Early Saturday morning, April 27, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered to scoop away the first shovels of earth for their second building here in Juneau. Carl Perkins explained the intended design and layout of the new building. President Garth Hamblin, Stake President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Juneau, Alaska Stake, officiated at the ground breaking ceremony with his counselors Don Huntsman and John Bringhurst, at his side.

Preface: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Marine Highway. During the summer of 1963, Alaska was a new state when three ferries came on line in Southeast Alaska. Juneau was as landlocked then as it is now but with fewer opportunities to reach the contiguous United States. By air, Pan American Airways and Pacific Northern Airways each flew only one flight daily to Seattle. Others in Southeast flew floatplanes or other small craft to reach Ketchikan and Juneau for connections to these southbound flights.

I grew up hearing my family’s concerns about an aunt who never came to visit. The only things I knew about her were that she was a respected scholar at a state university and that she was an “out” and partnered lesbian. I asked a few times about whether her sexual orientation impacted her relationship to my father’s family, and I learned that my grandparents barely knew how to respond to my aunt’s sexual identity. The whole thing to them was unconscionable. Thus, I never met her.

It is 40th reunion time for Juneau-Douglas High School class of 1973 on solstice weekend, June 21-23.

Classmates are still trying to get the word out and are unable to locate some people, so if you have not received your registration packet please email: jdhs73reunion@gmail.com.

On Facebook, request to join the group JDHS 1973 40th reunion.