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The community gathered at the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial on Sunday, May 19, for the annual blessing of the fleet and to add 14 names to the waterfront memorial at Heritage Harbor. Added to the memorial this year were Kenneth Olson, Curly Rathbone, Mickey Prescott, Wes Allen, Helen Allen, Cappy Bakke, Randall Churchill Jr., Sam Privett, Dave Hartung, Marion Goodrich, Otto Florschutz III, James Smith, Doyle Sarff and Harold Snoddy. Jenn Miller-Yancey, Jeff Jabusch, Gig Decker, John Yeager and...
KSTK SPRING ON-AIR FUNDRAISER ends Friday, April 26. Help KSTK raise $21,000 for broadcast services. All donors are invited to KSTK Friday evening, April 26, for the spring grill-out, with burgers, hotdogs, side dishes and beverages. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT will host a pre-season tourism stakeholder meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 25, at City Hall. The meeting is intended for businesses and organizations that provide services to the tourism industry. For those unable to attend in person, a Zoom link is available. h... Full story
The board of the Mariners’ Memorial is accepting applications from community members who would like to see their loved ones featured on one of the memorial’s plaques. Each application should include the name of the deceased, a brief tribute that will be featured on the plaque and a story about the life of the mariner, which will be housed on the memorial’s online server. “(The Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial) mission is to help tell each mariner’s story,” the form reads. To maximize the process’s accessibility, memorial board members will be...
Mickey Prescott has gone fishing. Mitchell "Mickey" Julius Prescott was born on May 24, 1940, and died in Wrangell at his fish camp, Mickey's Fish Camp, on Sept. 28, 2023. He was 83 years old. Mickey was born in Everett, Washington, to Wrangellites Ralph and Edith Prescott (Johnson). Mickey is survived by his favorite sister, Mercedes Angerman, and his seven adult children: Joy Prescott (Ed Bruns), Vivian Prescott (Howie Martindale), Tracey Martin Prescott (Dennis Martin), Vincent Prescott... Full story
A fishing adventure turned tragic for a family when disaster struck one of the two Sitka boats they chartered over the Memorial Day weekend, leaving three people dead and two missing despite a search over hundreds of square miles of ocean. The tragedy tore the Tyau family apart: Two sisters and one of their husbands are dead, while the other’s partner and the boat captain remain missing a week after the 30-foot aluminum boat was found partially submerged off an island near Sitka. Authorities on May 29 suspended their search after more than 2...
The Interfaith Table of Wrangell would like to thank everyone who participated in its inaugural Gathering of Prayer last month. We are grateful for those businesses and sites across town for setting out our prayer jars. Our thanks to Jenn Miller, for her assistance in using the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial for our gathering. Most of all, we thank the people who wrote their prayer petitions — their joys, their sorrows and their hopes — and filled our jars, trusting that we would pray faithfully for them. We were honored to lift up your praye...
We have noticed and cherished day by day: The generosity of spirit shown by many in fundraising to provide meals for families, music for all at the park, at the pavilion and at the Fourth of July. The thoughtfully designed Mariners’ Memorial, contributed to by so many. The heartfelt dedication service presenting it as a gift to the community. Our much-loved teachers, coaches, athletes, musicians, artists who brought forth countless wins and successes for Wrangell. A testimony of devotion, dedication, encouragement, tenacity, and a vision of w...
In the Oct. 4 municipal election, Wrangell voters authorized the borough to sell or lease the 6-Mile mill site, a 39-acre parcel of land on Zimovia Highway. As they explore options for developing the land, borough officials will seek community feedback at an upcoming public forum. The forum represents an effort to “look at what the community would like to see out there,” said Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore. How does the community think the property can best be utilized for its benefit, she asked. At the Oct. 19 meeting of the bor...
Wrangell is great at helping neighbors in need, at filling holiday food baskets and supporting student activities. The community excels at watching out for each other, watching over our elders and keeping watch over mariners. There are multiple examples just in last week’s and this week’s Sentinel and on the Wrangell Community Group Facebook page: Volunteers working to reopen the roller rink after a three-year shutdown; all the effort that has gone into growing the community garden; the dedication, labor and money that have gone into bui...
The Sentinel on Oct. 28 incorrectly reported on the dedication of a bench at the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial to Ryan Miller, who died in a 2005 commercial fishing accident. The three memorial benches were a 2017 Wrangell High School senior project. The Ryan Miller bench was built by his son, Garrett Miller. The other two benches were built by Garrett’s cousin, Dawson Miller, and their friend, Sam Armstrong....
Kudos to the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial Committee. Your years of meetings, emails, fundraisers and hiring “smart hands” have resulted in a stunning project. I hope you realize the impact, and recognize that your time has been well-invested. The primo accessible location, panoramic view, architectural design, spacing of elements, silhouette, variety and quality of materials will elicit responses for decades. It’s always intriguing when hard, cold elements, like metal, cement and nightlights, can meld and touch soft souls. Well done. -- Cindy M...
Community members, local organizations and mariners gathered together at the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial last Sunday afternoon for a blessing of the fleet. The blessing is a tradition in seaside towns around the world, praying for safety and bountiful harvests as fishing fleets begin heading out for the season. The blessing is a longstanding tradition for Wrangell, said Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the mariners' memorial board, but recent events have become more collaborative. "I don't know how...
More progress has been made on the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial, but several aspects of the project have been put on hold as winter begins. Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Board, reported that concrete work around the memorial has been finished for the time being. More will be done next spring, she said, as they install more light posts. While concrete work has paused, there is still work ongoing. "The material to build the actual memorial walls has arrived,"...
Construction on the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial is coming along well, according to Mariners' Memorial Board Treasurer Jeff Jabusch. The steel for the memorial's walls themselves has been ordered, he said. The walls, once complete, will be where the plaques will eventually be placed. "We're hoping to get at least one wall actually finished and up before winter, and then get these three walls poured," Jabusch said. "Then we'll get everything leveled off to grade with gravel, and then probably won'...
Work continues on the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial, a project to honor the memory of Wrangell seafarers who have lost their lives. As previously reported in the last construction update, the roof of the memorial's gazebo was recently installed. Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the Mariners' Memorial Board, said that more progress has recently been made. Some recent advancements in the project, she wrote in an email to the Sentinel, were made to help honor the memory of two local fishermen. Siguard and...
The top of the Mariners' Memorial gazebo was installed last Monday, July 20. The memorial has been a long-running project to recognize Wrangellites who have lost their lives at sea....
More progress has been made on the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial. The memorial is an ongoing project to recognize Wrangell sailors who have been lost at sea. Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the Mariners' Memorial Board, said that the past month has been spent getting foundations for the memorial completed. She also reported that a lot of progress on the memorial's gazebo has been made. The skeleton of the gazebo is up already, and the foundations for the memorial walls are complete. The shape of the...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial project is moving along at a good pace, according to Brennon Eagle. The memorial has been a long-running project for the community, beginning back in the early 2000s. According to the memorial committee's website, Wrangell High School seniors worked to identify a suitable location and design for the memorial, meant to recognize Wrangellites who lose their lives at sea. The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Committee achieved tax-exempt status as a nonprofit in 2017....
The Wrangell Cooperative Association held an award ceremony at Wrangell High School Monday evening, Sept. 30. Tribal Administrator Esther Ashton, along with several members of the WCA board, organized the ceremony to officially give several local organizations a check from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium's "Healthy Is Here" grant. In total, $10,600 was given to 17 organizations. "The reason we're here today is that we received from SEARHC a Healthy Is Here grant," Ashton said....
The City and Borough Assembly: Three Year Tearm Julie Decker is seeking re-election to the Wrangell Borough Assembly for a three-year term. There are several reasons she wants to sit for another term on the assembly. The current borough assembly has been making some good decisions on behalf of the city, she said, and she would like to see that continue. As a member of the assembly, she said that she has tried to stay informed and lead in a way that benefits the city as a whole. She added that...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Board brought in a little less than $5,000 with their annual fish fry last month. Proceeds like this are going towards the mariners' memorial by Heritage Harbor, dedicated to Wrangellites who have been lost at sea. Construction has been ongoing in increments for several months, but more funds are still needed. According to Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the memorial board, they are hoping to raise an additional $6,000 by Oct. 1. Back in July, the mariners' memorial...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial, an ongoing project to build a memorial to honor Wrangellites who have been lost at sea, has made several big steps forward. Jenn Miller, president of the Mariners' Memorial board, said that they have raised enough funds to begin the next steps of laying the memorial's groundwork. "We have Brett Woodbury and Russ McGee working on the groundwork for us," she said. "We actually spent our first money out of the account on materials, on rebar. That is on the barge as...
The Wrangell Mariners' Memorial Board held its second annual auction at the Stikine Inn last Saturday evening. The auction, to raise money for a planned memorial to honor Wrangell seafarers, had over a dozen items in both a live and silent auction. Many people from across town came out to support the memorial and to bid. This was the second year in a row for the board to hold an auction. Board Member Brennon Eagle gave the public a short update on the memorial and the organization before the...
The Wrangell Port Commission held its monthly meeting on Feb. 7 to hold a public workshop on the Mariners' Memorial. Members of the community have been working towards a memorial for Wrangell sailors lost at sea for almost two decades, according to the Mariners' Memorial group website. Some progress has been made towards the memorial, with the ground being broken at the proposed site last December. The workshop was called together to discuss the details of the memorial. One of the details that was discussed heavily was who, exactly, should be...
As many people in Wrangell are surely aware, Alaska is cold in the winter. While others may bundle up or drink lots of coffee to fight the cold, there is another group that embraces it. The Wrangell Polar Bear Club will be holding their annual plunge at Shoemaker Park on New Year’s Day. Aleisha Mollen, with the club, said that this is the 19th annual polar bear plunge for Wrangell. On Jan. 1, at 1 p.m., participants will run chest deep into the ocean, dunk themselves, and stand in the cold water for a full minute. Those who make it the full m...
