From the tropics to the Valley, living the Alaska dream

Oct. 20, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Many Alaskans dream of life on a tropical isle at least once a winter, but Martin Registe was on one of those isles in the 1970s, dreaming of Alaska.

Originally from the Carib-bean island of Dominique, Registe was living in the Virgin Islands, managing an auto parts store when Alaska's economy began to boom with pipeline construction.

Registe flew to Anchorage in 1976.

&#8220I read about how you could make big bucks,” Registe said. &#8220I was curious, and I few up in July to size it up. I got a job in a parts store the next day.”

Registe bought a trailer and moved into a trailer court in Spenard six weeks after he got off the plane, and brought his wife and child up to Alaska a few months later. The couple moved to the Valley in 1981, where they finished raising their four children in a house they built.

There were challenges adapting to a place so different from the sub-tropics, he said, but there were opportunities, too.

&#8220I thought this was a great country, really,” Registe said. &#8220Once I looked at the school system, I knew this was the place to raise my kids.”

One day in October that first year, his wife watched children coming home from school and got upset. She'd never seen breath condense in cold air.

&#8220She asked me, ‘What kind of place did you bring me to, with all the kids smoking?' Registe said. &#8220That was one of the first things.”

Registe read a lot about Alaska and knew some of what to expect, he said. While he didn't like having to put on so many clothes before going outside, he welcomed the clothes because he knew that's what kept him warm.

&#8220Those white bunny boots took a little getting used to,” he said.

Sub-arctic plumbing took some getting used to, also. Registe said he didn't know water was capable of freezing.

&#8220That first year in January, my wife said we had no water,” he said.

&#8220We paid our bills. I though these wicked people turned off all the water. The next day I told my boss and he said, ‘Martin, did you check the water lines?'”

Sure enough, Registe found the pipes and saw the break when he crawled under the trailer that night. Then he got another lesson.

&#8220It was 5 below,” he said. &#8220I cut the pipe, but I grabbed the pipe with my bare hand.

&#8220Boy, that hand just glued onto that thing and tore my flesh off. Then I went back and held the pliers in my bare hands again. That was some tough lesson.”

Before winter set in, Registe had a lot to learn at work. He'd had experience with auto parts where it was never cold, and where he could drive from one end of the island to the other in 30 minutes.

&#8220People were coming in for all kinds of things I'd never heard about,” he said. &#8220I stayed up late at night in the store, studying. I caught on quickly. I had to.”

Registe said he knew Alaska was home when he could buy a trailer six weeks after he arrived, and then things got progressively better.

&#8220I saw how accessible these things were to me,” he said. &#8220I like the big country. It's huge. You can drive around with no bothers. I fell in love with it. This was my home.”

Although Alaska has been home to Registe and his family for 30 years now, he still has a hard time describing it to friends and family in the Caribbean.

&#8220I cannot describe Alaska,” he said &#8220They have nothing to compare it with. You can't make it real to them. It's something you have to experience.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.