Picture is of Kodiak Harbor, November 2008.
Mom and I were talking about wedding days after my daughter Karla called (she's a wedding coordinator). Oh, BTW, Karla called to ask if I was interested in beading 100 bracelets for a client. I told her that such a monstrous endeavor might just sink me into a deep drepression!
Mom's graduation picture.
I mentioned to my Mom that I wished I had a picture of her and Dad when they were married. "I don't remember seeing any pictures of your wedding day, Mom?" She said she used to have a couple, not many. "The Saxton's took a few pictures of our wedding and gave me copies." "Who were the Saxton's?" "The teachers."
I did a search on the Saxton's name from my iPhone. I found this awesome story from the time of the 1964 Earthquake and Tidal Wave and read it to Mom:
"Curtis Saxton, local teacher and skipper-owner of the boat Gary tells us about seeing his crewless boat ride out of the harbor on one great surge of water during the tidal waves and disappear into the darkness headed in the direction of the Naval Base. He never saw the Gary again that night and figured it was among the missing sunk boats. However, at 6:00 a.m. the next morning while looking out a window of their house which sets above the beach down near where Pearson's boat storage used to be, Curtis and his wife Grace were amazed to see Gary come slowly sailing out from behind Near Island. As they watched Gary, which was riding high and dry, the boat came across the channel and finally rested quietly - right in front of their house! Skipper Len Helgason on his Foggy Cape put a line on her and towed it on up further in shore where Curt said he found almost no damage whatever to Gary. The Saxton's, who witnessed several vessels sink in the Near Island Channel near to their home, expressed gratitude to Skipper Helgason for his assistance in getting Gary back unharmed." City Hall Emergency Bulletin #19, WWW.KADIAK.ORG
Once again, I am impressed with the internet and the information that we can find now-a-days!
The Kadiak.org site was very interesting to find and then explore. I read historical information about the evacuation of Old Harbor there. It is funny how our minds work - I can only remember bits and pieces of the evacuation from Old Harbor to the Kodiak Naval Base, and then on a big military plane to Anchorage. I suspect that when anyone had stopped to survey the whole scene back then they saw me as one of the many children tired out and asleep on a pile of stuff somewhere - quiet and out of the way.
I wonder if maybe the Saxton's still have pictures from my parents Senafont and Vera Shugak's wedding day in Old Harbor? These are the Saxton's (Curtis and Grace) who taught in Old Harbor for a while. Maybe they have a picture or two of Mom and Dad somewhere in the bottom of an old photo box that makes them wonder who in the world are these people? I would be very interested in acquiring these pictures.
