Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 1783
Carl Edward Crome passed away on September 8, 2023 at United General Medical Center in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. Officially, he died of complications from Alzheimer’s-related dementia and heart disease. But really, he died of a broken heart because he couldn’t fish anymore. Carl is survived by his wife, Judy, his brother Donnie, his children Carl Hensen, James Hensen, Julie Bartholoma, Linda Jackson, Lara Stark, and Daniel Crome, as well as many, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Car... Full story
After serving 44 years as plant manager, Dave Ohmer retired last Friday. Dave's grandfather, Earl Ohmer, co-founded Alaskan Glacier Seafood Co. in 1916. When Earl died in 1955 Dave's father, Dave P. Ohmer, continued the business, and in 1979 when his father passed away, the responsibility fell to Dave. Though it turned out to be his destiny, it hadn't been his plan. "I wanted to be a teacher," said Dave, when he sat down with the Pilot the day after his retirement. "My dad always wanted me to...
The 2023 summer reading programs at the Petersburg Public Library ended in July after six weeks of participants flipping pages, learning instruments, and math-ing their way through an escape room. Across three programs, 270 people of all ages took part in this story, with 65 completing their program cover to cover. Kari Peterson, Program Coordinator for the Petersburg Public Library, said "It went really well, this summer." Back in spring, the library had this year's prizes out on display....
September 7, 1923 – The Petersburg schools, with the exception of the first and second grades, opened for the winter term on Tuesday. The two lower grades are closed for a time on account of whooping cough, which has been going the rounds of the younger children this summer. To limit as much as possible the further dissemination of whooping cough, the School Board, in consultation with the Health Officer, has ordered Principal Earl Shaeffer to issue the following edict: – “The contagious disease known as whooping cough is a serious disea...
In 1935 Dick Estelle’s parents worked in the Matanuska Colony, part of the New Deal resettlement of displaced farmers. After an admittedly rocky high school start, he ended up attending the University of Alaska with an agriculture scholarship. He also attended Oregon State in landscape design, after which he taught at Tanana. With time and more education, he joined the U.S. Forest Service in Petersburg. Though he enjoyed drawing and sold his art, he always called himself a photographer. After r...
Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department is dangerously understaffed. Last week the department pushed to get the word out about how and why to join the volunteers. They screened a film at the movie theater titled "Odd Hours, No Pay, Cool Hat" and hosted an open house at the fire hall, where veteran volunteers and newcomers spoke about what motivates them to volunteer. The recent fire disaster at the Catholic Church highlighted staffing issues. The firefighters who were on hand valiantly battled the...
August 23 – An officer responding to a report of suspicious activity on Fram Street determined it was non-criminal. An officer responded to a 911 hang-up call from Hungerford Hill Road. An officer conducted a welfare check on North 4th Street. The Petersburg Police Department (PPD) received a report of fraudulent activity. An officer conducted a welfare check in South Boat Harbor. An officer assisted Emergency Medical Services (EMS) with a person who fell at the Crane Dock. An officer responding to a report of theft on Lumber Street d...
It's the start of a fresh season for Petersburg High School's Cross Country team, marking the beginning of a new era under the team's incoming head coach, Casey Gates. With a community race under their belts and a first meet in Klawock coming up this weekend, Gates and this year's PHS team are ready and excited to put themselves to the test. "Looking at [our race] times, I really think that we've just scratched the surface of what we're capable of," said Gates. "I think that we're going to...
The Petersburg School District approved the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) six-year plan at the first meeting of the academic year August 15. It is a long term plan that is vital to secure state funding for major maintenance and building capital projects. The facility committee met with Borough Building Official and Code Enforcement Officer Ray Wesebaum, Southeast Regional Resource Center representative David Landis, and school board member Jay Lister to review and discern priorities for a six-year plan. So far, there are five projects on the...
At the first board meeting of the academic year last week, the Petersburg School District board decided that school meal prices will increase by at least $0.25 this school year. This decision was approved in order to maintain the financial sustainability of the school food service program and comply with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Paid Lunch Equity Policy. The policy says that schools serving lunch need to have enough money to pay for meals that students buy at the regular price, not the discounted price; some s...
A Man for All Seasons To the Editor: Mr. Paul Bowen was a man for all seasons: the fishing season, the election season, the basketball season, the hunting season, the climbing season, and along with all of these, the high school year. We knew him as our physical science and biology teacher in the 1960s at Petersburg High. His irrepressible optimism and powerful zest for the task at hand made us engage with the subject with uncommon attention. I remember going on a spring field trip to the beach that featured a surprise snowstorm. He led the...
Anna Thompson and Ian Andrews were married on August 18, 2023 by the Reverend Doctor Joyce Parry-Moore on the shore of North Douglas Island, Alaska. The bride's brother, Soren Thompson, stood as witness. Anna is the daughter of former Petersburg High School math teacher Tom Thompson of Petersburg, and Sarah Holtzman of Juneau, Alaska. Ian is the son of Kimberly and William Andrews of Douglas, Alaska. The Thompson-Andrews reside in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo by Lizzie Tho...
Paul Anthony Kavon was born in Pewaukee, Wisconsin on September 26, 1958, the son of Martin and Ruth Kavon. His lifelong love of fishing was born at the end of the family pier on the shore of Pewaukee Lake with his dad by his side. While still in grade school, after the death of their father, Paul and his older sister Renee moved to live with their uncle and his family on their ranch in Plentywood, Montana. Having obtained the lifelong nickname of "PK," Paul graduated from Plentywood High School... Full story
At the end of July Megan Smith loaded her car, a U-Haul truck, her nine and twelve year old daughters, and Charles Puddles Kittenworth, a.k.a. Charlie the cat, onto the ferry in Metlakatla for the move to Petersburg where she'll be teaching Pre-algebra, Algebra I, Geometry and Statistics at Petersburg High School. Smith earned her bachelor's degree from Montana State University, Bozeman, in English, with a teaching emphasis. She took her first job on the Kenai Peninsula in Nanwalek, Alaska, in...
Gus Pennington will return to Stedman Elementary School this fall as the new fifth grade teacher. However, Pennington is no stranger to the Petersburg School District. His new teaching role comes on the heels of experience in the district as a substitute and student teacher - and as a pupil in Petersburg, himself. Pennington graduated from Petersburg High School with the class of 2019 and left for college at University of Alaska Southeast. He returned to town later that fall - just before...
Paul Bowen was born in Spokane, Washington in 1932 and grew up living in Montana, Nebraska and California. He attended Palo Alto High School where he excelled at track as a top miler in northern California. In the early 1950s he became a smoke jumper, traveling from his Montana base around the region and parachuting into sometimes-dangerous terrain to contain and combat wildfires. He took part in a U.S. Geological Survey project in Lituya Bay in 1952 and took the opportunity to participate in th... Full story
The K-5th grade library program at Stedman Elementary School will welcome home a former Petersburg resident and long-time friend to the community, Debi Tice. One of several new hires to Petersburg School District, Tice now holds the title of Elementary Librarian and Intervention - the latter half reflecting a measure of the Alaska Reads Act. Tice started teaching in Petersburg in 1998, leaving and returning a few times, then ultimately taking her teaching career abroad to Brazil, China, and...
John Edgington was born in southern California and after high school he went to Alaska for the first time as a summer stream guard for the Department of the Interior, before Alaska statehood. After meeting and marrying the love of his life, Michale, at Oregon State University, John completed his Masters degree in fisheries at University of Idaho. He became a biologist for the State of Oklahoma and after the birth of his daughter Sarah, the family moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, where John worked... Full story
The Petersburg Medical Center Foundation is inviting all members of the community to bike or kayak as part of the annual Pedal/Paddle Battle this year on Saturday, July 29. The course will take participants from Scow Bay to Sandy Beach while contributions raised by the event will support continuing education for PMC staff and go toward scholarships for Petersburg High School seniors. "We were really successful last year, we had about 75 participants, and a lot of families participated. Anybody...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly recognized Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department staff and volunteers during its meeting on Monday for their efforts to fight the fire that ravaged the St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church on July 6. The fire, which was ruled an accident and was the result of maintenance work, raged for 10 hours, covering Petersburg in smoke and warranting response efforts from the PVFD, EMS, Search and Rescue, the Petersburg Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S....
A private dump truck hit a guy-wire supporting a power pole on the dump hill Wednesday, cutting power to the baler facility and water treatment plant, according to Utility Director Karl Hagerman. The outage also affected Sandy Beach Road, North Nordic Drive, Wrangell Avenue, Petersburg High School, OBI, and Petersburg IGA. Petersburg Municipal Power and Light was alerted to the incident near Reservoir Road around 10:10 a.m. and responded. According to Hagerman, the guy-pole that was attached to...
July 6, 1923 – Two youthful “Penrods” weary of the humdrum routine of life in their hometown of Wrangell and determining to strike out boldly in search of adventure, boarded the Jefferson as stowaways on the last trip south of that boat, bound for the great outside world. By playing a skillful game of hide-and-seek, they managed to dodge the officers and members of the crew for a time, but finally an unkind fate brought the culprits to the attention of Captain Livingstone who, in spite of their boyish pleadings, wired Mrs. Jack Cool to meet the...
Beulah Eleanor Luhr passed away on Sunday, June 11, 2023, at her home in Petersburg surrounded by her children. Beulah was born in Chester, Montana on October 12, 1934, to Robert T. Reid and Vena (Ward) Reid. Her family moved to Petersburg, Alaska in 1939 and she resided there for the last 84 years. Beulah grew up in Scow Bay, graduated from Petersburg High School and married the love of her life, Donald Luhr, on May 31, 1952. In high school Beulah worked for the telephone company, back in the... Full story
The last year has been filled with many trials for Joseph Tagaban, but with each step he is proving that he has the courage to keep marching on. "Overall, feeling really good," Joseph said while resting in the comfort of his own home on Monday. "I have weekly labs, like with the doctor, and then we're also meeting with the doctor every week or so discussing about how I'm doing, you know, updates and then any changes to medications like that, but overall, I'm feeling really great." After...
June 8, 1923 – Work will be started this week by the Forest Service on the construction of a trail up Petersburg Creek from tide water to lake. This trail will be between five and seven miles in length and will make easy access of one of the better known fishing streams in Southeastern Alaska. June 4, 1948 – The halibut boat Cascade, skippered by Albert Strom, recently caught a record sebastodes huberrimus (red snapper to us) and has turned it over to the laboratory in Ketchikan. The fish was caught between Warren and Coronations islands on...
