Return traveler reunites with garnet seller after 34 years

A former garnet seller was reunited with one of her customers last week after 34 years.

In 1989, Eva Lee Henderson traveled to Wrangell from Chicago for a ferry trip with a friend. During her roughly 30-minute stop in town, she had just enough time to purchase two garnets from an 11-year-old girl at City Dock - Kristy Nore, now Kristy Woodbury.

The garnets came with a handwritten note, explaining how they were formed and where they were excavated from.

"I thought it was very interesting that only children could go to the (garnet) ledge," Henderson said. "I had no idea that it was that far away."

Then, she returned to Chicago and the garnets went into her box of travel souvenirs - until now.

While planning a trip to visit her niece, Kristy Herman of Canoe Lagoon Oysters, Henderson wondered if "this little girl ... might still be in Wrangell."

Turns out, Kristy Woodbury and Kristy Herman are neighbors. The two Kristys arranged a reunion between Woodbury and Henderson, and Henderson showed Woodbury the garnets and note she'd purchased decades ago.

"I had older siblings, so I was selling them with my siblings when I was a toddler," said Woodbury. "They would prop me up and have me look cute. I kept selling once my siblings had aged out and I liked it a lot. I liked being able to make spending money as a kid. This was before we had computer printers and easy access to copy machines. ... I had to write each of (the notes) out to have at my table to give to the tourists."

This meetup was particularly convenient because this summer, Woodbury's son, Stuart, is following in his mother's garnet-selling footsteps and Woodbury wanted to set him up with notes similar to the ones she had passed out to customers. "It was so crazy that Kristy sent me that message that she actually had a copy (of the note)," she said, "because all summer long I was thinking, 'I wish I had a copy.'"

So far, Stuart's business is booming. The garnets' prices have increased from nickels, dimes and quarters in 1989 to $10 or $20 per stone. He still sells them in a muffin tin, like his mother did.

On his most lucrative day this summer, Stuart made $72 selling garnets. But for the Woodburys and other families, it isn't just about the money. Parents encourage their kids to set up stands because "they learn so many skills like how to speak to people, how to make change, how to be polite," said Woodbury. "Some of those things are really tough when you're just 7."

The garnet gig has also gotten tougher since Woodbury was setting up shop in the '80s. High-quality garnets are rare finds at the ledge these days, after years of excavation.

"It is hard to find really nice garnets," she said. "We used to be able to get them completely without a blemish. It's just been so used since I was a kid that it's hard to get those really nice ones now. ... I used to be able to just sit in the creek ... and just scoop up garnets with my hands. Now you really have to work for them."