She's been 'Our Neighbor' since 1932

The reason why June Liebing hasn't moved away from Alaska in more than 70 years is just a few feet from her Colony Estates sofa.

Liebing has lived in the Valley since 1932 -- she helped welcome the coming Colonists as a little girl -- and she hasn't had the urge to leave, and the view of Pioneer Peak certainly is one reason why.

"After all these years, I can wake up and look out the window and see these marvelous mountains," she said. "It's just as spectacular every day."

Liebing was born in Ketchikan in 1921, and her family moved to Washington soon after, as her parents helped take care of her grandparents. In 1932, the opportunity to homestead brought them north, and the family staked its claim in the area where the King's Lake Camp currently sits.

"It was very wild in those days," Liebing said. "We didn't have running water, we didn't have electricity. We had a beautiful lake, and that's what we did for fun -- we swam, we played."

She remembers the first school, which had seven children from three families. The teacher rented the attic on the other side of Anderson Lake, and Liebing and her brother would ice skate to school in the winter, or take a canoe in the summer.

Liebing's father got a job on the road commission, so the family moved to Palmer late in her high school career. She graduated from Palmer High School in 1938, then headed to Seattle College (now Seattle University) to study nursing.

"Back then, there weren't many schools where you could go for nursing," she said.

She graduated in 1944 with a degree in nursing, and returned to Alaska a year later, ready to work at the Colony Hospital, but a devastating fire razed the hospital and Liebing was out of a job. Instead, she worked with local doctors, meeting all the people she didn't know who had moved to the Colony while she was away.

"When I came back from college, I noticed a lot of change then," Liebing said.

Liebing recalled the Valley's first blood bank.

"It was the only walking blood bank I've ever heard of," she said. "The doctors decided to have everyone come in and get blood typed, and when they needed blood, they would go to the list and call someone that matched to come in and give blood."

She fondly remembers arranging the details for her daughter's Palmer wedding. Her daughter was in Spokane, her daughter's fianc/ was in the military in the Great Lakes area, but they wanted to get married in Palmer. Liebing handled all the details, only to find out the bishop hadn't signed off on the wedding yet.

"I had arranged everything, and I didn't even think about that," she said laughing. "Luckily, he gave his approval the day before the wedding."

Liebing has seen many changes through the years, and obviously, the growth in population is the biggest.

"I remember when if you were walking down the street and passed a person you didn't know, it was surprising. Now, it's surprising if you do know the person you pass on the street," Liebing said.

She said she thinks change and growth is good for the Valley, but only when it's done right.

"As long as people carefully look at the growth and plan right, it can be good for us," she said.

Liebing said there is quite a contrast between Palmer and Wasilla, the two towns she's lived in, and those contrasts are rooted in history.

"One year Palmer broke away and formed its own school district and we paid a 14-mil tax for the school," she said. "Wasilla didn't want to do that, but they wanted their schools to be just as good. Palmer grew up a lot faster than Wasilla in terms of thinking."

Growth is another issue that polarized the two communities, she said.

"We're a little more country than Wasilla," she said. "We like the laid-back atmosphere more. Wasilla was ready to grow but didn't plan it right, and you had a big boom right along the highway. Palmer always wanted to maintain the community feeling. Wasilla was more for the money."

The Liebing legacy lives on at King's Lake Camp, and will for years to come. Originally, her parents established the camp for children and families -- there was absolutely no liquor allowed on the premises, and other rules were established to keep it family oriented.

Now, years later, those same standards are being applied to the camp, but there is a different group in charge.

Liebing turned over the camp -- which was valued at around $3 million -- to the Salvation Army, which now runs the camp. A plaque in the dining hall pays tribute to Liebing and her family.

"We were always involved with the camp, but it got to where we couldn't compete and it started getting run down. We rented it out a couple of summers, and I wanted to turn it over to someone who would keep the same moral standards my dad and my family set out when we moved here," Liebing said. "The Salvation Army has always been a favorite of mine, so I said, 'Let's do it.'"

Liebing has seen plenty of changes -- from the incoming Colonists to serving on the election board at the time of statehood. She said in the next 10 years, she thinks, "it will continue to grow, but it won't change the Valley a lot."