About this book

I have written My Seldovia—My Life so that my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren can get an idea of the life I had as a child and young woman in a small village in Alaska.

The people I write about were the families that I was connected with, at play and at work. Some may not be included here, but it was only because I either forgot or I wasn’t around them much. Some of the things that I wrote about were told to me by family and friends.

I tried to get the people that lived along the boardwalk in my story as I remembered them.

My story is written about my life and my town before and after 1931, when I was born.

a young Bill Olssen, on front steps, holding a spaniel — Bill Olssen

an older Bill Olssen, holding a fork, wearing a beret — Bill Olssen

Some of the family information was given to me by my cousin William (Bill) Olssen. Many many thanks to Bill, who has the best memory in the world.

I wrote this book for my children

Harriett Chereleen (Sherri) McKnight
Frederick Thomas (Tom) Sharp
Terry Mark Sharp
Carolee Renae Sharp

My grandchildren

Jennifer Marie McKnight
Stephanie Erin McKnight
Tiffani Amber Thompson
Jared André Sharp Patterson
Sasha Rose Sharp
Sara Eden Kalmenson Sharp

My great grandchildren

Austin Michael Thompson
Matthew Aaron Thompson
Mikayla Fayth Juarez
Hailey Marie Juarez
Tristan Michael Botai
Rowen Dannyelle Patterson
and . . .

My brothers and sisters (with their nicknames)

Thomas Kenus Fox (Thomas, Tom, Bunson)
Deloris Catherine Fox Peterson
Andrew Alfred Fox (Sonny, Swede)
Arthur William Fox (Coogan)
Lettie Lavern Fox Buchanan (Cookala, Dolly)

(My nicknames are Sister and Sis.)

Cover. The slough. The pictures that I have of the slough were taken after the earthquake, and some of the homes have been added since I was young. Some pictures came from magazines I collected as a child and my family’s pictures.

Links and shortcuts

In any page, you can click on or touch links to jump around in this book.

Each entry in the contents links to the poem.
The title for a poem links back to the contents, highlighting the entry for the poem.
Words in the headers and footers link to the index, the contents, a listing of books by the author, to this page, and to the previous and first poems in the book.

You may find the following keyboard equivalents to be convenient. Here I use the symbol ⌥ for the option key on Mac/OS or the alt key on Windows, ⇧ for the shift key, and ⏎ for the return (enter) key. Arrow keys are ◄ (left), ► (right), ▲ (up), and ▼ (down).

Keyboard shortcuts for navigating this book
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contents	⇧ ⌥ ▲	cover
	⌥ ▼	select the next item in the contents
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The author

Mae Annette Fox was born in Seldovia Alaska on 16 July 1931. She was the oldest daughter of six, having three brothers and two sisters. She married Frederick James Sharp in Anchorage on 8 July 1950. At the time, Fred Sharp was an Air Force airplane mechanic. In the sixties, Mae was a chief administrator for the civil service at Hamilton Air Force Base, California. After she retired, she became interested in genealogy and basketry. She died on 27 January 2017 in Olympia, Washington.

Mae wrote this book in 1997. This edition is produced by Tom Sharp for Sharpgiving Press.