North to Alaska - Big Bear Sam

When I returned from my fishing expedition Big Bear Sam was in the middle of changing my four wheeler into a snowmobile, called a snow go in this part of the world.  After our traditional meeting with a big bear hug I suggested he was being a little premature about replacing the tires with skis.  "There will be snow on the ground tomorrow."   Well not according to the news I received over the weather radio given me my the school district.  "It will snow tonight and will be here for a long time.  The lake will not freeze over for a while though.  Boat still good."

We asked Big Bear to stay for dinner and help us eat the fish I had just caught and to my surprise he accepted our invitation. 

Big Bear's "Christian Name" as he called it was Leroy.  We all agreed that Big Bear was a much better name.  He had been raised in the area but his father knew that a man had to have the abilities to live in both the white and Indian world, so he sent him off to Boarding School but insisted he come home in the summer and learn what he was not learning at Sitka.

He then attended the University of Alaska in Anchorage but went there in the summer and alternated the fall and spring semesters so he could be at home and learn more about his community and culture and how they lived during different parts of the year. 

He took a degree in Biology and immediately joined the Coast Guard.  His idea, supported by his father, that a military life would be good and at least the Coast Guard did real life saving missions and did not spend all their time just training getting ready for something that may not happen.  His father was a member of the Territorial Guard Scout Battalion back in the 50's and 60's, and while he was proud to serve, he also thought it was sort of a waste of time.




As luck would have it and proving that the military used ones innate skill when assigning people to certain jobs and locations, Leroy, was sent to Key West and became a radar operator watching storms and ships as they crossed his screen.

He was given an early out because his father died and he was the sole support of the rest of his family, that being several little sisters and one elderly mother.  He decided to stay in the area.  He supplements his corporation and dividend money by acting as a guide in the summer for the "adventures" from the lower 48 - fishing or hunting, it made little difference. 

I asked him about this Shaman business and he said he would rather not talk about it right now, that I was not ready.  I let it drop.

Today there is snow on the ground, about a foot, and I will head out tomorrow to see my students and a ride through the snowy forests of the north.