Are We Walking To Alaska?: A little girl’’s adventure - moving to Alaska in the 1950s

Southeast Alaska was far away and unknown to a six year old girl from sunny California. When her parents decided to move to Alaska in the summer of 1952 they left many comforts behind, as well as their extended family and a cherished doll.There were adventures ahead, and many new and wonderful things to learn and explore. Living without the luxuries of California, the family relied on hard work to make it in Alaska. They hauled water and ice for washing, cooking and drinking. They shared the hard work of a commercial fishing boat and enjoyed the animals and natural surroundings, including a squirrel who visited through a trap door and kittens that could swim.Contact: WalkingToAlaska@gmail.com

Jo Ann was born in Sacramento California in 1946. She lived in rural California for the first six years of her life - and then her family moved to Southeast Alaska. She spent the rest of her childhood there, in fishing villages and later in the town of Sitka. She had two brothers, one older, one younger, who shared the adventures in Alaska. Her father was a commercial fisherman in the early years in Alaska, and then was a Gas and Diesel Shop and Carpentry Shop teacher for the Mt.Edgecumbe BIA High School. Her mother worked as office staff for Coast and Geodetic and both Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe High Schools. JoAnn graduated from Sitka High in 1964 and later that year she and Don Bayne were married in Arlington, TX. Later, as their family grew, they moved to Alaska, Texas, Wisconsin, Central California, Northern California, Kansas, back to California and finally to Bellingham, WA - where they are planning to retire. Jo Ann’s spare time is taken up with her two grandsons who live nearby (and a third grandson lives in WV), quilting, gardening, painting and blogging. Contact: WalkingToAlaska@gmail.com