(NOTE: 2007 marks the 80th anniversary of the Alaska flag, an important part of Alaskan history. Another key event that changed Alaska and ACS was the Good Friday earthquake of 1964. The responsibility for rebuilding the Jesse Lee Home fell on Richard Gilbert. He became Executive Director after the earthquake and served in that capacity until 1974. In recognition of his efforts we are pleased to have Dick share his early experiences when he came to Alaska and undertook major challenges.)

We (Mary, Mark, Marilynn and I) arrived in Anchorage in late August 1965, about 18 months after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake. While most things seemed back to normal by then, there was a three-block crater along the west side of Fourth Avenue with no buildings between Fourth and the railroad. What is now Earthquake Park was a broken upscale neighborhood, deeply fissured, with houses tilted crazily on their ends and sides in the fissures.

Construction on the Anchorage Jesse Lee Home (JLH) had begun. After a few days with Chet and Lavena Falls (volunteers overseeing the construction) and getting familiar with the plans in Anchorage, we headed for Seward. Much of the Seward Highway between Anchorage and the Pass had been heavily damaged. On most of that stretch we were on temporary, one-way gravel bypasses. The trip took 6 to 8 hours of bone-jarring driving. We arrived in Seward, said goodbye to my predecessor, Frances Currier, and jumped into the fray.

The quake was proportionately more devastating to Seward than Anchorage. Two tidal waves, ricocheting between Valdez and Seward, swept up into the town, wiped out the railroad terminal and the marine freight dock. Lives were lost, jobs evaporated, housing was destroyed, roads and streets torn up. Eighteen months after the quake the destruction was still very evident everywhere.

When the quake warnings came in, the staff took the kids to a flat place just behind the Administrator’s House and they rode it out there. No one was hurt, but I remember the kids talking about how cold they were. For the next while they were housed in a town recreation building on that property. They stayed there until they were sure the danger had passed and then returned to the buildings, making do as best they could.

It had been evident that JLH was in pretty bad shape, even before the quake. It either needed to be rebuilt or closed soon. The earthquake accelerated the decision. As a part of a general appeal for earthquake relief in Methodist churches across the country, a plan to rebuild JLH was included. The response was overwhelming … enough to build the Anchorage campus which cost $830,000.

So, on January 21,1965, after shipping 38,000 pounds of stuff in two large semis, we packed 21 kids, three staff, their luggage and one dog into a 1956 dilapidated school bus named Matilda trailed by three cars, a truck and two vans and made our way to Anchorage. The kids and staff were all seeing the new facility for the first time. Staff were very happy. Kids, on the other hand, used to a small town and more rural living conditions, were somewhat less than enthusiastic. That sharpened when they had to go to school.

But moving to Anchorage was only the beginning. The really big job was moving into the 20th century. At that time the State and Bureau of Indian Affairs was paying a fee of $3 per child/per day plus $100 annual clothing allowance. We had to round up the rest. So the 27 church institutions across the state organized to persuade the state to increase its fees. We conducted a two-year campaign to get the state to reimburse at the level of the actual cost of providing service. Genie Chance, Helen Beirne, Chancy Croft and Bill Boardman from their seats in the legislature, deserve much credit for their steadfast support for child well-being in Alaska.

The new fee schedules also made ACS possible. The other directors of the three forming agencies were Ken Fallon and John Molletti. Ken was director of the Lutheran Youth Center (Wasilla), John the pastor of First American Baptist Church and Director of Anchorage Christian Children’s Home. We were having a session to see how we could coordinate our services and avoid duplication. One of us (Ken, I think) said the easiest thing to do would be to put all three institutions in one agency. Bingo!

It’s rewarding to know that the core agencies have survived and are providing good service to Alaska’s kids even today. The Jesse Lee Home and Alaska Children’s Services had a real shot at being special places and programs. And once in a while we even achieved it! Our best to all, Dick Gilbert