By Elinor Wright

    It was the summer of the lonely loon on Barney’s Pond.  It was the summer of the blueberry-apple-rhubarb-strawberry pie.  It was the summer of Bowstring vs. the Kenai.

    “We are Alaskans.  Part of who we are is still in Coldfoot,”  Martie Wilson says as she sits next to her husband Don and reminisces about the summer of decision.

    “It’s not over yet.  Children and grandchildren in Alaska are a magnetic pull to the north.  Yes, we have made a place for ourselves here on the Bowstring River.  For me, life is about a journey, an arrival, a new experience.  And it’s about struggle, learning, and growing.”  Martie takes her time before going on.  She looks at Don and says, “I think not inviting change is about not being sure of yourself.  Sometimes I think what keeps us from moving forward toward change is wanting to know in advance that things will be perfect, that it will be the ‘right’ move.  It’s so rare when we can have that.  I don’t think we ever really can.  So it becomes a leap of faith to invite change into our lives.”

    Martie and Don Wilson not only believe in change in their lives – they change the lives around them, as well.  Take Looney for instance.  He’s the majestic creature who created a stir on Barney’s Pond, Minnesota.  Looney is the creation of Martie and Don Wilson, one of the blue-ribbon winners of the Sand Lake Flotilla Competition, 2006.

    Of all the years loons have lived on Sand Lake, there never has been a loon as big as Looney.  He floated around from bay to bay directed solely by warm summer breezes and gentle currents.  He gave pleasure to people just by being there, making them smile.  (Perhaps he wasn’t a lonely loon after all.)

    Like the loon they built so carefully, Martie and Don give a hoot.  They give a hoot about family and their new home.  They give a hoot about their neighbors.  They give a hoot about their church, and they give a hoot about the Sand Lake Community.

    “There’s more pie,” Martie said, “and lots more coffee.”  Then, “I love this place.  On one level, we’re all isolated.  You know people, but you’ve never been in their houses.  But, if someone’s in need or hurting, there’s a real support net.  I feel that, especially in our church.  Diversity is the key.  Our church accepts and respects divergent views – agape, that’s the love dimension that makes diversity work.  It works for us.”

    “You’re a different person everywhere you live,” Don says reflectively.  “Here – right here – we have found people who have interests similar to ours.  We find it easy to help out and to say ‘yes, I can do that’.”  I was a Jehovah’s Witness, and I witness to people in my daily life.  Whatever Martie and I do, God has a hand in it.”

    A retired, soft-spoken, Alaskan State Trooper/Fish and Wildlife Officer, Don experienced life as an aviator-adventurer.  His everydays were expeditions and explorations and survival journeys.  He protected people’s lives.  His business was law and order and protecting the resources.  Don saved people and animals, and he saved people from animals.  He flew hospital runs and mercy missions.  He rescued people in distress, and he survived in a downed plane in a snowstorm for two days.  Don dealt with squatters and poachers and those who just wanted “to start all over again.” 

    Don’s area of Alaska covered all of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska.  “We, the State Troopers, were the first ones people looked for and the last ones they wanted to see.”  Don settled back in his chair.  “There were never enough of us,” he said.  “We were responsible for a large area that required handling duties from First Responder to coroner and everything in between.  On the road, in the air, every kind of weather and terrain – you realize there are still frontiers close by.  I miss that in my life.”

    Don met Martie in Coldfoot in 1988.  “God had a hand in all of it,” Don says again.

    Martie raised a family in the wilderness.  She worked as a waitress, a school secretary and a hostess to tour groups visiting Coldfoot, Alaska, on their way to Prudhoe Bay.

    Maybe it was in Coldfoot that she learned to make the blueberry-apple-rhubarb-strawberry pie.  Maybe it was in Coldfoot she learned to quilt.  Maybe it was in Coldfoot she learned about computers and photography – and truck drivers.  (There were 200 trucks a day that passed through the Coldfoot Truck Stop where she worked.)  But maybe, and much more likely, Martie learns wherever she goes, whatever she does, and with whomever she finds herself.

    All these “Yes, I can do that’s” have added up to Treasurer of the Township, Editor of the Sand Lake Property Association Newsletter, church secretary and bulletin writer.  She teaches quilting and helps neighbors with balky computers – smiling the whole time.

    Don moved back in his chair.  The interview was over.  He summed up, “You concern yourself with what is past and wonder what is ahead, but then you clear your mind and recognize that the present is where life really is.   Some of us never find our place.  Others find their place wherever they go.  Think of it this way.  You’re always in the right place.”

    Too often, we focus on the distance and miss the big bird (a loon?) right here on our path.