Growing up in Nome Alaska - part six

It was March 2, 1949; my mother looked out our bay window toward the Bering Sea and saw a ship out there in the ice. Florence, Joy Galloway, Suzy, mother and I walked out on the frozen sea to see the Navy’s Icebreaker the Burton Island. The sailors gave us the grand tour of the boat. They explained how the icebreaker worked—they pumped water into tanks in the front of their boat. The weight would break the ice so it was really slow traveling that way. Mother was impressed when she saw the sailors cleaning celery in the galley and it looked so good.

I remember that I had a lot of comic books and I enjoyed reading all the Nancy Drew books. I had a favorite book with fairytales and mother must have left it in Nome. I know I read the stories many times.

Uncle Frank was visiting at our house one Sunday morning when Gus Steinwandel, Ben’s boss came in. He said the ice was going out. Frank looked startled and asked--are you sure?—yes—come look. Frank said Ralph is out there with his dog team crab fishing!! Gus called someone who told him that a bush pilot had gone out but Ralph wouldn’t leave his dogs. My dad had moved a surplus army building into Nome across the street from our house. His outboard motor was there in the sheet metal shop which was heated. So the fellows got a boat and this outboard motor and Uncle Frank went after Ralph. The pilot told them where to go. We were all so worried because the ice was going out and the Eskimos who were on the ice were never heard from—they were lost. Uncle Frank got the boat to the ice flow and loaded the dogs, sled and Ralph on the boat and got them all back to shore safely. I remember standing on the shore when Ralph arrived and when he passed me with the dog sled I could see red streaks frozen on his face from crying. I was happy he was safe but felt sad for the pain he experienced not knowing if he would make it back.

I’m grateful that we had a sewing club where I learned skills about sewing and embroidery. We were given a sterling silver sewing club pin that means a lot to me. It is almost the size of a quarter and has the intitials – CSC – and Nome, Alaska engraved on it. One of the projects was to make a quilt and I choose red, white and blue colors. I’m sad I didn’t finish the quilt but it was fun to plan, organize and learn skills. Also, someone who lived in the Mining company apartments made puppets and was going to show us how to make them. The puppets were so cute!

Uncle Frank built Aunt Florence a room in the front of their home for a beauty shop. Aunt Florence cut my hair and gave me permanents. She also let me practice the piano at her home even when she had customers in her shop. The fun part was Duchess their dog… Duchess was an English Llewellyn Setter. Duchess didn’t like me to practice and she would come and lift my hands off the keys with her nose. I’m grateful for the many things that my Aunt Florence taught me. She was very talented and whatever she did it was done well and beautifully.

Bob and Margaret Long were friends of my parents and they lived in the Mining Company apartments. Bob was an artist and we have a drawn map of Nome that he gave to my parents. Mother and I went to Margaret’s for lunch a couple times. This is going to be hard to believe but I enjoyed washing her dishes. Go figure!

My birthday is in March and here is one of my birthday parties. This was March 10, 1945 and we had the party at Bingham’s. My cousin Ralph and Gary are in the picture.

The next picture is of a wonderful birthday party that my mother planned for me with all my friends. I’m sitting right in front of the door next to my friend Donna. See if you can count the candles. Look how big the ice cream containers were then.

I learned to ride a bike when I was probably about 8 years old. I don’t remember whose bike it was but Suzy and I were learning together. I remember how exciting it was to be able to ride a bike. Then dad bought me a bike and we rode all over town. Once when we were riding down the hill behind the mining company. I must of hit a rock because I went flying over the handle bars. I was in pain and had terrible scrapes on my legs and face. I was afraid to go home and tell my mother so a friend named Star took me to her house and her mother took care of the wounds. Mother was not happy that I didn’t come home first.

Suzy’s dad made wooden stilts for both Suzy and me . We had a lot of fun learning to walk with stilts. The roads were just dirt so we didn’t have to worry about pavement. We didn’t go on the sidewalks because the sidewalks were made of wood. There were cracks between the panels and we often looked for coins that would fall through the cracks. We also played hop scotch, marbles and jacks. I had a pretty good collection of marbles with my favorite steelie. At school we did jump roping with a huge rope. We had clever little poems to say as we jumped. I know we played Eskimo baseball. I often tried to get my children to play Eskimo baseball for family nights… but I don’t think they thought I remembered it correctly. So here is how you play Eskimo baseball:

Eskimo baseball is a rather interesting game. The game starts by picking two teams. Once you have picked teams, one team is "on the bottom" of the field. The other team is "on the top." There is a pitcher and a batter. When the batter is ready to take a swing, he/she touches the bat to the ball in the pitchers hand. The pitcher then tosses the ball up and away the batter will swing. After you have "batted," you stand behind the batter and wait until that perfect pitch and the perfect hit. Then you run like a polar bear is chasing you to the designated spot. Once you reach the spot or base you have....