Kari Bernard

Henra Sundt was interviewed by Bill Schneider and David Krupa on June 13, 1993 in Gakona, Alaska. This interview was conducted at her summer home next to the Gakona Lodge. Henra's son, Roy, and her granddaughter, Kari, also were present during the interview. Henra, was living mostly in Anchorage, and was spending her first weekend of the summer in Gakona, tending to the lawn, seeing friends, and tidying up. When Bill Schneider and David Krupa arrived, Henra was busy clipping the grass growing up around the towering spruce in her front yard. In this interview, Henra recalls her life experience with relish and humor. In this first part of a two part interview, she gives an excellent account of traveling along the precarious and precipitous "goat" road from Valdez to Glennallen and on to Gakona, where she and her husband got their start. She describes many of the colorful characters who passed through the Gakona Lodge and records some of her own adventures, including hiking across the mountains to visit her husband at Slate Creek. She tells of her struggle to carry on alone after her husband's death. She and her son, Roy, give a darkly humorous account of some historical deaths, burials, and reburials in the Gakona area. The interview provides a good perspective on early life along the highway and the characters who passed through.