Neighbor finds 'Home' in Palmer

Alaska's trees of green and skies of blue are pure serenity for Mary Ann Cockle.

"One day I was looking at the smog out my office window and I thought, 'That's just not healthy,'" Cockle said. "There were clouds of brown."

That was a little more than three years ago, and Cockle said she hasn't looked back since moving to Alaska. After about eight years working in California's Silicon Valley and living in the northern-San Francisco area for 25 years, she said it was time for a change. She went home and told her boyfriend, Gabriel Dadoun, she was ready to leave. He asked where she wanted to go.

"On a whim, I said, 'How about Alaska?'" Cockle said. "He said 'Sure!'"

Cockle said she was a little taken aback -- she'd been expecting a little discussion, a few other suggestions, maybe. But both liked Alaska, after having spent time previously in the state, and it seemed the state's beauty beckoned. Alaska had something California had lost, Cockle said.

"What I grew up with out there was like this," Cockle said. "There was a lot of undeveloped, open space. That was all being plowed under, being developed. I just hated seeing that."

Living in planned developments, seeing houses stacked nearly on top of each other, she said, was disheartening. So, when she and Dadoun flew up to scope out a good place to live, she was excited in spite of the gloomy weather that plagued their trip. After their return to the Bay area, a realtor e-mailed photos of an available home on Knik River Road and the couple decided the Palmer area would be their new home.

"It was just wonderful," Cockle said of the property.

After a year in the area, Cockle said she traveled back to the Bay area to help her elderly mother move to Alaska to live with her and Dadoun. A Japanese resident by birth, Baba Cockle speaks only Japanese, but Mary Ann Cockle said it hasn't been too much of a challenge for her mother to fit in in Palmer.

"She's adorable," added Evie McNamee, a friend and partner in Cockle and her mother's business venture, Alaska's Finest. McNamee said it was a treat to be invited to Cockle's home, where Japanese and French, Dadoun's native tongue, are heard as often as English. "It's quite an interesting household."

Cockle's background is equally diverse -- born in Tokyo, Japan, to Baba and her father, a Chicago native with Irish and English roots, Cockle spent summers in England, has traveled to Japan a few times, and speaks several languages. It's understandable that she has found connections with many of the travelers who stop by the store throughout the year.

And she's found connections with locals as well. Cockle and McNamee said they have several "regulars" who visit the store on a weekly or more regular basis, to check for new items or just to chat. The store specializes in gift items made by local artists and crafters, and the selection changes regularly.

Perhaps more than the chance to operate a small business and interact closely with both travelers and locals, Cockle said she loves being a part of her new community.

"Even though it was well-populated, everyone was a stranger," Cockle said of her Bay-area home. "You were always looking over your shoulder. Here, even the strangers are friendly."

That's apparent after spending just a few minutes in Cockle's store in downtown Palmer. People who work in the neighboring stores wave or stop by on their way to work, and there's a lot of travel between the shops. Cockle joked that, like the small Japanese town she spent time in while growing up, it was a community where everyone was familiar with everyone else -- sometimes too familiar.

The close-knit environment provides other opportunities, Cockle said -- one of which is public involvement.

"I can be active in organizations and feel I make a difference," Cockle said. "Down there, it's all run by the corporate money-makers. Life was so fast-paced, it was exhausting."

Having time to share a cup of coffee with her business partner, to talk to a neighbor who drops by or to chat with one of the artists whose work is displayed in the store is simply invaluable, Cockle said.

"I think it's just a healthier environment all around," Cockle said.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.