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What do we owe our Elders? What do they owe us? I have been thinking about this after a visit with my mom, who is 90 and in need of round-the-clock care. There are no easy answers to this question. Because I can’t be with her or with my aging aunts and uncles every day, I try to reach out as much as I can. During the pandemic, one of my cousins established a family Zoom meeting. We’ve had it for six years, every Sunday with few exceptions. The conversations have changed as my mother can no lon...
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. After we published this story, Betty Calhoon died. We mourn her and send condolences to her family. Betty L. Calhoon says she was born on a lucky star. That's because...
A lifelong friend, who is my age, retired last year. A sibling, four years older, retired two years ago. Another friend, who is self-employed, has set up a way to bring in income with her stock picks, which pay regular dividends. These examples have made me think about my own future. So much of our financial security is riding on our good judgment. No future without a present I knew when I decided to be a journalist, I was entering a field with notoriously low pay except for a few in the...
We profiled four adults who have become more creative in the latter part of their lives from April to July. We're concluding that coverage with suggestions about how to engage in artistic pursuits through learning. We are grateful to the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism for providing grant support for this project. You haven't touched your yarn stash in a year. Your guitar gathers dust in the corner. Your camera still has an SD card from 2020 in it. Maybe it's time to get out of your...
Dr. Joan Haig, Ph.D., a former board vice president for the Older Persons Action Group, died July 7, 2026. She was 79. Joan, a longtime professor of mathematics at the University of Alaska Anchorage, was deeply involved in her community, and her board service for OPAG, the nonprofit that publishes the Senior Voice, was just part of it. While she was on the board, she was the treasurer before becoming vice president. "When I think of Joan, I think the primary impression at work and with the...
Angela Łot'oydaatlno Gonzalez sits at her kitchen window, beading what will be a doll-sized salmon that will be the center of another "Fish Camp Barbie" display, one of several she has made in recent years. Barbie herself stands to Angela's left at a small table wearing a pink kuspuk (the Yup'ik spelling is qaspeq and in Athabascan, the word is bets'egh hoolaanee). She sports a crown beaded with "B." When the display is finished, this Barbie, chosen for her caramel skin tone, will be posed...
Marjorie Kortkamp has a flower clipped to her soft gray curls, but she confessed it hasn't been the easiest morning, "I had a seizure!" she said matter-of-factly. But as she settled into her room at the Anchorage Pioneer Home, Marge (as most people call her), relaxed into a spirited retelling of her long life, from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to the Last Frontier. Her eldest daughter, Diana, was there to help her with her morning routine and to fill in any gaps in the narrative. A late-in-life...
Donna Gail Shaw trots across the street to give treats to a neighbor's dog as she heads out for a hike. She calls out to another one "Neptune! Neptunee!" on the way back. In between, she checks on the 10 wildlife cameras she has installed in an area of Anchorage known as Far North Bicentennial Park. In actuality, the wildlife she encounters can be anywhere near or even in the housing development where she lives, which abuts Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson. It's something of a highway for urban...
June is peak road race season, and two of the events raise money for cancer research and bring community together to fight their respective diseases. The Alaska Run for Women, held on the first Saturday in June every year, had a big turnout thanks to good weather. "This was our thirty-fourth annual run," said Alaska Run for Women board member Nance Larsen, a public relations professional. "It definitely exceeded expectations." The 2026 run had 5,175 registered entrants; 1,100 participated...
Sharon Baker was just about to go on a bike ride when she paused to talk to the Senior Voice. The Fairbanks resident is active year-round. In the winter she skis, preparing for the Sonot Kkaazoot, a 50-kilometer ski race in late March. Then in April she straps on running shoes and begins training for the annual Equinox Marathon in September. "I love to be outside," Sharon said. Part of her athleticism is participating in the Alaska International Senior Games, both as an athlete and as an...
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. If you know someone who is 100 or older and would like us to profile them, contact editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. Eileen Johnson, who just...
There is a throughline in Madeline Holdorf's life. Holdorf, the former volunteer statewide AARP president, received the Ron Hammett from the Municipality of Anchorage Senior Citizens Advisory Commission on May 6. When she graduated from high school more than 60 years ago, she received the outstanding service award. "It takes my breath away, actually," said Holdorf in a conversation after the award ceremony, held at the Anchorage Senior Activities Center. "In my retirement and when I had a...
This is the third in a series about people finding or rediscovering creative pursuits later in life. The reporting project is funded by a grant from the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism. If you have a suggestion of a person who has explored their artistic or creative impulses upon retirement or when other life demands lessened, email editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. A couple of tragedies have bracketed Laurie Murdock's craft of weaving, but she keeps going with...
This month, we have two photos either entirely generated by AI or modified using AI. We want to be transparent and forthcoming with you about this. The cover photo we modified so that there is a bit more foliage present than in the original image. It helps us fill in the space we need to run this photograph. The second one is clearly labeled, and it was generated using Gemini, a popular AI platform on the internet. It goes with Lawrence D. Weiss’ story about using AI to try to find out more abou...
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. If you know someone who is 100 or older and would like us to profile them, contact editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. You can take the girl out...
Katie Chadwick got the idea last summer that she wanted to do the all-women Gold Nugget Triathlon, an event with origins in an early 1980s effort by moms to create sports opportunities for their daughters and other girls. Katie had been on what she describes as a “health journey,” and saw the Gold Nugget as an opportunity to demonstrate how she had become stronger and leaner. Her 60th birthday was coming up, and she wanted to set a goal to mark the moment. “I just had this idea that I wante...
Anchorage and Juneau will both host events in May to connect members of the community with resources about Parkinson's disease that are organized by the American Parkinson Disease Association. The event in Juneau is May 6 and it's an afternoon of information. The event in Anchorage is May 9 and it's all day. Both events are titled "Parkinson's today: A conversation on care, treatment and living well." There is also a Parkinson's Care Partner Education Day in Juneau on May 7. It's from 9:30 to...
This is the second in a series about people finding or rediscovering creative pursuits later in life. The reporting project is funded by a grant from the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism. If you have a suggestion of a person who has explored their artistic or creative impulses upon retirement or when other life demands lessened, email editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. Frank Entsminger came to sculpting the hard way-through fire. A taxidermist by trade for...
I came across the Polish word przedwiosnie recently. The meaning is something like "pre-spring" or the time before spring. That's a perfect word for what we experience in the north, when the calendar says it's spring officially and our friends and family in the Lower 48 are showing off their daffodils or peonies or whatever happens to be blooming in their backyard. Up here, we have to look for more subtle signs of change as we endure more days of gray or decaying snow. Sure, the days are...
Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day is Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing profiles of people who have hit this milestone. The Alaska Commission on Aging is working with the Governor's Office, Pioneer Homes and Long Term Care Ombudsman to celebrate Alaska's centenarians. This interview was made possible thanks to the Alaska Commission on Aging. Forgive Shirley Gordon if she doesn't tell you she's fine if you ask. "All my life people...
This is the first in a series about people finding or rediscovering creative pursuits later in life. The reporting project is funded by a grant from the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism. If you have a suggestion of a person who has explored their artistic or creative impulses upon retirement or when other life demands lessened, email editor@seniorvoicealaska.comeditor@seniorvoicealaska.com. David Brown looks like he is headed for a day of fishing when he takes a seat in a Midtown...
John Wood, 78, holds his own with teenagers on the ski trails. At the Tour of Anchorage ski race on March 8, he earned a seventh-place finish in the 25-kilometer classic event. "Youth will be served," Wood said, a day before he left to go to Talkeetna to ski the 50-kilometer ski race known as the Oosik. "My intent was to ski within myself," Wood said. "I'm not getting any younger." Because Anchorage had received a lot of fresh snow in the 48 hours before the race, times were slower than normal...
The Anchorage Genealogical Society's annual seminar will feature nationally known genealogy expert Judy Nimer Muhn on April 18. The seminar is from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Waldron Hall, 2222 E. Tudor Road. Muhn began her professional genealogical work in 1993. She has lectured at National Genealogical Society conferences, RootsTech, Federation of Genealogical Societies as well as conferences in Europe and around the United States. Traveling extensively around the worl...
My husband and daughter are avid cross-country skiers, but somehow my love of running never turned into a similar enthusiasm for snow sports. But one spring I decided I would sign up for the 25-kilometer Tour of Anchorage ski race. My sister-in-law, an adventurous young woman who pledged to do one thing outside her comfort zone every year-skydiving, stand-up comedy, trapeze artistry-had died a few months before. And maybe I was honoring her legacy by registering for an athletic event I had...
This year's Fur Rondy will be different in that there is now an Anchorage Mushing District arch over Fourth Avenue, marking the starting line for the Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the state's most famous international event. The landmark was inaugurated in November 2025, and it was the culmination of a multi-year effort by led by Jim Huettl, the president of the nonprofit Anchorage Mushing District. "He was indefatigable," said Rod...
