Love affair with Alaska began early

January 20, 2006

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Joan Patterson's first memory features her mother rousing her from sleep in her Sitka home.

Patterson, 2 years old then, recalls being wrapped in her great-grandmother's quilt when the tidal-wave warning sounded. The family headed for higher ground on the southeast part of the island and waited.

When Patterson, now a longtime Palmer resident, described to her mom details of that memory, her mother said that could have only happened during the Good Friday earthquake.

Growing up in Sitka in the mid-1960s and returning there about 10 years later, Patterson said most tidal-wave warnings ended up as tailgate parties because residents would grab whatever food was readily available in their homes and drive up to the school.

Along with her older and younger brother and other kids, Patterson thought things like earthquakes, forest fires, floods and spotting bears were just great fun.

She remembers Easter egg hunts in Totem Pole Park and the time someone ignited a stack of tires on top of Mount Edgecumbe as an April Fools' joke.

She recalls a forest fire in Sterling that passed behind their home. Her youngest brother sank ankle deep into an ash pile, and when her mom removed his socks, his feet were blistered.

&#8220I remember a few power outages that lasted for days. The family moved into the living room where the wood stove was, mom tacked quilts in the doorways of the other rooms and we camped out in our sleeping bags,” Patterson said.

Growing up in rural Alaska, Patterson said boredom was an unknown concept. She busied herself with snowmachining, bow and arrow hunting, fishing, hiking in the woods and berry picking.

Given her first memory of Sitka, it's serendipitous that Patterson works in the old tsunami warning center building. That structure now houses the city of Palmer's Building Department, where she's been employed for 25 years.

Co-workers and friends might raise an eyebrow if they heard the talkative blonde was a wallflower at Palmer High School, where she graduated in 1979.

&#8220Working for the city, you learn to talk to everyone,” she said.

Patterson was born in New Jersey in December 1961, and her East Coast relatives are always rebuffing her invitations, and asking her to travel in their direction.

&#8220Why is it that there are more miles to travel to Alaska than it is to leave and go to the same place Outside? When did that happen?” Patterson said, expressing her dismay in family not taking advantage of the opportunity to visit her and see the Last Frontier. &#8220Hey! I'm the one with the dramatic scenery!”

Her Aunt Linda and Uncle Jim did take a cruise to Alaska last summer, and called Patterson from Talkeetna. She took the afternoon off, and zipped north. It took 45 minutes to locate them amid tourists and traffic, but Patterson spent 6 1/2 hours with them before they continued the next leg of their journey.

&#8220On our way to Point Woronzof, we saw a big bull moose, who looked like he was posing for pictures. He would browse and then pose, and look over his shoulder as through he was saying ‘Did you snap one yet?' He even had brown velvet on his horns. They got to see planes fly over, and the sun getting lower in the horizon,” she said.

Patterson said her aunt and uncle won't move here, but they'll likely take another trip to the Far North.

&#8220I love it up here, quite frankly. Who wouldn't? Alaska's my state, and I don't want to leave.”