Longtime reader reminisces

WASILLA — Partygoers enjoyed a special treat Wednesday when a surprise guest stopped by the going away party for longtime Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman Publisher Kari Sleight.

“I’ve been a subscriber to the Frontiersman since we moved to Palmer in December 1947,” said Pat Lawton, 93. “I’ve known all the editors and publishers since Viola Daniels started the newspaper.”

She and Rosemary Vavrin, who had a long career working for the Anchorage Times in the 1970s and 1980s, spent about an hour together Wednesday looking through the bound editions from 1947 and 1948.

“Here’s my dentist,” Lawton said pointing to a small ad.

A few more pages are turned before she pointed out a photo of her nephew’s basketball team.

Flip a few more pages and there is a half-page ad listing all of the phones in the fledgling Matanuska Telephone Association system.

“My husband worked for that guy,” Lawton said pressing her index finger to the page. “And this is the doctor we bought our house from.

She still lives in that doctor’s old house, though her phone number has changed. Back when they bought the house — after spending a cold winter in a house next door — they bought the phone number with the house, Lawton said.

A small Matanuska Electric Association ad brings back memories of her early days in Palmer when just three women and five linemen were employed there.

A headline about a man who committed suicide brought back memories of his son who was the same age as her son, Joe, and who after his father’s death had been sent to live with relatives he didn’t know.

She recalled her apprehension at going into the L.A. Pair Shirt Shop in Palmer to have measurements taken.

“I hesitated to go in and get measured there because they were all men there,” Lawton said.

She and her husband moved to Alaska from Detroit, Mich., where she said he had a good job working for General Motors. But she said he was a hunter and dreamed of coming to Alaska to hunt big game, such as moose and bear.

“It’s like a story book seeing all these names. Goodness gracious,” said Lawton, who was 29 when she moved to Alaska. “You knew everybody back then.”

She said it took 23 hours with layovers in Minneapolis/St. Paul and in Edmonton to make the flight from Detroit to Anchorage. Their one-way tickets cost $800 each, Lawton said.

In Palmer, he found work at the Jonesville Coal Mine where he worked from 1948 to 1968.

“It was hard, dirty work, but he liked it,” Lawton said.

She said she can see both sides of the current conversation about reopening a coal mine near Palmer.

“I remember what it did for the economy,” Lawton said.

In her younger days, she said she ran races, did yoga and climbed mountains. “I did everything.”

If you are a longtime subscriber or reader, let us know. We’d love to hear from you. Call 352-2250, email news@frontiersman.com or send us a letter at Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, P.O. Box 873509, Wasilla, AK 99687.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.