Wife of state trooper finds Last Frontier living agreeable

December 29, 2006

By MARY AMES/Frontiersman

MAT-SU - More than 30 years ago, an &#8220older” man walked across the floor, asked her to dance at a church dance, and the high schooler said yes.

&#8220It was downhill from there,” said Cinda Roberts. &#8220Or is that uphill? There's never been a dull moment.”

Cinda married Rick Roberts, an excellent carpenter, when she was barely 18, taking early graduation from East High School in Anchorage. Rick Roberts wanted to be an Alaska State Trooper, but was told he had to wait until he was 21.

When it was time for Rick Roberts to join the troopers, Cinda was interviewed, too.

&#8220It was really stressful, being a young wife and having these big guys interview you about your husband,” Cinda Roberts said. &#8220They asked if I was strong enough to be out in the middle of nowhere and help.”

Cinda moved with her trooper husband around Alaska, maintaining a home for their four children, and their children's friends. She set up house in Big Lake, Sitka, Anchorage, Ketchikan and Bethel, and now is back in the Mat-Su.

They decided when they first married they always would put family first, and tried really hard, everywhere they lived, she said.

&#8220We had an open-door policy,” she said. &#8220Our house has always been full of kids. Someone would knock and yell, ‘Stranger in the house,' and come in. Sometimes there'd be 20 kids in one room watching a movie. We always wanted our house to be the place to come.”

Cinda Roberts works for Alaska USA as an operations manager, joining the long line of commuters into Anchorage every day. She enjoys her job, and she's worked full time for a long time, she said. But even with a house full of kids, she's found time for other interests.

In Ketchikan, she wanted to go back to school, so she worked full time at a hotel and went to school full time. Cinda, like her husband, worked night shift, doing her homework after she was done with the hotel books. One semester, she carried 24 credits. &#8220I got a 4.0 out of it,” she said. &#8220But I was a couple hours short of an associate's degree, and we moved to Bethel.”

In Bethel, her husband did a lot of village travel and she worked full time, but they still found ways to contribute to the community.

&#8220We try to be very active in whatever community we lived in,” she said. &#8220Between church and volunteer work, we met ourselves coming and going.”

Cinda Roberts was active in the Actors Guild and the Lions Club in Bethel, and her husband volunteered as a wrestling coach and a judo coach everywhere they lived.

&#8220He felt like a lot of them should have more of a chance at life,” she said. &#8220Especially in Bethel, there were no movie houses and no mall.”

A lot of those kids Cinda Roberts listened to, sheltered and fed remain close, sometimes teasing about which number they are among the Roberts family children, she said.

Her husband of 30 years is scheduled to retire as the year draws to a close, and Cinda Roberts no longer will be a trooper wife. But she's still mother of Sgt. Rick Roberts and trooper Michael Roberts, and mother-in-law of Ramin Dunford. &#8220People ask how I sleep at night,” she said. &#8220But I never worried about them because they're trained so well. I've worried sometimes, but you kind of go with the flow.”

Of the all the places she's lived in Alaska, Cinda Roberts said Bethel has a special place in her heart.

&#8220The people reach out and teach you things,” she said. &#8220One of my favorite memories was when a trooper pilot took us out to a fish camp and his grandma cut salmon with an ulu. I thought, ‘Holy cow, imagine the number of times she had to do that to be so perfect.' You wouldn't have that experience anywhere else.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.