it to the disc for their fields.

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 3

Rusty and the three Lancashire daughters arrived in Kenai on June 19

1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine Rusty Lancashire backs up the family tractor so her husband Larry can connect it to the disc for their fields.
[ 2a—] Larry and Rusty Lancashire (at left) pose in front of a B-24 bomber in the early 1940s with another unidentified couple. Larry was a B-24 co-pilot during World War II. (Photo courtesy of the Lancashire Family Collection)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 2

Larry Lancashire’s status as a military veteran would aid him in his homesteading efforts on the Kenai Peninsula

[ 2a—] Larry and Rusty Lancashire (at left) pose in front of a B-24 bomber in the early 1940s with another unidentified couple. Larry was a B-24 co-pilot during World War II. (Photo courtesy of the Lancashire Family Collection)
[1a—] After doing business in the Kenai Commercial Company store, Rusty Lancashire climbs into family station wagon, with its sagging back bumper, to head for home. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)

The Lancashires: Evolving lives on the evolving Kenai — Part 1

Mrs. Lancashire certainly didn’t fit Lee’s notion of what a homesteading woman should look like.

[1a—] After doing business in the Kenai Commercial Company store, Rusty Lancashire climbs into family station wagon, with its sagging back bumper, to head for home. (1954 photo by Bob and Ira Spring for Better Homes & Garden magazine)
This plaque was created in the 1980s to memorialize persons known to have been buried in Homer Community Cemetery. The plaque was considered necessary because so many of the graves here had lost their markers or had never been marked. (Clark Fair photo)

Homer Community Cemetery: Difficulties in filling a public need (Part 2)

For about a half-dozen years, the Homer Community Cemetery served its purpose without a hitch

This plaque was created in the 1980s to memorialize persons known to have been buried in Homer Community Cemetery. The plaque was considered necessary because so many of the graves here had lost their markers or had never been marked. (Clark Fair photo)
Clark Fair photo Homer Community Cemetery was first established in 1928 and has been closed to non-reserved burials since the early 1980s.

Homer Community Cemetery: Difficulties in filling a public need (Part 1)

Dying was the problem

Clark Fair photo Homer Community Cemetery was first established in 1928 and has been closed to non-reserved burials since the early 1980s.
Mable Smith pecks away at her typewriter in the Cheechako News office in Ridgeway, circa mid-1960s. (Cheechako News photo)

Don’t stop the presses

The Mable Smith Story — Part 2

Mable Smith pecks away at her typewriter in the Cheechako News office in Ridgeway, circa mid-1960s. (Cheechako News photo)
Cheechako News photo Mable Smith came into her own as a reporter for the Cheechako News (central Kenai Peninsula) in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Don’t stop the presses

The Mable Smith Story — Part 1

Cheechako News photo Mable Smith came into her own as a reporter for the Cheechako News (central Kenai Peninsula) in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Charles “Windy” Wagner, in his later years, and an unknown woman smile for the camera in Wagner’s Kenai River cabin. (Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection)

Windy Wagner: Breath of fresh air or just a blowhard? (Part 3)

The conclusion of a three-part story about the life of the man most people knew as “Windy”

Charles “Windy” Wagner, in his later years, and an unknown woman smile for the camera in Wagner’s Kenai River cabin. (Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection)
Charles “Windy” Wagner was an adept gardener who liked sharing his produce and telling stories about its quality. (Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection)

Windy Wagner: Breath of fresh air or just a blowhard? (Part 2)

By most accounts, Charles “Windy” Wagner was an energetic, boisterous storyteller who entertained his listeners

Charles “Windy” Wagner was an adept gardener who liked sharing his produce and telling stories about its quality. (Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection)
Windy Wagner enjoyed entertaining company at his home along the Kenai River. (Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection)

Windy Wagner: Breath of fresh air or just a blowhard? (Part 1)

Most folks seemed to enjoy Charles A. Wagner. They appreciated his hospitality and generosity, his stories and good humor, and his thorough knowledge of the… Continue reading

Windy Wagner enjoyed entertaining company at his home along the Kenai River. (Photo courtesy of the Knackstedt Collection)
John Fenger, seen here in his later years, died in 2006.

Medical establishment comes to Homer — Part 3

In early spring 1965, there were loose ends to tie up …

John Fenger, seen here in his later years, died in 2006.
The Fenger children — (left to right) Heidi, Eric and Peter — delight in a bounty of silver salmon gathered by setnet below their home in August 1962. (Photo courtesy of the Fenger Family Collection)

Medical establishment comes to Homer — Part 2

It was normal for Dr. John Fenger to receive phone calls when someone in Homer needed medical attention.

The Fenger children — (left to right) Heidi, Eric and Peter — delight in a bounty of silver salmon gathered by setnet below their home in August 1962. (Photo courtesy of the Fenger Family Collection)
Posing stiffly in the bow of the M.S. Hygiene, along the Alaska coast, is Nurse Grace Heutink, clad in a warm fur parka. (Photo courtesy of the Fenger Family Collection)

Medical establishment comes to Homer — Part 1

In the early days of formal medicine in Homer, doctors and dentists were often forced to improvise.

Posing stiffly in the bow of the M.S. Hygiene, along the Alaska coast, is Nurse Grace Heutink, clad in a warm fur parka. (Photo courtesy of the Fenger Family Collection)
This photo of John Floyd King was taken during his U.S. Army service during World War I. Written beneath the photo was “Some soldier, eh!” (Photo courtesy of the Brennan Family Collection)

The Separate Lives of the Man Who Fell — Part 3

Alec Hardin MacDonald appeared in the census count as a resident of Takotna Village in Interior Alaska

This photo of John Floyd King was taken during his U.S. Army service during World War I. Written beneath the photo was “Some soldier, eh!” (Photo courtesy of the Brennan Family Collection)