Their stories — A 2010 retrospective of memorable features and people

Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series looking back at memorable features published in the Frontiersman in 2010. Look for part two in Sunday’s edition.

MAT-SU — From stories about new Eagle Scouts to covering the Alaska State Fair to heart-tugging tales of children suffering from rare medical conditions, features that tell stories about people’s lives give a good community newspaper a personal, hometown flavor.

These are people many of us know and their stories can be surprising, humorous and inspiring. Some are silly, others sad.

At the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, we bring you these stories in our Valley Life section and main news pages. In 2010, we published features on dozens of local folks and organizations, including a risky medical treatment for a Palmer boy and siblings reunited after decades apart.

As the year closes, the Frontiersman takes a look back at some of the more memorable Valley Life and people features published in 2010.

‘Gamer girl,’ Jan. 17

She’s Aly Koechlein, and she’s a Blood Elf paladin.

At least that’s what Koechlein’s online persona is about seven to eight hours a day. The Wasilla resident and student is one of more than 12 million people who play World of Warcraft, an online fantasy role-playing game. The Frontiersman caught up with Koechlein on a Saturday at The Digital Cup, a Wasilla Internet café, where she was playing World of Warcraft, also called WoW.

Although she admits the amount of time she plays WoW may seen excessive to some, there’s more to her gaming than killing things in a virtual world.

“The appeal is that it’s social for me,” she said. “I’m pretty active on my server (a smaller community within the WoW universe). Most people know who I am. I like the challenge of raiding (with other players) and the social aspect of it.”

Koechlein is a gamer, one of millions who continue to bolster what has been an exploding online gaming industry known as massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). One aspect that appeals to gamers is that they don’t have to be geographically connected.

‘An errand of mercy,’ Jan. 24

In the wake of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, many local folks organized bake sales and fund-raisers to help those displaced by the quake. One local man, Dr. Jordan Greer, went farther.

As a physician, Greer knew his skills were needed in Haiti, so he packed up a few supplies and left his wife behind to raise funds and equipment to make his humanitarian stay as long as possible.

Thousands of suddenly homeless people erected a crude tent city on the grounds of their former capital. The sick and injured packed into makeshift medical clinics. These are the images broadcast worldwide in the wake of the earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince. These are also the images that greet Greer every morning.

An emergency room physician at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, Greer and his sons Jordan II, 21, and Hunter, 19, have been in Port-au-Prince for the past week spending long hours treating those physically devastated by the earthquake.

The decision to travel from Alaska to Haiti was an easy one, Greer said. After hearing about the disaster it took him “about 30 seconds” to decide he needed to be there.

It’s 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday in Port-au-Prince and the Greers are already awake and gearing up to go out into the city and open their clinic again. They are treating upwards of 200 people a day, but the need is far greater than they can provide themselves, Dr. Greer said.

“Back in the ’80s when I first started practicing (medicine), I was practicing in Florida and I used to go down (to Haiti) and do medical missions,” he said. “I realized what Haiti was like before they ever had a disaster, which was basically a disaster to begin with.”

With his experience providing medical services in Haiti, Dr. Greer knew the need would be beyond anything he’s dealt with before. “I know the only chance these people have is if there’s a massive effort to help them through this,” he said.

‘She’s got game,’ March 14

For whatever reason — natural talent, upbringing, genetics or any combination of traits — Tiffany Lebahn was on a roll in 2010.

The daughter of a former Professional Bowlers Association member and granddaughter of a bowling alley proprietor, Lebahn spent as much time toddling around the local lanes as her playmates did at tea parties.

“She used to go around here in her walking stroller,” recalled her father, Dale Lebahn, during a Saturday afternoon conversation at North Bowl along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. “She’s been in the bowling alley all her life, really. She started bowling when she was about 4, and when she was in junior high school I could see she had very good, basic bowling mechanics.”

Those mechanics led the 22-year-old to become one of Alaska’s premiere female bowlers and has the 2006 Colony High School graduate dreaming of a professional career. To find competition locally, Lebahn competes in men’s leagues.

“It’s so frustrating when you know you want to get better and you know you can do really good, but there aren’t many women to go against,” she said. “You just want to keep bowling and bowling and bowling. My only competition really is my dad and a couple of the guys in the Friday night league.”

And although very young by bowling standards, Lebahn is earning the credentials to support her dreams, said Dana Bachner, the house professional at North Bowl. Lebahn’s a 210 scratch bowler and has already thrown a pair of 300 games, which may be the first for the Valley’s only bowling alley.

‘Heavy metal,’

March 23

Sparks fly when Josh Ray’s around.

The Colony High School senior is one of about 60 students in the Mat-Su Borough School District welding program at Colony High School. On a Monday in March, he spent part of the afternoon welding V grooves in preparation for the state Skills USA challenge in Anchorage. It takes a steady and practiced hand to wield the oxy-acetylene torch and manipulate steel plates. Ray shields his eyes from the super-bright sparks and light that’s generated when the superheated gas meets metal. Aside from practicing for the competition, Ray is one of dozens of students who earn welding certifications each school year, skills employers value. It’s that opportunity that drives instructor Dan Trotter. A former Colony High School student, Trotter studied welding himself in school when the shop was housed at Palmer High School. After two years of instruction in the high school program, Trotter said his students have all the certifications employers are looking for and have earned up to 12 college credits if they choose to continue their education.

‘Square root,’ April 11

On a sunny Friday evening, the Frontiersman caught up with a bunch of real squares — the local Paws and Taws square dance club.

Paws and Taws is square-dance lingo for guys and gals, said Larry McGee, president of the Valley Paws and Taws. Along with about 20 of his fellow “squares,” McGee smiles from ear to ear while he promenades and do-si-dos to the direction of caller Gary Feaster.

“Square dancing is as good mental exercise as it is physical exercise,” he said. “You never know what the caller’s going to call out next, and every caller is different, so it keeps you on your toes.”

Each “square,” or group of four partners, will execute four “figures,” or maneuvers, called for by the caller during each dance, or “tip.” Calling the figures is an important undertaking and it’s one Feaster takes seriously. He’s attended three, week-long sessions of caller school and enjoys what he says is his “calling.”

Lois Feaster, a Butte resident for 52 years who can still joke about being a Valley “newcomer,” makes her own square dancing outfits and touts her son’s prowess as a caller. When asked who’s the better dancer, herself or husband Charles, she takes the high road.

“Oh, I think we’re about the same,” she said.

Charles has a different opinion. “Oh, it’s me, no question.”

‘The Good Old Days,’ May 4

Vernon Ross is a simple man who lives in the moment — and there have been a lot of moments. Ross celebrated his 100th birthday in 2010, a day that was as good as any he could remember, at least until the next day came along.

“Right now is as good a time as I’ll ever remember,” Ross said from his Houston home. Although he joined an exclusive club by breaking into triple digits with his age, Ross looks much younger than his 100 years and is as animated as ever when talking and joking about what he’s seen over the decades. When asked about the good old days, he’s quick to respond.

“Well, what happened today?” he said. “We don’t worry about tomorrow. It’ll take care of itself. … Boy, the first day of May 1910, that’s a long time ago, isn’t it?”

‘Family of Eagles,’

May 18

The Eagle’s nest at the Lentz house is a little crowded.

Chad Lentz, a 2010 Colony High School graduate, received his Eagle Scout in May, the highest rank that can be achieved in the Boy Scouts of America. It’s a rank earned by about 5 percent of Scouts, but not unique to the Lentz family. When Chad was presented his Eagle, he became the sixth Lentz to become an Eagle Scout, following his two older brothers, father and two uncles. It’s an impressive legacy, one Chad said he felt “just a little” pressure to complete.

Guided by the family patriarch Joe Lentz, who came to Alaska in 1935 as an infant, Chad’s father Nick earned the first Lentz Eagle in 1973, followed by brothers Paul and Dale. Being an Eagle Scout is a distinctive honor, Nick said.

“It tells people that you’re committed, that you’ll stand up for what’s right, you won’t lie, you won’t cheat — at least you shouldn’t,” he said.

The tradition of Scouting is strong in the Lentz house, where Nick and Paul have both continued their involvement as Scout leaders. Dale has since passed away. And while it’s been decades since they earned their Eagles (Paul’s came in 1980), it’s an award that maintains its importance.

“Years ago, to be an astronaut, one of the requirements was to be an Eagle Scout,” Nick said. “Armstrong walked on the moon and was an Eagle Scout.”

‘Alive at 75,’ June 4

2010 marked the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Depression Era colonists to the Valley. Over the summer, the Frontiersman published a series of Valley Life features recognizing the anniversary. In the first, Gerry Keeling, one of Palmers most active local historians, talked about the early days.

If you count being in her mother’s womb, Gerry Keeling is an original Matanuska Colonist.

Saima Kindren was pregnant with Gerry when Kindren arrived in the Valley in May 1935 with husband Oscar and 11-year-old daughter Jeanie. The Kindrens were one of 204 families in search of a better life during the Great Depression. Part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Matanuska Colony was one of 100 to offer new lives to those hit hardest by the Depression.

“I was the first baby born in the beautiful little Colony Hospital,” said Keeling.

That was 75 years ago. In the decades since, the little Matanuska Valley Colony has grown and thrived, a testament to the New Deal and the spirit of the 100 communities created out of the Great Depression, Keeling said. And they started with nearly nothing.

Colonists were allowed to take 2,000 pounds of possessions and themselves. What was waiting for them when disembarking the train in Palmer was “not a whole lot,” she said.

‘Sold!’ June 27

Ittakesapracticedeartokeepupwiththeauctioneer. OK, a little slower: It takes a practiced ear to keep up with the auctioneer. At least that’s what 8-year-old Kayla Tenderella thinks. The Anchorage girl was among hundreds who gathered in the south parking lot of the Alaska State Fairgrounds taking in the spectacle that is the Ritchie Bros. Auction.

She can’t understand the calls of auctioneer John Korrey blasting through a quartet of high-powered speakers, but she likes it anyway.

But there are plenty here who understand perfectly the lilting cadence of Korrey and auctioneer Greg Highsmith. With smooth efficiency, they plow through the more than 650 pickup trucks and pieces of heavy equipment, with buyers paying anywhere from $25 for a generator to about $100,000 for a road grader.

See Sunday’s Frontiersman for part two of “Their Stories.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.