Wasilla pioneer Harvey dies

WASILLA — Barbara Carney remembers Mary Harvey as her first Sunday School teacher.

“She taught Sunday School when I was a little kid,” she said. “Oh, she was wonderful. She had flannel board stories, and we sat there and couldn’t take our eyes off them. She was very patient and her stories were so interesting.”

A Wasilla pioneer, Harvey, along with husband Wenter, came to the Valley in 1945 and established Wasilla Christian Church, the city’s first church. Wenter died in January 2009 and Mary Sept. 13. On learning of Mary Harvey’s death, Carney said she’ll remember an honest, hard-working woman whose efforts to build her community are still remembered.

“It was kind-of a frontier town without very many people around, and she set a good example,” Carney said.

Mary was more than the local pastor’s wife. She also taught school in the one-room schoolhouse the couple build, which also doubled as the church. In fact, Wasilla Christian Church celebrated its 65th anniversary this summer. The Harveys also established a Bible camp for youths and had a café.

It was through the café that the Harveys made a strong impression with the children of the Valley.

“They brought over the first ice cream Wasilla had experienced,” Carney said. “They sold ice cream along with lunch.”

The Harveys would serve lunch to school children out of her house as well, said Tiny DePriest, adding their community involvement was keenly felt. In addition to the first church, they were also instrumental in bringing a new library to town and spent many years working on the Fair Dinner.

“The Fair Dinner, which got the library here through the money it raised, also brought the Aurora Cemetery, rebuilt the community hall, which is the Dorothy Page (Museum),” DePriest said. “All that from the Fair Dinners. Mrs. Harvey was in charge of the desserts.”

If you were a boy or girl and wanted to serve at the dinner, you had to go through Mary Harvey first, she said.

“To become a waiter or waitress, you had to go through a training with Mrs. Harvey,” DePriest said. “I’m sad that she’s gone, but I know that we’re all destined for the end of the road. I have always liked her, appreciated her and am thankful she came to be a part of her community.”

That’s why Mary Harvey’s death is still personal for Wasilla, even though the Harveys moved from the area in 1965. But they would return several times. After Wenter’s death, Mary was honored with a reception in her honor in August 2009 at the historic church, now located in downtown Wasilla near the museum. She would also come back this past summer.

In 2009, the Frontiersman caught up with Harvey and asked what she remembered of Wasilla’s early days.

“Oh, I miss the snow in the wintertime, and of course, I miss all of my dear children,” she said. “At that time, they were in grade school and my husband and I built a summer camp. Every summer we had three different groups that would come to the camp. I miss the camp with the kids.”

As a lifelong educator, she also recalled her time as a teacher in the Valley.

“I did teach in Wasilla for about a year and a half, then they sent me off to Willow. I had to take two buses to get out there,” she said. “I remember the teacher they had there left at Christmas time and didn’t come back, and they weren’t too happy about that. So they had three substitutes, and not a one of them would go back to that class. I was with that class in February and I stayed until the end of the school year.

After the Harveys calling took them from Wasilla to Oregon, she continued her career as a teacher, retiring after nearly 40 years in the classroom. Even at age 88 in 2009, “I’m having a har time retiring,” she said.

For a couple that spent 20 years in Wasilla 45 years ago, the Harveys are examples of pioneers who made a lasting difference for their community, Carney said.

“You couldn’t have asked for nicer people and to be more involved in the community,” she said. “They were just regular people and did impact the community, and are much, much loved.”

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