Jan Woodruff

Having grown up in various places with a military family, Jan Parish Woodruff came to Alaska when she was sixteen after her father was transferred to Cordova. After graduating from nursing school in Key West, Florida, she returned to Alaska. She worked as nurse in different parts of Alaska, including in Seward, when she decided she wanted to live out where ther were fewer people. She moved to Eagle, Alaska in May 1997. She met and married Don Woodruff, and they settled at his remote cabin on the Kandik River where they lived an active subsistence lifestyle of fishing, hunting, trapping, and berrypicking. Since moving to the area, Jan has owned dogs and has been an avid dog musher. Eventually, the Woodruffs moved into Eagle, although they continue to rely upon resources from the land and water, and have a large and productive garden.