Marge Mullen embodies homesteading

Editor's Note: National Centenarian's Day was Sept. 22. The day honors those who've celebrated 100 birthdays or more. We're publishing several profiles of people who have hit this milestone this fall. 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.

A lot of Alaskans of a certain era can recall driving up the Alcan, their aspirations firmly packed up along with family mementos, a carload of children and not much else.

Margaret "Marge" Mullen has a different story to tell about her journey from the streets of Chicago to the wide-open potential of the Kenai Peninsula. She and her husband, Frank, flew up to their new home in Alaska in a Stinson 105 he piloted in 1945. Veterans like Frank were being offered the chance to homestead in Alaska.

The Mullens wanted to homestead in Alaska because both were city kids looking for new horizons.

"We really jumped at it because our parents had always rented apartments. They never even owned an acre of land," Marge said. Having a homestead would break generational patterns of renting.

On their 10-day journey, they stopped in Winnipeg, Fort Nelson, Grande Prairie, and other Canadian cities or Royal Canadian Air Force bases along the way on a grand adventure.

City roots

Mullen, who is 105, is something of an institution in Soldotna. She is known for her generosity, active family life, and strong work ethic.

The eldest of several children, she learned to read early and taught younger siblings how to read when they attended a Catholic girls school where she was raised in Chicago. She headed for the Chicago Public Library when the opportunity for veterans and their families homestead in Alaska came up. Neither she nor Frank had ever heard of the Kenai Peninsula.

That love of reading continues now.

Mullen raised four children in Soldotna but attracts the devotion of a wide circle of friends and loved ones.

"She's always watching out for other people," said daughter Eileen. "On Thanksgiving, she invited every person who did not have a place to go in the whole town. And they squeezed into our cabin for homemade bread and turkey."

It was in Chicago that she worked as an elevator girl at the Marshall Field department store, with its windows memorably decorated at the holidays. Her brothers used to say they always put her in the middle elevator because she was easy on the eyes.

Mullen also worked at Commonwealth Edison electric company when Frank was deployed in Europe during World War II. He was a B-26 pilot who flew 93 missions over France and Germany.

When he returned home, they decided to give Alaska a try.

Early days in Alaska

When Marge and Frank flew north, they spotted Anchorage from the air. Even then, they were surprised how large it was with a population of 10,000. They stayed at a hotel Marge described in a tongue-in-cheek way as something like the Waldorf Astoria, famously swanky lodgings in New York City. It cost $7 a night. At the time, their eldest daughter Peggy was traveling as a stowaway, as Marge was pregnant. During the first two years, they lived in Anchorage and had their second daughter.

Frank worked at Woodley Airways, and he flew about four days a week to destinations such as Naknek, Homer, Kodiak and Juneau. The initial pay was $300, but the Mullens could make it because they spent only about $50 on rent per month on a house with a basement and hot water -middle-class luxuries in post-war Alaska. Even then, the high prices of eggs and milk were fodder for letters she mailed back home.

Marge knew she had found her place in Alaska. "Right away, I was surrounded by so much beauty," she said.

Both of them knew how to work hard, and they applied that to their new adventure in Alaska. Homesteading didn't open on the Kenai Peninsula until 1947, so Marge raised children, and got used to canning salmon and picking berries and all those things to make a go of their new life.

She also learned to shoot a gun to protect her family.

"I didn't know I was so good," she said. "I had taken archery in Chicago, and I saw that I was a good shot with a bow and arrow."

She kept shooting at squirrels until one of them showed up with only three feet. Apparently, he had met her gun before.

A Soldotna institution

Nowadays, Margie stays active by hanging out with her children and grandchildren. Her son, Frank, passed away in 2015, but her two older daughters, Peggy and Eileen, are close by on the Kenai. The youngest, Mary, lives in Oregon.

Her family and community keep her grounded. She likes to read-she recently finished the Lisa Murkowski book "Far from Home"-play cards, and after a hip operation stays mobile. Peggy owns River City Books in Soldotna at the spot where Margie and Frank homesteaded all those years ago.

When asked if she had a secret her longevity, Margie said yes.

"My love of walking, modern medicine and attitude."