Jamie Roberts stands by the water on Nov. 29. She first came to Wrangell in 1998 and has been a big part of the community ever since. Roberts, a staple of Wrangell swimming, will leave town later this month - the family is moving to Oregon.
Jamie Roberts is leaving Wrangell better than she found it.
After 26 years on the island, Jamie is saying goodbye to a town that not only formed her, but that she helped form for the better. The Roberts family moved out of their 11.25-Mile home after the Nov. 20, 2023, landslide. Since then, they have been unable to find a tenable housing solution. Later this month, Jamie will join her husband, Greg, at their new home in Veneta, Oregon.
The Wrangell chapter in the book of Jamie Roberts begins in 1998. A student at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, she needed just one more credit for her degree in forest management. With eight months until the required credit was offered in the spring semester, she took a flier (or as she calls it, a "happy detour") on a U.S. Forest Service job in Wrangell.
Not only did the job keep her busy from the summer into the fall, but Jamie also happened to fall in love - and not just with Wrangell itself. That summer she met Greg Roberts, another Forest Service employee. In 1999 she returned to Wrangell after graduation. The next year, she and Greg bought the A-frame at 11.25-Mile together. By 2003 they were married.
Since settling down here over two decades ago, Jamie Roberts has worn several hats, often filling a need with each new role.
The first time this happened, it was 2000 and she was doing Forest Service field work with her crew on the mainland. A radio call informed them of a medical emergency at the Anan Wildlife Observatory. After seeing first-hand how long it took the emergency response crew to arrive on scene, Jamie realized it would be worthwhile to get her wilderness first responder certification. What resulted was a 21-year career with the Wrangell Fire Department, working not just as a firefighter, but also as an EMT and a search and rescue officer.
A similar thing happened in 2016. The Wrangell Swim Club was four years old, and for the first time in its history the club was planning to attend a competitive meet: Petersburg's November Rain. For the previous four years, Roberts supported the team behind the scenes. She fundraised, provided snacks and helped head coach Bruce McQueen on the pool deck.
But a competitive meet meant Roberts needed to acquire her official USA Swimming pool deck certification. So, she did just that. And when McQueen could no longer make the time commitment to the team, it was Jamie who took over the reins. Since then, she founded the high school swim program and legally purchased the Wrangell Swim Club (She jokingly boasted that the club made $100 in profit last year). Odds are, if you learned how to swim in Wrangell in the past decade, Jamie taught you.
When the landslide hit last year, Jamie stepped up for her community once again, dipping into the grant-writing skills she gleaned while forming the high school swim team. She is currently under contract with the borough to help with the reimbursement process for a federal disaster grant it received earlier this year.
When she's not working on disaster grant funding or coaching on the pool deck, she's subbing for the school district. Why? Because they needed help.
The landslide is what spurred her departure from the community for which she has done so much. The slide occurred at 11.2-Mile Zimovia Highway. The Roberts lived at 11.25.
It claimed the lives of six people including the three Heller children: Derek, Kara and Mara. Jamie coached Derek and Kara in the swim club. She said Mara was their loudest supporter.
But as soon as the slide hit and Jamie ran out of her house that night, she knew there was no going back.
"It was a very sensory experience," she said. "Greg and I agreed we would never sleep again in that home. (That house) was not a refuge anymore."
She said she still has trouble sleeping during nights with heavy rain. Even the noise of the Alaska Airlines jet triggers memories of the slide. So do certain smells.
Jamie wanted to spend eight more years in Wrangell, but when she and Greg could not find any tenable housing solution, they decided to skip straight to their retirement plan.
"We might as well just fast forward," she said.
Greg, who is already retired, moved into their new home in Oregon earlier this year. But Jamie wanted to stay behind for one more swim season.
"I wanted to see through Anika Herman's senior year. I want to be here for the kids, because I really love them. I just love the kids that swim for me," she said.
Her last meet, the Southeast championships, was this past weekend. But that won't be her final time atop the pool deck. The Wrangell Swim Club will compete on Nov. 15 in Petersburg. The competition? November Rain, the very same meet that got it all started for Jamie nearly 10 years ago.
On Nov. 20, the Wrangell Cooperative Association is hosting a landslide memorial potluck at the Nolan Center. The next day, Jamie will board Alaska Airlines southbound Flight 64.
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