"High school brought with it a love for basketball and the reality of schoolwork," Joseph wrote. "With lots of practice at manual labor, I set my sights on college.  Luckily, I studied enough in school to find myself in a position to attend Winona State University."
 Joeseph described studying hard for his WSU classes, but also enjoying his time in Winona hunting, fishing and especially playing pick-up games of basketball for hours and hours until his legs refused to move. While a sophomore at WSU, Joseph landed a basketball coaching position with a nearby school district.

"That’s when things started to fall in place," Joseph recalled. "The combination of my interests in coaching, geology, and a wise college advisor led me to pursue a degree in earth science education." During the summer following his junior year at WSU, Joseph went to Maine where he taught a variety of subjects including science, nature, mountain biking, and baseball, and where he caught the "travel bug."

 After graduating from WSU in May 2002, Joseph looked to Alaska and the village of Tununak for the perfect blend of travel, adventure, and people.
 "The decision to head for Tununak was a no-brainer," Joseph said, "especially when my roommate, Michael Keefe (WSU '02), was also game for the move."
 Joseph soon discovered that teaching in the village of Tununak offered more than he originally imagined. "Our village relies heavily on subsistence living-- living off the land," Joseph said. "My friends have invited me on many subsistence adventures including hunting ptarmigans, setting fishnets under the ice, and picking berries. 

"We have no trees on the island, only willow bushes ranging from 3’ to 8’ in height.  Driftwood washed up along the coast and small bushes provide our firewood, although most houses are now equipped with a fuel oil furnace." One of the main sources of recreation in the area is basketball. Joseph served for two years as the Tununak Coaster boy’s varsity basketball coach. 

"We started with five players and are now up to 12," Joseph wrote in February. "We fly to different villages on weekends, play in tournaments, and fly home if the weather cooperates.  When traveling to other villages for competition, we sleep on gym or classroom floors. When we cannot fly home because of weather, we attend class wherever we are until the weather clears. Last year, the Kipnuk boy’s basketball team was stuck in Tununak for five days!" 

Mike Keefe, Joseph's college roommate, was originally from Antioch, Ill. He graduated from WSU in 2002, majoring in biology and life science (teaching) and also taught in Tununak, Alaska. "What attracted me to Alaska was the opportunity to experience something different from what I had experienced previously," Michael said, "and the excitement of an adventure."

Another of Joseph and Michael's WSU classmates, Kristen Hanson, also teaches in the Yukon region of Alaska. Kristen grew up in Oregon, Wis., a suburb of Madison, and graduated from WSU in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics teaching. While in school at WSU, Kristen said she compared teaching salaries in states across the country and noted that teachers in Alaska, where she had always wanted to travel, were well paid. During her senior year, her friends, Joseph and Michael, who had just graduated from WSU, were teaching in Alaska and  stayed in touch with her, relating amazing experiences.
 "I got so jealous," Kristen said. "I wanted to be there and have the bush experience, 'the true Alaska experience' as Michael says."

With help from Vicki Decker and WSU's Career Services office, Kristen interviewed for– and accepted– a teaching position in Kwethluk, Alaska, about 100 miles from Tununak. Kristen is loving her Alaska experience and reports that she has learned to cut salmon using an Eskimo "uluaq" knife. She has eaten caribou and moose soup. And, she has enjoyed the "steams."

 "Since people don't have running water," Kristen said, "they get water from the river and make steams in little shanties that are like saunas, though much hotter." In addition to teaching, Kristen is assistant basketball coach at her school, though she admits she is just learning the game.
 "Before college, I was a swimmer and runner," Kristen said. "I played Frisbee all through college and never learned basketball. Last fall, I started playing basketball with the women in my village and they were so encouraging and I had so much fun."

 In addition to Joseph, Michael and Kristen, two other WSU 2002 alumni are teachers in the Lower Kuskokwim School District in south west Alaska: Jennifer Schroeder, a special education/elementary education major now teaching in Bethel, Alaska; and Melanie Gordon, an elementary education major teaching in Tununak.

WSU ALAKSAN ALUMNI

 In addition to those mentioned in the adjoining article, several other WSU alumni living in the 49th state replied to a request to let Winona State and their classmates know a little about themselves. Below are the highlights of the responses:

Al Svenningson, '58 (Fairbanks, AK) has lived in Alaska since August 1967. For 18 years, he was head basketball coach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Since retirement, he has coached professional teams in Sweden, Denmark and Germany and has run basketball camps and clinics in many European countries as well as the Central African Republic and Australia. Al and his wife, Sandy, continue to do a fair amount of international and domestic travel including summers at their river cabin near Delta Junction. They have two adult children: Tori and Brad. Tori lives in Fairbanks and works at the university in the public relations department. Brad is a grad student at a university in Paris, France.

Jeanne Tridle,  '62 (Show Low, Az.) and her husband, Joe (WSU, '63) grew up in Minnesota and met while studying at WSU. Both were teachers in the Anchorage School District and lived in Alaska for more than 30 years; on the Kenai Peninsula, in Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley. Joe retired in 1985 from his position as a principal in the Matanuska-Susitna School District in Palmer, Alaska. Jeanne retired in 1989 after 30 years of teaching, and the couple began to spend winters in Arizona and summers on the Kenai River in Alaska fishing for salmon, halibut and rainbow trout. Jeanne says, “We'd bring the fish back to Arizona and treat our Arizona neighbors to Alaskan fish.” In 2003, the Tridles decided to put a price on the Alaska house and wait for a buyer. A buyer came perhaps too quickly, and Jeanne and Joe hurriedly moved out and began the search for the perfect home in Arizona's White Mountains. "We found just the right house in October," Jeanne said. "Unfortunately, Joe died on April 9, 2004, at the age of 65." Even though Jeanne feels like Alaska is still her home, she is beginning to appreciate the town of Show Low, Arizona. She volunteers at the local library and stays busy with her stained glass and basket-making skills. Jeanne and Joe had one daughter, Gwen.

Annette (Price) Kittleson, '64 (Anchorage, AK), and her husband, Mike, both graduated from WSU in 1964 with bachelor's degrees in elementary education. They married, and moved to Nome, Alaska, for their first teaching positions. After two years of culture shock, challenges and adventure, they missed city life and chose to move to Anchorage where Annette taught first grade for four more years. Mike taught sixth grade before earning a masters degree at the University of Alaska Anchorage and then taught junior high social studies. Mike passed away in 2002 at age 63 after fighting leukemia. Annette still lives in their log home, and is a receptionist at Providence Hospital. Mike and Annette had two children: Nicholas, 33, an attorney, and Emily, 31, a chemical process engineer, both living in Anchorage.

Pam McCarl, '67 (Anchorage, AK) spent her entire 28 years in education in two districts: State Operated Schools, and Anchorage School District. Pam taught self-contained 5th and 6th grades for 10 years, then joined the PACT program to teach gifted students grades K-6. She was president of the Anchorage Education Association for two years. She concluded the last six years of her teaching career in junior high and middle school teaching social studies. Pam and her husband are now retired and enjoy traveling, birding, and fishing.

Linda (Hollon) Duran, '70 (Palmer, AK) graduated from WSU with a degree in Art (Teaching). She has lived in Alaska since 1990 and has raised two daughters. Linda, who is native American (Choctaw-Apache), has created a series of fine art dolls called First Nations Portrait Dolls which depict native life in North America prior to contact with European cultures. Each doll is about 12 inches tall and begins with hand-sculpted clay. Her creations are dressed in wools, leathers and sinews and adorned with whalebone, halibut bone, slate and driftwood. She researches the tribe being portrayed and paints the character, strengths and humanity in the faces. She just completed an artist-in-residency where she taught native doll making in the Pribilof Islands.

Janet (Willroth) Strom, '73 (Wrangell, AK) graduated from WSU with a nursing degree. In 1983, she and her husband, Dennis, moved to Bethel, Alaska, where she worked as a school nurse and then a public health nurse. Dennis was the assistant manager of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge until the Fall of 1998. The couple's three daughters graduated from Bethel High School. Their oldest daughter is now a teacher in the village of Tuntutuliak, about 80 miles down the Kuskokwim River from Bethel. Their second daughter is a physician assistant in Bethel at the YK Delta Hospital. Their youngest daughter lives in Wrangell and is the mother of Janet and Dennis' two grandkids. Janet said they now live on an island and it is beautiful with the snow covered mountains and the ocean all around.

Richard P. Emanuel, '74 (Anchorage, AK) graduated from WSU with a BA in geology and then attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, earning two masters degrees in geology and water resources management. Richard moved to Alaska in 1978 and took a job with the US Geological Survey. His wife, Julie Dumoulin, is a USGS geologist. Richard is now a freelance writer, specializing in science. He maintains close ties with WSU, noting that his father, Joseph Emanuel, is a retired biology professor, and his older brother, Doug Emanuel, oversees laboratories and supplies for the WSU Chemistry Department. Richard and his wife have one daughter, Nicole, age 10.

Patty L. Olson, '74 (Douglas, AK) moved to Juneau, Alaska's capital, in January of 1975, six months after graduating from WSU with a BS in art teaching. Almost immediately, she accepted a job with the State of Alaska and has been a public employee since then. Patty is a senior budget analyst with the Alaska Department of Transportation. She says, "Given that I live in one of the most beautiful cities in America, I spend a lot of time hiking, fishing and camping. I also travel extensively and have seen much of the State." Patty notes that Jayne Andreen, another WSU graduate ('77) is her next door neighbor, and Dale Erickson (WSU '83)  lives in Juneau and has allowed Patty to use his cabin on occasion. Patty is amazed at how small the world can seem. She wrote, "I did not know either of these individuals until they moved here after me."

Lori A. Veldhuis, '79, (Eagle River, AK) has been in Alaska for 21 years. She has a number of current jobs, including: elementary school nurse, phone triage nurse for Providence Hospital, massage practitioner, healing touch practitioner, medic first aid instructor, and ETT. Lori has four children: Jason, 20, a junior at Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania; Sarah, 19, a sophomore at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.; Lucas, 16, a junior at Chugiak High School; and Garret, 14, a freshman at Chugiak High School.

Mary Leykom, '80 (Anchorage, AK) graduated with a BA in biology and was hired by the St. Paul District Corps of Engineers to assess proposed projects for compliance with the Clean Water Act. The next year she was hired by the Alaska District Corps to do similar work throughout Alaska. She says it was great fun flying to remote fishing villages on the Aleutian Chain, working on the North Slope reviewing oil industry development, and attending public meetings in tiny villages on Southeast Alaska's rain forested islands.  In 1986, she left the Corps to join her fiancé, Jerry Stroebele, in Kotzebue, Alaska, just above the Arctic Circle, where he was the refuge manager at Selawik National Wildlife Refuge. Mary and her husband spent 26 days driving their 18 sled dogs from Fairbanks to Kotzebue. They traveled over traditional Athabaskan Indian trails down the Koyukuk River to Inupiat Eskimo country on the Kobuk River. Mary said the trip was between 500 and 600 miles, "and since it was an official government move, we received 8 cents a mile!" In Kotzebue, Mary worked for a commuter airline, a university extension office, and ran the Bureau of Land Management's field office.  After five years and two kids, Mary and Jerry moved to Anchorage where she worked for six years at the Alaska Department of Transportation doing environmental work. She recently rejoined the Corps of Engineers and does most of the permit work in the villages in Southwest Alaska including the Yukon-Kuskokwuim Delta area.

Connie (Laverty) Laws, '81 (Anchorage, AK) earned a bachelors degree in nursing from WSU and has been a stay-at-home mom for years. Her husband was a pilot for the Navy. He retired from the Navy and took a job in Alaska teaching Naval Science (ROTC). When time allows, especially in summer, they sightsee Alaska. Connie said, "We have been on amazing hikes in astounding beauty, caught red salmon on the Kenai River and Halibut in Resurrection Bay. I flew in a small plane and a sea plane. I've been on the Matanuska Glacier, flew over and hiked to glaciers. This spring, I landed aboard the aircraft carrier, The USS Stennis, off the coast of Alaska, as a distinguished visitor with the Navy League. I toured Denali National Park and enjoyed sightseeing excursions in Resurrection Bay, Prince William Sound, Valdez, Dawson City in Canada's Yukon Territory, Skagway and Juneau.

Julie Arin, '82 (Anchorage, AK) earned her degree at WSU, double majoring in elementary education and speech pathology. She moved to Alaska in 1984 and taught four years in Valdez. She moved to Anchorage in 1989 and has been working for British Petroleum, Alaska, Inc., for 12 years in the HSE Compliance Group for Drilling, Production and Exploration.  Julie loves Alaska but travels as much as possible. She has great memories of having bicycled in Greece, Italy, Holland, Costa Rica and Alaska and enjoys typical Alaskan adventures such as camping, hiking, biking, fishing and enjoying good times with family and friends.

Georgia (Fox) DeKeyser, '84, (Anchorage, AK) graduated from Winona State's bachelor's of nursing program and moved to Alaska with her husband with the intent of "working for one year and returning to the Midwest." The DeKeyser's have called Anchorage their home for 20 years. Georgia has worked as an RN at the Alaska Native Medical Center, and Alaska Regional Hospital. She attended graduate school at the University of Alaska and earned the dual degrees of Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. Georgia works at the University of Alaska as a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Georgia and her husband have three children, ages 17, 15, and 13.

Judy M. Scherger, '90 (Anchorage, AK) was a paralegal major at Winona State. She is now assistant public defender for the Alaska Public Defender Agency where their mission is "to provide quality legal service, consistent with constitutional guarantees, to indigent persons."

Jenny (Wolner) Rose, '91 (Eagle River, AK) majored in social science and sociology at WSU. She has been married ten years and has two active boys. She is completing a master's in education at the University of Anchorage in guidance and counseling. She is an adolescent substance abuse counselor and prevention specialist for high risk children.  Jenny loves living in Alaska and since her husband is a registered big game guide, "my decor downstairs consists of a life-sized mountain goat, mountain lion, Dahl sheep, caribou, and brown and black bear rugs.

Tracee Farmer, '92 (Barrow, AK) majored at WSU in elementary education and special education. She has taught at Fred Ipalook Elementary School in Barrow for ten years, currently teaching first grade. Tracee is a regional director on the NEA-AK Board of Directors representing Barrow, the northern-most community in the United States. Tracee planned to visit WSU this summer and share Winona with her niece who will be a WSU freshman this fall.

Nick & Nicole R. (Larson) Nelson, '01 & '02 (Wasilla, AK). Nicole arrived in Anchorage about a month after graduating from WSU with her marketing major and minor in management information systems. Within ten days, she was hired at the First National Bank in Alaska,  the largest Alaskan owned and operated bank in the state. A commercial loan officer, Nicole has been able to travel to many parts of Alaska including Bethel, Valdez, and Soldotna. "In Bethel I was able to spend some time with a family of Native Alaskans," Nicole said, "who taught me how to fish for king salmon, prepare the fish, and introduced me to many of their traditional foods." Nick is the manager of the largest (approximately 300 children during the summer months) Boys and Girls Club in Anchorage.  Prior to that, Nick worked at Denali Family Services mentoring troubled youth.

WSU records include 64 alumni living in the 49th state. This article features a few of them and their stories … but is by no means a complete record of the important and interesting work and lives of WSU alumni in Alaska.

Last Modified: Thursday, December 02, 2004 12:26 by Rhone Richard