It’s a long time to remember, since I was there
the decade during which Alaskans voted to become a state, and I
do remember some who voted against it. Boys and girls of all ages
were mixed in the Jesse Lee Home dining room seating. One
youngster, I thought, was quiet and mannerly. Suddenly he pounded
on the table with both fists and yelled, "The winner! I
finished first!"On another day Jimmy, who was a really shy youngster, needed a Kleenex from his dresser, but he would not go get it. I told him it was O.K., we would see that his dinner was there when he returned. He would not move and I thought he was stubborn. Later I learned that his whole house and family took less room than one third of the dining room. He wasn’t stubborn. He was scared to death. Thankfully, he learned that he was loved and that we would care for him.
Our summer started early, early enough one year to hide Easter eggs outside on the ground with no snow. Those bright days, not hot, lasted about four months, and how the garden did grow in that time! I learned with older boys how to transplant small cabbage plants. Those cabbages became the largest ever seen. Tourists didn’t have to exaggerate. They just were that big. More than two tons of carrots were stored in the root cellar that August, for our use until the next summer.
Winters in Seward were not dark, as has been said. On clear or moonlight nights I could see persons for miles from Jesse Lee Home, down hill, to Seward or areas across Resurrection Bay to Mount Alice. But when it was cloudy with no snow reflection it WAS dark. Seward was not in the coldest part of Alaska, but the snow was deep and heavy. Resurrection Bay waters were just above freezing, which made it possible for large or small boats to enter and dock there the year round. My years in Alaska were an experience and an education.