Scottish poet Thomas Campbell once wrote, “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” As Memorial Day approaches, we remember the fallen. Keep an eye out for memorials to be held Monday — the VFW Post 10221 will host services at the Homer Cemetery, Anchor Point Cemetery and Ninilchik Cemetery at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m., respectively. For other happenings around town this week, check out these Best Bets.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Thirty-five-year-old Rex Hanks homesteaded in the Happy Creek valley in 1946. He remained a bachelor until 1953, when he married registered nurse Irmgard Matz in Seward. Together they had two daughters, both stillborn. Rex built a modest home for himself and his wife south of the creek and near the beach above Cook Inlet.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This first chapter of the Rex Hanks story includes many other individuals and numerous actions and transactions. It is helpful, therefore, to know a little background: The main action takes place in Happy Valley, located between Anchor Point and Ninilchik on the southern Kenai Peninsula. Of the “characters” in this tale, Rex Hanks, in May 1946, was the first to file on a homestead. A week later, his friend, Clyde Thomas, filed on an adjacent homestead. Two years after that, Homer and Nell Crosby also filed in the same area. By 1953, much had changed: Thomas was dead. Hanks had sold his homestead, bought a small piece of Crosby property, moved away to find work and gotten married. The Crosbys had also left the valley, moved to the Anchorage area and begun trying to sell the rest of their homestead. Meanwhile, in Eagle River, Mac and Ella McGann were eyeing the Kenai for homesteading possibilities.