Fairbanks Page 1

FROM PUEBLO TO FAIRBANKS
1967
(click thumbnails to enlarge)

Crossing the Arctic Circle

Todd was born in Fairbanks in 1971.

The other kids thought it would be funny not to teach Todd his name so when he went to school he wouldn't know who he was.

Record Cold Temps!

Time to dig out AGAIN!

The call came (again) to move to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1967. Don was offered the Sports Editor's job at Jessen's Daily and a job with the Goldpanner baseball team.

Don moved to Fairbanks in November 1967, became established and the family followed in March of 1968.

Don had gone to Alaska to cover baseball games with the Grand Junction Eagles baseball team, and Red Boucher had tried to recruit him to come manage the Goldpanner team.   He called repeatedly.     With just one class left towards Don's degree, a child that needed special medical care, and not really knowing what lay at the other end, they decided to be very grown up about the decision.   A list was made, PROS     CONS.    For Pros there was only one entry.    ADVENTURE!    On the Con side there were 3-4 reasons not to go.  They went. Don was 28 and Ann was 26 years old.   A life of genuine adventure awaited!

In 1967 flying to Fairbanks involved a 17 hour airplane ride!   You stopped at every little Montana and Washington town, then once into Alaska the planes stopped at several small villages, and finally!.. Fairbanks. Now you can fly from San Diego to Fairbanks in 7 hours with good connections.
A three bedroom apartment rented for $250 a month, quite a jump from the $99 a month payment for the house in Pueblo! Everything had to be flown in, in those days, and groceries were terribly expensive.    Everything was!   Ann started pottery work in earnest, giving lessons, making a shop out of one of the bedrooms so glazes and supplies were available for the students.    That allowed her to work at home and be with the three little children.    She sewed hundreds of Barbie doll parkas trimmed in fur to raise money for a new kiln.

Don worked several jobs and when Jessen's Daily, the newspaper that had moved them to Fairbanks, closed, he had a call within hours to work for the large daily, the Fairbanks News Miner. He started as wire editor and became Editor of the paper at 31 years old.

Magazine from Holland

He was with the News Miner 10 years. He was not only Editor-in-Chief, but did the sports pages and a daily editorial and after 10 years was getting burned out. He decided to resign and freelance for awhile with a new family partnership, A&D Dennis Consulting. A&D did many things, including contracts with the University of Alaska to produce media guides. The new venture also bought air time and sold, produced and delivered broadcasts of University sporting events with Don on air, teamed with local Fairbanks sports personality Chuck Clutts.

A&D's biggest undertaking was in importing goods, primarily from Taiwan. It developed its own brand of baseball and softballs, which were distributed nationwide for several years under the label Alaska-1 or AK-1. Also, Don worked in Palmer, AK, starting a new team and building a baseball field, ran the Merdes for Governor campaign in 1978, and spent from Sept 78 to Nov 79 in Anchorage (weekdays) as President of Pacific Rim Publishing. Don served two terms as President of the National Association of Summer Baseball Leagues.

Finally after several months of discussion, he joined Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) the Eskimo Corporation from Barrow, AK. He managed their businesses, principally in Fairbanks, Palmer and the Matanuska Valley for 19 plus years, until he retired in December of 1998.
Don did all the recruiting, the business/financial end, kept the park up... most everything, for the Goldpanners until it got to be too much in the late 90's. Then he turned the recruiting over to the coaches for the most part. He still manages all segments of keeping a semi-pro team going, but hires people for more of the field work and hard physical jobs.
During the 70's the teams won the NBC National Championship many years. (They still hold the record for most wins). During the 80's they quit going to Wichita for the tournament. It was just too expensive, and the Goldpanners held their own tournaments in Hawaii, Nevada and California.

Dave Winfield made
a winter visit.
And, those were the years of some incredible barnstorming trips through the States, playing teams in towns along the way. Have you seen the movie, "Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings"? That is fun beyond description!!!
Don, Ann, son Steve, and two coaches drove vans of ball players for an exciting road trip in 1991. The team had played a tournament in Hawaii, regrouped in San Francisco, rented 5 vans, and headed to Texas to play in a tournament there. They were winning, but due to start another tournament in Reno, NV. Ann and Don loaded two vans full of extra pitchers and players and drove to Reno. Those players, with pitchers playing every conceivable position, won the first two games. The main squad won the Texas tournament so Don quickly flew key players into Reno so they wouldn't lose while the rest of the team drove up. It was a long two day drive. The team won the NV tournament also.... drove back to San Francisco and disbanded for the year.

Christmas Program in
Inupiat

In 2000 the fans wanted to go back to the NBC Tournament, so again the team participates. Don was elected to the NBC Hall of Fame in 2004, and was pleased to get a plaque in Cooperstown later.
Often personnel for the ball club, in town for the summer, would stay in the Dennis Home. One of those was Allan Simpson, 1972, who started "Baseball America", one of the great baseball publications of today. He served as Publisher until retiring in 2006. He worked for Don as Sports Editor at the Daily News-Miner during his time in Fairbanks.

Don is Executive Director of the Boy's Club of Fairbanks.

News from the Arctic
Village of Old Crow

Ann and Steve

Ann & 4 kids

Through the years in Alaska, there were many side jobs and just interesting partnerships with friends. Don was a partner in Sports Suppliers of Alaska... he ran college extension courses for Chapman College, La Verne, Santa Clara and California Lutheran in the summers as it was so difficult for teachers to get Outside for continuing education. During the administration of Gov. Jay Hammond, Don was named one of the three commissioners on the Alaska State Athletic Commission. He served on the Salvation Army Board for years, was a boy scout "den mother"....
Don served on the United Service Organization (USO) Board of Directors, and was a founding director of the Little Dribblers Basketball Program. Other professional memberships were College Sports Directors of America, Farthest North Press Club, Alaska Press Club, NAIA Sports Information Directors Association, Northwest Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association, American Association of College Baseball Coaches, and was a Director of the Fairbanks Quarterback Club. Don also joined the National Sportscasters and Sportswriter's Association as a Charter Member.
Don was Sports Information Director at the University of Alaska and traveled extensively with the sports teams.

He coached women's basketball, officiated several sports, served on the National Parks and Rec Board and the Alaska Olympic Committee.
He served 8 years on the International Arctic Winter Games Board and in 1978 was elected President of the governing body. He is a lifetime member of the Alaska Arctic Winter Games Society.

Don was invited on the first ever commercial flight to Russia. (The Russians wouldn't let him come in however as he had a top secret clearance in the military.) He served on a multitude of local commissions and traveled constantly, yet always made time to go to the kid's games and activities. As they got old enough the kids would travel with him, and they had some real adventures away from mom's watchful eye.

In Nov 1979 he went to work for ASRC.

Fairbanks Rec League

The family lived in the first apartment from March 1968 until July 1971 when they bought a house on Westgate Place and lived there until they moved to Tempe, AZ in January 1982.

News Miner Weight
Loss Contest with
Dennis Fradley

Note the baby in the back of her parka.

Newsboy Awards
Don, Skip Snedden

Daily Chore some Winters

First Month in Alaska

56 Below.. everything hidden in dense ice fog.

Scott - hockey

Giving Award

The moisture from everyone's
gloves builds up on store doors when
it is extremely cold.

Inside the house. No weather stripping can
keep that cold out! Clothes next to the outside
wall will freeze to closet walls.

Some days were like this!

Ann

Dark except for about an hour and a half of
dusk, in Dec and Jan.

Left, Ann,
Right, sister Marlene

The Northern lights would light
up the entire sky that far North.

Scott & Steve

Sam Suplizio in Fairbanks
Don & Bill Stroecker

Donna & Corky Hebard
Great Friends in Fairbanks

Kathy Johnson working in
Jade, Inc.

Mary Jo Migliaccio, Betty
Bernard and Peggy Brown

Scott at church camp

The Kids in Fairbanks
in front of their home.

Left: News Editor, News Miner 1968
Right: Teena at school

FAIRBANKS SCENES

Ice Fog and COLD. The longer the cold spell the more dense the fog until you could see but a few feet in front of you. The cars have dents here and there by the end of winter. If a car bumps someone's car in the fog, they yell "Everyone OK?" and if the answer is yes, off you go. This picture is midday in Fairbanks, December or January.

There was 164 inches of snow one winter. The kids could walk up to the second story window.

February 5, 2008

Steve's impromptu Santa Costume

Every year the boys would wire boxes with all kinds of lights and weird things for their halloween costumes. Usually they would fall down the stairs (note the flag) getting out of the house and then nothing would work, but next year was another year!


	Neighbors and Friends, Joe and Nancy Naleski with Lynn and Luann.	Steve even gardened in his room.
	Casey, Karen, Don	Steves sunflower
		Shop in the House
	Kids at Shriner's Apts.	Todd's first political campaign.

Todd had one line: "We've
come to Worship Him". He
loudly spoke: "We've come
to wash him up".

Teena and Henry

Easter Golden Egg

Bear standing at pole

Bear sees people

Bear sez: MY POLE!

dahl sheep	caribou	1 brown,2 black bears - eating caribou	caribou
caribou	dahl sheep ram	Mt McKinley	mountain goat

black bear	red fox	moose	running wolf
wolf	red fox	wolf	red fox


	pictures copyrighted

Animals from the May 2006 Alaska drive. 3657 mi. door to door. Fabulous drive twice a year.

Favorite Canadian Road signn

Favorite Canadian Food Store

The best way to get from Fairbanks to anywhere, is to DRIVE! The highway is great, the scenery through the Yukon and British Columbia is the most beautiful in the world, and the wildlife you see is incredible! These animals were beside the road during the spring 2006 trip. (And of course, there is a huge competition to see who spots something interesting FIRST!) Ann and Don have driven it dozens of times, all different months of the year, and the most beautiful is in the fall. They drove two new buses from Little Rock, AR to Fairbanks one year. Another year son Scott joined them driving 3 buses from Chicago. They've driven buses, vans, campers, pickups, about anything except a regular car the 3657 miles, door to door, between San Diego and Fairbanks. Don tries to find different roads and new scenery as often as he can, which has produced some interesting adventures. Flying is for when you are in hurry, but driving the road is FUN!

SIGN FOREST WATSON LAKE, YUKON TERRITORY

Background picture is the midnight sun sky from the ballpark at midnight on June 21st. The sun is hidden for about an hour behind a close hill and then comes back out. But, it never does get "dark". Photo by Todd Dennis

move to Fairbanks Page 2

1. HOME (The early years)	2. Pueblo, Gr Junction,	3. Fairbanks 1	4. Fairbanks 2
5. Arizona	6. Rural San Diego	7. Mixed Pictures	8. Family Album
9. Extended Family	10. Dupree Ranch	AAU Basketball Denver	Articles 1 2 3 Lefse

STURGIS 58 Reunion Sturgis Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 58 Bios Yearbooks 1958 37 55 56 57 59 60 61 62 84 85 86 JrHi59 57 Reunion 62 Reunion SHS Newspapers Calendars 56-61	FOWLER 57 Yrbk: 1957 48 50 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 1 (People) 2 (Mix) 3 (Brochure) 4 (Houses) 5 (Missouri Day) Reunions: 57 Booklet 55 thru 59 61 Reunion 1961 FHS News 54-61 news 1958 Page 1928 pics/notes Colo Interactive Map
Pueblo College: Yearbook 58-59 59-60 Arrow 58/59 Don's College/Jobs Ann's College/Jobs Army & Yrbk	Ann's Pottery/Art	Perfect Marriage (or not)	Uptown Theater	La Veta
	Classmates	Baseball	Silly Stories	Songs
Ancestors MAIN MENU Cully, Eunice, Fred, Casey, Hazel, Donald, Verna, Buck, Inez, NY/SD Millers, Joens Research on Utters	Dennis/Wright Slideshow Scotty Wright Stewart Ferguson 1 Ferguson History 1935 Attica KS Book