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R. Rolland Armstrong on Presbyterian missions in Alaska.
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- Rolland ArmstrongThis was the combination that the board had set up years before.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis was true under the time of Dr. Summerdyke, when he was
- Rolland Armstrongin charge of Sunday-School missions in Alaska. Few men
- Rolland Armstrongof administrative stature had come into Alaska since
- Rolland Armstrongthe time of Sheldon Jackson. Everett King had come
- Rolland Armstronginto the state or territory. And, on his
- Rolland Armstrongreturn to New York, he got in contact with us in Michigan and
- Rolland Armstrongsaid he wanted to go to the First Presbyterian Church in
- Rolland ArmstrongFairbanks. Part of the sales pitch at that time was that the Fairbanks Church was in a strategic lo
- Rolland Armstrongcation was near the University of Alaska.
- Rolland ArmstrongThey had a tremendous enrollment and they needed student work.
- Rolland ArmstrongDr. King's estimate of the University of Alaska was far from correct.
- Rolland ArmstrongInstead of having somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 students,
- Rolland Armstrongit was probably closer to 250 or 300. The figures that he
- Rolland Armstrongreceived and was using, floated extension courses under
- Rolland Armstrongthe agricultural department. I think throwing in a bunch of 4-H young
- Rolland Armstrongpeople. Nevertheless, we
- Rolland Armstrongstarted off for Alaska. Driving across
- Rolland Armstrongto Seattle was an experience in itself and getting on the steamship and heading
- Rolland Armstrongnorth was also one that cannot be forgotten.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe found on board that the Crawfords [Crawford, David H.] were
- Rolland Armstrongheading for Alaska. Dave and Anne were
- Rolland Armstrongyoung missionaries as ourselves. They were heading for Cordova
- Rolland Armstrongheading for the different
- Rolland Armstrongparts.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe saw something of Alaska. I was not impressed by Ketchikan. We stopped at
- Rolland ArmstrongPetersburg and I wondered what the Presbyterian Church was even
- Rolland Armstrongtrying to do there for the church. And Petersburg
- Rolland Armstrongseemed to be an old barn that was painted barn red. And, the
- Rolland Armstrongpoor missionary who was working there George
- Rolland ArmstrongBetts was living in the upper part
- Rolland Armstrongof the building. Little did I realize that later on George Betts would
- Rolland Armstrongbe one of my favorite friends among the Tlingit people. We
- Rolland Armstrongwent on to Juneau. Mr. and Mrs. Glass were the
- Rolland Armstrongpastors of that time. and John Glass was out of town so we just got a
- Rolland Armstrongchance to see a Northern Light church and visit with the pastor's wife.
- Rolland ArmstrongI was impressed by Wrangel, as we passed through Wrangel. This seemed to be the cleanest thing that
- Rolland Armstrongwe had run into of Presbyterian work. Beautiful, semi-Colonial
- Rolland Armstrongchurch. Up on a hill
- Rolland Armstrongwith some rolling grass around and it
- Rolland Armstronglooked inviting. Then across the Gulf and
- Rolland Armstrongto Cordova where we dropped off the
- Rolland ArmstrongCrawfords, saw this town and the ramshackle
- Rolland Armstrongbuilding that they inherited. This had been a building built by S. Hall
- Rolland ArmstrongYoung in the early days. It had a gymnasium
- Rolland Armstrongand sort of a semi basement. Then on the first floor, a sanctuary
- Rolland Armstrongand educational rooms and on the second and
- Rolland Armstrongthird floor is where the living quarters were located.
- Rolland ArmstrongActually the top floor was about five stories above the
- Rolland Armstrongfirst floor but this is what the Crawfords inherited. And,
- Rolland Armstrongwe moved on to Valdéz, and as we hung over the rail looking down
- Rolland Armstrongonto the dock, here was a man who was to meet us, the Reverend
- Rolland ArmstrongB.J. Bingle [Bingle, Bert J.] A book had come out entitled, "The Lure
- Rolland Armstrongof Alaska," and we looked down at
- Rolland ArmstrongBert and said there is the lure of Alaska.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe started up the highway, which was known as the
- Rolland ArmstrongRichardson and stopped at least two nights before
- Rolland Armstrongwe could get into Fairbanks. It was quite a
- Rolland Armstrongtime crossing the rivers out a dulla
- Rolland Armstrongbecause this was the old system that Ickes had installed where
- Rolland Armstrongyou had to pay a fee to get across on the river barge.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis was the scene of many amusing and interesting events later
- Rolland Armstrongon. The Interior Department tried to halt the
- Rolland Armstrongtruckers from moving from Valdez into Fairbanks
- Rolland Armstrongand making people use the Alaska railroad.
- Rolland ArmstrongOur arrival in Fairbanks was one
- Rolland Armstrongthat we will never forget. We
- Rolland Armstrongfinally got something settled in the manse and started to
- Rolland Armstrongcount what money we had left. We had a little over ten
- Rolland Armstrongdollars. Went to the store to see if we could get enough for breakfast.
- Rolland ArmstrongThere was nothing in the manse in the way of food. There must have been a
- Rolland Armstrongjurisdictional dispute between the Women's Association and the session.
- Rolland ArmstrongAfter buying our breakfast material, I think we had just a few
- Rolland Armstrongdollars left.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt took almost seven dollars to get the basic supplies we needed.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut along came a wedding. A
- Rolland Armstrongfamily by the name of my Mandigo, who lived next to the manse,
- Rolland Armstrongprepared ahead of time for a wedding for
- Rolland Armstrongone of their relatives. The fee from that seemed to hold us
- Rolland Armstrongover until we could get another wedding and then finally a check.
- Rolland ArmstrongI'd been employed down in Kentucky and
- Rolland Armstrongfive county project of Sunday School missions for twelve hundred dollars. When I
- Rolland Armstrongmarried they raised this and I think when we got to Fairbanks
- Rolland Armstrongwe were getting around $1800. Checks
- Rolland Armstronghad to come by boat. And so,
- Rolland Armstrongalthough they were still a month apart, it seemed a long way from New York,
- Rolland Armstrongour friends and what few relatives we had.
- Rolland ArmstrongFor those of you who don't know about the background of our family.
- Rolland ArmstrongI married Catherine Ratcliffe, a
- Rolland ArmstrongColorado girl who had trained in Pueblo
- Rolland Armstrongand Denver and John Hopkins. She wanted to
- Rolland Armstrongserve with Greenfeld but ended up taking a position
- Rolland Armstrongwith Mrs. Breckenridge of the Frontier Nursing Service in Kentucky.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe were married.
- Rolland ArmstrongDecember 3rd. Nineteen thirty
- Rolland Armstrongseven and stayed there for
- Rolland Armstrongabout a year before we moved on to
- Rolland ArmstrongMichigan.
- Rolland ArmstrongMoving into Fairbanks I succeeded John Ewell, who had been
- Rolland Armstrongin Alaskan service at Anchorage and Fairbanks.
- Rolland ArmstrongHe was being transferred by
- Rolland ArmstrongEverett King into the Sunday School mission work and was supposed to take care
- Rolland Armstrongof some of our work such as at Amana. Our
- Rolland Armstrongfirst impressions of Fairbankswere that it
- Rolland Armstrongwas a small struggling but growing town. It still
- Rolland Armstrongdid not come into its own except for a gold mining company.
- Rolland ArmstrongBeen having some real problems. Most of the
- Rolland Armstrongcreeks were still in operation. On
- Rolland Armstrongmy first trip was to Kings Light Camp. This
- Rolland Armstrongwas a real adventure because we took the train and
- Rolland Armstrongovernighted at Healy and
- Rolland Armstrongthen went on down to Badnuska, where we got off.
- Rolland ArmstrongBy truck went into the camp. This was Bert Bingle's
- Rolland Armstrongproject and we dug in to help him in this
- Rolland Armstrongpioneering effort. One of the trips
- Rolland Armstrongfrom the camp was a truck ride into Anchorage over a dirt road.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis was my first introduction to Anchorage. It
- Rolland Armstrongwas a small town that seemed to. Have a little more life in Fairbanks
- Rolland Armstrongand in general made a good impression on me.
- Rolland ArmstrongOne of the interesting things that happened when we were in Fairbanks was the first airmail
- Rolland Armstrongregular schedule to come in by Pan-American airline Airways. A
- Rolland Armstrongvery festive mood. Dog teams met the little Lockheed Electra as it
- Rolland Armstronglanded. I can still remember the summer
- Rolland Armstrongflowers that grew along the
- Rolland Armstrongfences and we were impressed by the tremendous growth
- Rolland Armstrongand many flowers in the Fairbanks area.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut the next year another great event was a flight with Everett King
- Rolland Armstrongand one or two others to Barrow. We
- Rolland Armstrongchartered six place plane took off from Fairbanks
- Rolland Armstrongon floats.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe were to land on
- Rolland Armstrongthe Yukon River at the mouth of the Johns River
- Rolland Armstrongand then fly on to Barrow. We got to the Johns River
- Rolland Armstrongsection.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe wind died down and we had to stay there about four or five hours
- Rolland Armstrongbefore we give up enough wind to counteract the
- Rolland Armstrongspeed of the river. Finally we took off.
- Rolland ArmstrongOnce we were in the air over the Johns River, going through the Endicotts, the
- Rolland Armstrongpilot gave me a map and said I've never flown here before.
- Rolland ArmstrongSee if you can help me navigate. And so we thought we were.
- Rolland ArmstrongReal sharp. That we picked up the landmarks and
- Rolland Armstronghit the sea about 12 miles south of Barrow and followed it up the
- Rolland Armstrongcoast. We came a place where we could sit down on the lagoon.
- Rolland ArmstrongAfter visiting there we took off for Wainwright
- Rolland Armstrongfound the missionary layworker, Percy Pollock was ill. He
- Rolland Armstronghad to be taken back to the Barrow
- Rolland Armstronghospital. taking off in the Arctic Ocean
- Rolland Armstrongour pilot Brady finally got off and landed at Barrow.
- Rolland Armstrongturned around and came back to Wainright landed on the ocean.
- Rolland ArmstrongAll of us got on the plane but then we found that there was so much
- Rolland Armstrongweight in the plane that the props chopped the
- Rolland Armstrongwaves as they came towards the plane. So, we were
- Rolland Armstrongasked to get out. Again we were picked up and carried to shore.
- Rolland ArmstrongPlane took off and then landed in a
- Rolland Armstronglake behind Wainright. After sloshing through the mud
- Rolland Armstrongand all we finally got to the place where we could be picked up.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnother thing that happened during the experience in Fairbanks was taking the job and
- Rolland Armstrongthe Chatanika gold mine under the F.V. Mr.
- Rolland ArmstrongHopkins who was a member whose wife was a member of the church had been
- Rolland Armstronginstrumental in helping me get the job. Funds have been running low.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe session of the Fairbanks church did not seem
- Rolland Armstrongto be particularly interested in what the financial status
- Rolland Armstrongof the pastor might be. But moving the family to
- Rolland ArmstrongChatanika and staying there for six weeks, I was able to make enough money
- Rolland Armstrongto recoup and to go back to a church. About
- Rolland Armstrongat the same time, there was
- Rolland Armstronganother development. The church was moving towards self-support.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut there were a few who did not want to push this as they were afraid that once we cut
- Rolland Armstrongloose from National Missions they would be forgotten.
- Rolland ArmstrongWhat it was during the fall and spring of
- Rolland Armstrong42 that the session
- Rolland Armstrongtook action to go on self-support. This was a real act
- Rolland Armstrongof faith. And, the session and the congregation deserves much credit at
- Rolland Armstrongthis point.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut I made up my mind that the transitional work that I'd done
- Rolland Armstrongat Fairbanks was about over.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd, there was an opening that happened in
- Rolland ArmstrongAnchorage and we received a call. And, National Missions concurred that I should
- Rolland Armstrongtake the Anchorage church. On the 7th,
- Rolland ArmstrongDecember 7th of the year before, war had been declared.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe Pearl Harbor outbreak had shaken everyone
- Rolland Armstrongup. The Board of National Missions had asked if anyone wanted
- Rolland Armstrongto leave Alaska. They could go if they wanted to with the
- Rolland Armstrongexpenses paid by the Board. The Armstrongs decided to stay.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe pastor who was in the Anchorage church had decided to leave.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd so we took that opening and in September of 42
- Rolland Armstrongwe moved down the railroad until we came to
- Rolland ArmstrongAnchorage and moved into the manse.
- Rolland ArmstrongHere again there had been another jurisdictional dispute between the Women's
- Rolland ArmstrongAssociation and the trustees. The people who had
- Rolland Armstrongbeen renting the Manse just moved out and
- Rolland Armstrongleft a horrible mess. Katherine joined with
- Rolland Armstrongme in clean up campaign, If it had not been
- Rolland Armstrongfor an elder by the name of Blind Jones who took
- Rolland Armstrongcompassion on us, I don't think we would have ever got that task
- Rolland Armstrongcompleted. But new linoleum was put down. Painting was done.
- Rolland ArmstrongIn general things moved along.
- Rolland ArmstrongOne of the things that happened in Fairbanks that I'd
- Rolland Armstrongforgotten was the all the funerals we had. These were
- Rolland Armstrongreminiscent of things that we'd run into in the mountains so we were not shaken by it.
- Rolland ArmstrongHosie Ross owned an old whippet. This whippet was
- Rolland Armstrongused as an ambulance and also as a hearse.
- Rolland ArmstrongHosie called me one day to come down to the funeral parlors, long about
- Rolland ArmstrongFourth Avenue, asking
- Rolland Armstrongif I'd have a funeral when I got there.
- Rolland ArmstrongI asked where the congregation was, and he said there wouldn't be any. Fellow had n
- Rolland Armstrongo relatives. I said what's his name. And he said the only thing we have on the death certificate is Turnip
- Rolland ArmstrongPete. Turnipr Pete had come from down in the
- Rolland ArmstrongYukon. He'd gone in with the gold miners
- Rolland Armstrongfound gold mining hadn't been too profitable so he started gardens. And, he
- Rolland Armstrongwould sell vegetables to the miners. And this was one way that he got his money. Turnip. Turnip Pete had his funeral. And, Hosie
- Rolland Armstrong
- Rolland Armstrongsaid, you'll have to help me with the casket. So I helped put the
- Rolland Armstrongcasket in the little whippet. And again we
- Rolland Armstrongstarted on up to the cemetery and here again I said
- Rolland Armstrongthe words and then helped Hosie and the grave digger put the
- Rolland Armstrongcasket into the ground. This was not to be the
- Rolland Armstronglast time these strange funerals of this type of
- Rolland Armstrongsome of those early pioneers in Alaska.
- Rolland ArmstrongDuring that time we were in Fairbanks, there was also a peculiar presbytery meeting. It was
- Rolland Armstrongheld in Cordova. We started on down in Cordova by train,
- Rolland Armstrongpicked up the boat at Seward, moved over to
- Rolland ArmstrongCordova. There we had our presbytery meeting. One of
- Rolland Armstrongthings the Crawfords [Crawford, David H.] had that seemed to be particularly good to us was
- Rolland Armstronggrapefruit sections and some crab meat. So on the way back
- Rolland Armstrongto Fairbanks, why I picked up some of the material in the grocery store and had it packed
- Rolland Armstrongaway in a suitcase. Well, you got back about
- Rolland Armstrongportage on the train. The train was covered with
- Rolland Armstrongsnow. Get out to look at the engine and all you could see with the smoke coming out of
- Rolland Armstrongthe snow bank where the heat
- Rolland Armstronghad burned a hole through the snowdrift. We
- Rolland Armstrongdecided that we had nothing to do but stay for the night. And,
- Rolland Armstrongeverybody put the backs of the chairs down and made the
- Rolland Armstrongtrain into one great big bed. Bert [Bingle, Bert J.]
- Rolland Armstrongwas along. And so with Boyd Cubbage [Cubbage, Boyd G.], myself
- Rolland Armstrongand they finally got some sandwiches out of one of
- Rolland Armstrongthe section houses. We were closest to the
- Rolland Armstrongcoal cars, so they came on through and they said to all women and
- Rolland Armstrongchildren first. Remember they are going through with baskets of sandwiches
- Rolland Armstrongall the way down the train. They started on back. When they got what they ran out.
- Rolland ArmstrongSo for our evening meal, we
- Rolland Armstronghad grapefruit sections and crab meat. It's not a very good
- Rolland Armstrongcombination when you're hungry. It used to
- Rolland Armstrongtake about a week to go to presbytery.
- Rolland ArmstrongI'm sure that Bert and others will tell you some of the long strange
- Rolland Armstrongtrips we had to take. It still was better than the
- Rolland Armstrongearly history of the Presbyterian Church. And folks had to move out of Eagle and they might be
- Rolland Armstronggone for a couple of months by the time they went to presbytery and got back home. But,
- Rolland Armstrongthen this situation in Anchorage we
- Rolland Armstrongfound again that this was a church that was
- Rolland Armstrongon a mission National Mission support. Early in October
- Rolland Armstrong42, we sat down with the elders and we
- Rolland Armstrongdiscussed the entire matter of self support. I remember the night
- Rolland Armstrongthat we argued back and forth and finally decided that we would go on self
- Rolland Armstrongsupport. Following the meeting Bob Atwood came over to the house and for
- Rolland Armstronganother hour or two we discussed the entire matter. There was great
- Rolland Armstrongreluctance on Bob's part as to where we might go in the
- Rolland Armstrongsituation. Providentially Bob along with others in the
- Rolland Armstrongsession were great help as we moved along, doggedly
- Rolland Armstrongmaking our own ways as a self-supporting institution. While in Anchorage,
- Rolland Armstronga few things seemed to
- Rolland Armstrongbring us together. There was a group known as the Board of Directors.This have been established by
- Rolland ArmstrongDr. Romig the famous dog team doctor. It had no
- Rolland Armstrongorganization. There was no officers, but
- Rolland Armstrongthey met every Tuesday. And, we would meet at the old Anchorage Grill and there we
- Rolland Armstrongwould order what we wanted and pay for dutch treat and walk out. Once
- Rolland Armstronga year they would have an Alaska wildlife dinner
- Rolland Armstrongand everyone would be asked to bring something to this and it would be at the Country Club
- Rolland Armstrongor whatever
- Rolland Armstrongit was called out by the lake. At
- Rolland ArmstrongLake Spenard and the Chamber of Commerce was a
- Rolland Armstrongchallenge because it was a struggling organization and some of the first
- Rolland Armstrongbreakthrough seemed to come when the Chamber of Commerce moved into
- Rolland Armstrongstudies on the airport and were almost
- Rolland Armstrongvicious in trying to get the international airport for Anchorage.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe first signs of progress as far as the church was concerned was the building of an educational
- Rolland Armstrongunit on the back of the church.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis was built during the war.
- Rolland ArmstrongOne had to have special permission to buy lumber.
- Rolland ArmstrongI was out on vacation during that period. And, we were called
- Rolland Armstrongback because things were not going right. A man by the name of Wanstead
- Rolland Armstronghad the contract
- Rolland Armstrongand so we used to stand around to see that they worked and the material that was
- Rolland Armstrongsupposed to go into the building actually got there.
- Rolland ArmstrongPart of this money came from some capital funds that were raised by the
- Rolland ArmstrongPresbyterian Church for wartime emergencies. And, because of our
- Rolland Armstrongproximity to the airbase and to the
- Rolland Armstrongarmy, $11000 was granted towards the erection of this unit. The
- Rolland Armstrongman who was in charge of building at that time for the Board of National Missions was A. B.
- Rolland ArmstrongKieler. When we've gone into
- Rolland ArmstrongAnchorage. I will never forget the sight the first sight of the church because
- Rolland Armstrongsandbags were all around the basement. Struts were
- Rolland Armstrongdug into the lawns in front of the church and this was supposed to be
- Rolland Armstrongpreparation for any advance of the Japanese. The
- Rolland Armstrongsandbags would make the basement of the church a bomb shelter.
- Rolland ArmstrongThere were other things in Anchorage that we remember.
- Rolland ArmstrongNorthwest Airlines had a special freighter
- Rolland Armstrongthat had been chartered to bring seamen from the Orient
- Rolland Armstrongon its way from Anchorage on to Chicago they
- Rolland Armstrongmiscalculated their route and hit Mount Sanford. Following
- Rolland Armstrongthis crash Northwest Airlines asked three of us to
- Rolland Armstronggo up in one of the airliners and to have a memorial service over Mount Sanford. And
- Rolland Armstrongthat particular day, Father Flanagan of the Catholic Church
- Rolland Armstrongand myself, and a representative of the Jewish
- Rolland Armstrongfaith got into the plane with officers
- Rolland Armstrongand managers of Northwest. We soared over Mount Sanford.
- Rolland ArmstrongYou could not see the mountain, but we stood at our respective
- Rolland Armstrongstations in the fuselage of the plane and read our committal services
- Rolland Armstrongwhile the door was open and wreaths were shoved overboard. This was Father Flanagan, who is now
- Rolland ArmstrongBishop serving in Juneau.
- Rolland ArmstrongA longstanding acquaintance with him that has been cherished over the years.
- Rolland ArmstrongI also served on the first library board for the city of Anchorage.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd we hired the first full time librarian.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe. Library moved into what was called Cow Palace, a corrugated
- Rolland Armstrongiron building that was set on a corner of the lot where the city hall is. I
- Rolland Armstrongwas also appointed by Governor Gruening to
- Rolland Armstrongthe Alaska Board of Health and served on that for at least six years.
- Rolland ArmstrongDuring that time we hired Dr. Earle Albrecht
- Rolland Armstrongas the first full time commissioner of health.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd around the church were adventures which not be forgotten.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe were able to help in a building of Faith Presbyterian Church. This was originally
- Rolland Armstrongan area outside of Anchorage, which was looked down upon by
- Rolland Armstrongmost of the people. The riffraff lived in that area and there
- Rolland Armstrongwas a illicit sale of liquour and there was prostitution.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe were able to get to a Sunday School started in the basement of the little cabin
- Rolland Armstrongon East G. Finally money was given
- Rolland Armstrongfor the material as well as the material
- Rolland Armstrongitself.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd so Chester Peterson offered us a lot. And we went ahead a built
- Rolland Armstronga church. This could be a long involved story. And, maybe I ought to tell
- Rolland Armstrongthis particular story another time, but you'll
- Rolland Armstrongfind in the Anchorage Times a good story of this and
- Rolland ArmstrongBob Atwood would be able to refer you to this building of Faith.
- Rolland ArmstrongVery soon after this. There was evidence of the need
- Rolland Armstrongfor a church in the Spenard area and
- Rolland Armstrongso we worked around and Sugguth and Lyman
- Rolland Armstrongtook us under their wing and began to search for a place.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe suggested one place. They suggested another. And, finally we took
- Rolland Armstrongtheir word for it.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe land was donated to us. And,
- Rolland Armstrongwe were then in the process of trying to receive some financial aid from the Board of National Missions
- Rolland Armstrongto build a building. This money came, and we
- Rolland Armstronginvested in logs and tried to put up a log building.
- Rolland ArmstrongSome of this was done with volunteer labor of young people from
- Rolland ArmstrongFirst Presbyterian Church.
- Rolland ArmstrongOne of the problems was the digging of a well. None of us have had this experience before.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe went ahead and finally we're ready and able to
- Rolland Armstrongput them well for this two-room facility.
- Rolland ArmstrongAbout this same time, a young man and his wife
- Rolland Armstrongcame to this field. Sackett Johnson was appointed by Earl Jackman.
- Rolland ArmstrongLittle did we know that he was to come to such providential time. We
- Rolland Armstronghad to find a place for him to live. So in order to to give the money
- Rolland Armstrongto buy a place, Catherine and I sold an acre of property that
- Rolland Armstrongwe had off Spenard Road t
- Rolland Armstrongo get the down payment for the property. Meantime the Board
- Rolland Armstrongdecided they would invest in the property and buy it, and
- Rolland Armstrongwe got our money back, but never did we reinvest in the land.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe eternal problem of finances continues to dog
- Rolland Armstrongus. At a later time, it was seen that
- Rolland Armstrongthe army base was moving more and more towards Anchorage on the Government Hill
- Rolland Armstrongarea. So we negotiated with
- Rolland ArmstrongColonel Johnson of the Alaska Railroad for a piece of
- Rolland Armstrongproperty on Government Hill. And, again, through the friends of the
- Rolland Armstrongchurch, a very lovely piece of property was set aside. Fred Koschmann [Koschmann, Frederick B.]
- Rolland Armstrongcame to our aid at this point and helped
- Rolland Armstrongin the clearing of the land. A Quonset hut was negotiated for and
- Rolland Armstrongmoved onto the lot. This was the beginning of the Government Hill property.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe should say that once Faith Presbyterian Church had been in operation for a while, it
- Rolland Armstrongcalled a pastor and Fred Koschmann was called to be this pastor. Fred had
- Rolland Armstrongleft his school work as superintendent of schools in
- Rolland ArmstrongAnchorage and moved on to Dubuque [Dubuque Theological Seminary] where he took his work and then
- Rolland Armstrongreturned to Faith. He left here for his job at Fairbanks.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe were again to be reunited when he became dean of Sheldon Jackson
- Rolland ArmstrongJr. college. It was while I was in Anchorage, we also
- Rolland Armstronghad the opportunity to serve men who were at the
- Rolland Armstrongsawmill at Whittier. I would alternate with Bert Bingle in going
- Rolland Armstrongdown the railroad and through the newly created tunnel to the
- Rolland Armstrongseaside there and having services for the men.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis was usually held in the mess hall. While the
- Rolland Armstrongfellows were playing blackjack in one section of the room, we would be
- Rolland Armstrongsinging praises of the Lord in the other end of the room.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was during this
- Rolland Armstrongperiod that I was in Anchorage that
- Rolland ArmstrongI had the opportunity of working with a great number of young people.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe had a large evening service that would sometimes go as high as 100 to 150.
- Rolland ArmstrongThese would be generated by the young fellows that
- Rolland Armstrongcame from the Fort, who couldn't come in in the morning, but could come at night.
- Rolland ArmstrongThey would come along about 5:30 or 6 cook supper, have Young Peoples
- Rolland Armstrongmeeting, go to church and then have the time
- Rolland Armstrongafterwards for recreation. And, we practically had to push them out of the door at midnight. But, out of this
- Rolland Armstronggroup came a number of young fellows who went on into
- Rolland Armstrongeducation and into the ministry.
- Rolland ArmstrongBob Lantz [Lantz, Robert Brown], who is now a chaplain. Vic Urban, who was ah
- Rolland ArmstrongPresbyterian minister for a while, now working for the Department of Welfare in
- Rolland ArmstrongCalifornia. Bill Weir [Weir, William F., Jr.],
- Rolland ArmstrongJoe Smith and others. One of the young ladies was
- Rolland ArmstrongShirley Sutton who's now.
- Rolland ArmstrongShirley Sutton Baird, whose husband is in the Presbyterian Church in
- Rolland Armstrong
- Rolland ArmstrongColorado Springs. People like Esther
- Rolland ArmstrongWolf and Ruth Dodd can tell you some of the background of these young people, who
- Rolland Armstrongreally penetrated the spiritual life of the church during those days.
- Rolland ArmstrongLong illness or was close personal relationships built up with members of the
- Rolland Armstrongcongregation. It was with great reluctance
- Rolland Armstrongin 1950 that I made the
- Rolland Armstrongdecision to move out of Anchorage into the work in the
- Rolland Armstrongterritory. Catherine Gladfelter and Earl Jackman [Jackman, J. Earl] both
- Rolland Armstrongworked on me to accept the position as a field
- Rolland Armstrongrepresentative for the Board.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis later was changed to being an assistant secretary to Earl Jackman.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis work took me on trips to Barrow, Wainwright, Barter
- Rolland Armstrongand to St. Lawrence Island, Wales. I was
- Rolland Armstrongable to see a great deal of a glorious territory of
- Rolland ArmstrongAlaska. Some of the trips were, were
- Rolland Armstrongmore thrilling than others. And, I can remember with
- Rolland ArmstrongSamuel Simmons walking across to Brower Store and Barrow.
- Rolland Armstrongand Sam telling me I better put my gloves
- Rolland Armstrongon my nose because I was fr,eezing it. And, sure enough,
- Rolland Armstrongit was white. For a time that I was down at Wainright
- Rolland Armstrongand returning from Wainright,
- Rolland ArmstrongBill Wharty saying it's right along here we should find this Skull
- Rolland Armstrongcliff tower. And, with that, he veered to the right. And, we just missed
- Rolland Armstrongshearing off the wings of the plane.
- Rolland ArmstrongOr the time we were at the mess in the
- Rolland ArmstrongNavy area of Barrow, we saw Colonel Geiser. And,
- Rolland Armstronghe asked us where we were going. And, we said we're going back to Fairbanks to
- Rolland Armstrongget ready for a trip to Barter and he said he was headed for Barter. And so, Earl Jackman
- Rolland Armstrongand I
- Rolland Armstronghustled and got our things together. And, Colonel Geiser took us to Barter. There we had
- Rolland Armstrongpreaching, and a baptismal service and headed back
- Rolland Armstrongfor the dedication of the community church at College, Alaska.
- Rolland Armstrong
- Rolland ArmstrongOne of the times we took, Earl Jackman and I took a trip to
- Rolland ArmstrongGambell was with the intent purpose of moving across the island to Savoonga
- Rolland Armstrongfor the dedication of the church. Alice Green
- Rolland Armstrongwas there. Alice can tell you the story of that Easter
- Rolland Armstrongwhen we got there.
- Rolland ArmstrongThere was a tremendous experience.
- Rolland ArmstrongBecause we made one attempt to get to Savoonga, had to turn back
- Rolland Armstrongto Gambell. On the second attempt we got as far as.
- Rolland ArmstrongTopics stayed there overnight and then moved on the next day coming over the ridge
- Rolland Armstrongand stopped to see the little village away in the distance.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe service went and on and off all day, as we
- Rolland Armstronghad dedications, baptisms, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. I also
- Rolland Armstrongmade another trip in the summer time, one with Nick Camel and Alice Green. We
- Rolland Armstronghad an Eskimo camp
- Rolland Armstrongon the shores of the Arctic
- Rolland ArmstrongOcean. Betty Camel had cooked,
- Rolland Armstrongalong with the Eskimo people, to have plenty of food ahead of time.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was at this summer camp that we got closest to our Eskimo
- Rolland Armstrongpeople. Then there was a trip in the wintertime to Gambell and over to Savoonga.
- Rolland ArmstrongWhen on the way back with Claire a third.
- Rolland ArmstrongClarence Pengally correction, Clarance Pengali.
- Rolland ArmstrongThat we got lost in a storm that came in over the
- Rolland Armstrongisland. And, Clarence finally admitted he was lost. Let the dogs go.
- Rolland ArmstrongBy the time we got in to Gambell.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was so
- Rolland Armstrongbad. We were so cold. When I walked into the manse
- Rolland ArmstrongI dropped to the floor in sheer exhaustion. And it was a tremendous
- Rolland Armstrongexperience to wake up having ou Eskimo people huddled around me, tring
- Rolland Armstrongto help me to regain some strength.
- Rolland ArmstrongAgain. I was at Wales. One experience where I
- Rolland Armstrongwent in before Thanksgiving, and was to come right out again the next day.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut it was 19 days before I got out. This is when Emma Stauffer was there.
- Rolland ArmstrongI remember vividly going into the
- Rolland ArmstrongStar Airlines office to find that I was
- Rolland Armstrongfacing an irate man at the counter, who bawled me out because of the way we
- Rolland Armstronghad our missionaries work. He told that someone had come in
- Rolland Armstrongfrom Wales saying that the poor old missionary was on the roof, nailing on
- Rolland Armstrongshingles.
- Rolland ArmstrongI confronted Emma with this. And, sure enough, this is true because she had hired some of the men
- Rolland Armstrongto do the work. And, they got almost to the top of the roof and then left it
- Rolland Armstrongopen at the, at the crown. So she had to
- Rolland Armstrongget some boys together go up and nail on enough shingles to keep the weather
- Rolland Armstrongout.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was at this time that I was at Wales, I found that I had been
- Rolland Armstronghoaxed out of a ride back to Nome.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was a man there who was taking pictures for a Sunday supplement. And, he told me
- Rolland Armstrongthat he just received word that he had to get out immediately
- Rolland Armstrongbecause his wife was going to have a baby. He was playing upon my sympathy as a missionary. I
- Rolland Armstrongfinally backed out and let him have my seat. And that was about
- Rolland Armstrong17 days before another plane could get in. The joke was that
- Rolland Armstrongwhen he hit town he went on a roaring drunk. I don't think he.
- Rolland ArmstrongHis wife was going to have a baby.
- Rolland ArmstrongIn fact the way he acted I don't know whether he had a wife.
- Rolland ArmstrongNow, this ends part of the experience as a field
- Rolland Armstrongrepresentative except to say that in
- Rolland Armstrong1950 I had the occasion to go to Washington
- Rolland Armstrongstate congressional delegation in
- Rolland Armstrongreference to statehood. This was my initial interest in the
- Rolland Armstrongstatehood movement. It was in
- Rolland Armstrong1955 that I went to
- Rolland ArmstrongFairbanks as a delegate at large of the Constitutional Convention. This
- Rolland Armstrongwas on the basis of election from the entire state of Alaska.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis went over into January and part of February of 1956.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was in January of
- Rolland Armstrong56 I was called back to New York. While I was
- Rolland Armstrongin New York. Frank Walker.
- Rolland ArmstrongAlec Sharpe and one or two others confronted with me the possibility of going to
- Rolland ArmstrongSheldon Jackson. I knew something of the
- Rolland Armstrongsituation at Sheldon Jackson because a field administrator I'd seen some of the
- Rolland Armstrongdifficulties that had gone on in the administration.
- Rolland ArmstrongRolland Wuerster was, was the president and taking this over
- Rolland Armstrongbecause he did not want to see the S. J. situation crumble.
- Rolland ArmstrongThings look desperate. And so with this in mind I took
- Rolland Armstrongthe responsibility of going to Sheldon Jackson and this transfer was made in
- Rolland ArmstrongJune 1956. Again Catherine Gladfelter had
- Rolland Armstrongstepped into the picture and asked me to take over this work.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd I know for certain that Earl Jackman was hurt by
- Rolland Armstrongthis decision and had hoped that I would continue to work with him.
- Rolland ArmstrongI felt there were some real transitions that had to happen and should happen
- Rolland Armstrongin the Alaskan work. But that I was in no position
- Rolland Armstrongat this time to help guide them or to even feel.
- Rolland ArmstrongReady administratively for them.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd so I took the responsibilities at Sheldon Jackson because
- Rolland Armstrongof the great internal pressure and conviction that that's
- Rolland Armstrongwhere I should be. It was not the place I wanted to be.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd I say this again because I did not feel that I wanted to go to Sheldon Jackson. But,
- Rolland Armstrongit was a clear cut conviction that this was what God wanted me to do.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe school had been under scrutiny and the continuation of the program was stated
- Rolland Armstrongthis way by Alex Sharpe: You either keep it open
- Rolland Armstrongor it's going to close. The first thing that we seem to run
- Rolland Armstronginto was that they had been appointed
- Rolland Armstrongan advisory committee for the school. And, we had to
- Rolland Armstronghave the development of this indigenous group to see if they could not
- Rolland Armstrongdevelop something that would be strong. The names that I'm giving
- Rolland Armstrongare not in order, nor do they have priority because of their
- Rolland Armstronglisting.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut these are a few of the names of people who worked with us on the advisory committee, who helped us a great deal. These
- Rolland Armstrongnames would include Norma White, Doris Barnes,
- Rolland Armstrong
- Rolland ArmstrongAl Brady, Nolan Lang. Two
- Rolland Armstrongthat had been on board for years Ed Phileo, Wade Morley, Den
- Rolland ArmstrongBrian of the University of
- Rolland ArmstrongWashington. The election of George Beck of Ketchikan was
- Rolland Armstronga highlight because his father and former superintendent of school
- Rolland Armstrongwas also the administrative help. Brian pre-work and Bill Pritchard
- Rolland Armstrongalong with this course were the administrators out of New York, who had been helpful, although for some
- Rolland Armstrongtime discouraging. And, after Catherine Gladfelter had
- Rolland Armstrongcome, Milton Brown
- Rolland Armstrongand the great help of Dr. Harry Stearns.
- Rolland ArmstrongFinally, Doctor Forrest Brown. Burns. B-U-R-N-S.
- Rolland Armstrong
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was the advisory committee that then began to agitate for
- Rolland Armstronglong range plans for the school upgrading the college,
- Rolland Armstrongemployment of staff. Finally the division of the high school and college.
- Rolland ArmstrongAnd so the program seemed to develop. The Ad building
- Rolland Armstronghad been almost finished
- Rolland Armstrongand this was the newest building on the campus when I arrived.
- Rolland ArmstrongThen came the first college building, Condit house. This had
- Rolland Armstrongbeen planned by my friend Ed Crittenden.
- Rolland ArmstrongThen there was the renovation of the Sage building into a high school building, so
- Rolland Armstrongwe could have more separate facilities for the college. With the re-modelling,
- Rolland Armstrongthe Sage came the division of the libraries. The
- Rolland Armstronghigh school library in Sage and the college library in Yaw. And
- Rolland Armstrongthen there was remodeling of the cafeteria, the remodeling of science and Allen
- Rolland Armstrongbuilding, the building of a swimming pool and
- Rolland Armstrongnext to the gym. The swimming pool was originally financed
- Rolland Armstrongby a grant of $3000 from the First Church of Anchorage. This had
- Rolland Armstrongbeen their second grant, the first one being towards an Allen organ for the chapel in Allen
- Rolland Armstrongbuilding. Then finally the board listened to the
- Rolland Armstrongcall of the Advisory Committee and forwarded the money so we could build a second
- Rolland Armstrongcollege dormitory. And, this college dormitory is now
- Rolland Armstrongbeing occupied by women. After years of
- Rolland Armstrongstudy, probably going back as
- Rolland Armstronglate as nineteen fifty five fifty four, there had been a
- Rolland Armstrongcall for a student center on the campus. Originally this was
- Rolland Armstrongconceived as a small snack bar. Finally with the growth of the
- Rolland Armstrongcollege, grants came out of the 50 million fund, we were able to move it ahead
- Rolland Armstrongand do real planning for the student center.
- Rolland ArmstrongOne of the major things that happened during this program of fund raising was grants from
- Rolland ArmstrongAlma Rasmussen's personal giving and from the Rassmussen
- Rolland Armstrongfoundation hundreds of gifts came along with this. And, what it
- Rolland Armstrongshowed the Board of National Missions was that Alaskans were interested in S. J.
- Rolland ArmstrongSo the hundred and sixty thousand dollar student center
- Rolland Armstrongwas dedicated after we left in 1966. But,
- Rolland Armstrongwe were able to see it almost completed. And, the
- Rolland Armstrongfarewell reception they had for us was in the
- Rolland Armstrongstudent center.
- Rolland ArmstrongOther things happened during the time we were in Alaska. Two
- Rolland Armstrongdifferent occasions I had the opportunity of being involved in
- Rolland Armstrongthe president's commission on children and youth. I attended
- Rolland Armstrongthese very fine conferences in Washington D.C.
- Rolland ArmstrongI believe there was a measure of influence that we were able to bring to
- Rolland Armstrongthe state of Alaska by quietly
- Rolland Armstrongbeing able to enter into the offices of the governor
- Rolland Armstrongor the head of the BIA and to talk to them about problems that
- Rolland Armstrongwere faced by people of Alaska and the great needs that
- Rolland Armstrongthey had. Also, during this time in Alaska,
- Rolland Armstrongwe had the opportunity
- Rolland Armstrongof working with the Alaska Council of Churches. It was while I was
- Rolland Armstrongthe assistant secretary that I talked to Fred McGinnis, who pastored a Methodist church in Juneau
- Rolland Armstrongabout the need the churches working
- Rolland Armstrongtogether. Gradually, the sentiment began to
- Rolland Armstrongrise to the point where we were able to call an Alaska Council of Churches meeting. Eventually,
- Rolland ArmstrongI was elected to the presidency of this
- Rolland Armstrongorganization. During the time when we had an experiment by the
- Rolland ArmstrongNational Council of Churches of having Ross Payton as a paid
- Rolland Armstrongexecutive for the Council. This was a
- Rolland Armstrongtime when we had to learn the meaning of working together
- Rolland Armstrongstructuring ourselves to do a job.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt's real gratifying to note that the Alaskan of Churches is moving
- Rolland Armstrongin many areas and is stronger than ever before. Now
- Rolland ArmstrongI'm going to come to the close of this particular tape. and I ask that,
- Rolland Armstrongafter you have reviewed it, that if you have questions, that you to ask me.
- Rolland ArmstrongI know there are many things that I have not delved into,
- Rolland Armstrongbut I think this will be a starter. If you
- Rolland Armstrongwill send me a list of questions on the basis of what you
- Rolland Armstrongwant to know, various areas of our work, I will try to
- Rolland Armstrongclarify it.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe resigned from the work at Alaska
- Rolland Armstrongafter we became cognisant of the fact that
- Rolland Armstrongthings were tapering off at Sheldon Jackson and building programs should be
- Rolland Armstrongturned over to a professional educator. In
- Rolland Armstrongthe spring of nineteen sixty
- Rolland Armstrongsix, the accrediting commission of the Northwest Association of Secondary and higher Schools
- Rolland Armstrongwas on the campus.
- Rolland ArmstrongThey came into the office after they'd made a review. And, they were very helpful and very positive in
- Rolland Armstrongpointing out the things that they appreciated about the work of the school.
- Rolland ArmstrongThey asked me if I had one recommendation a
- Rolland Armstrongrecommendation that I would like to put into the findings. And, I said at that time, that it should
- Rolland Armstrongbe a professionally trained college educator that should go into the
- Rolland Armstrongwork.
- Rolland ArmstrongI left then for a General Assembly in Boston.
- Rolland ArmstrongIt was there that I had the opportunity of interviewing Dr. and Mrs. Stratton [Stratton, Orin] .
- Rolland ArmstrongI had no idea at that time that they would be strong candidates
- Rolland Armstrongfor the presidential position at S. J.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut I was very happy that the transition could be made with as
- Rolland Armstronglittle difficulty as we seemed to make it.
- Rolland ArmstrongDuring the winter months of 1966, Mrs. Armstrong and
- Rolland Armstrongmyself had found it absolutely necessary to take an extended vacation.
- Rolland ArmstrongShe had a heart attack. She'd been sent to Virginia Mason
- Rolland Armstrongclinic for diagnostic work. We planned to
- Rolland Armstrongmake a trip to Europe in the
- Rolland Armstrongearly part of 66 ending up in Boston for General Assembly.
- Rolland ArmstrongWe found she had to get away for her health. We ended up
- Rolland Armstrongin Phoenix. It was at this time that
- Rolland ArmstrongDick Smith made his approached me about taking over the work of the school. And, a
- Rolland Armstrongdecision was made after a great deal of contemplation. So,
- Rolland Armstrongon the 21st of August 1966 we boarded the ferry and headed
- Rolland Armstrongon down arriving in Ganado on the last day of August to take up the new
- Rolland Armstrongwork as a field administrator for National Missions for the
- Rolland ArmstrongPresbytery of Northern Arizona.
- Rolland ArmstrongBut there are some things that remain with me
- Rolland Armstrongand shall always remain with me. This is the many friendships
- Rolland Armstrongwe've made in Alaska. There's the Doctor of
- Rolland ArmstrongDivinity degree granted by Whitworth College signed by Frank Warren in
- Rolland Armstrongnineteen fifty-five.
- Rolland Armstrong1953.
- Rolland ArmstrongThere was the citation for Doctor of Humane Letters
- Rolland Armstrongfrom the University of Alaska.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe efforts of Elmer Rasmussen and President William Wood.
- Rolland ArmstrongThis was granted
- Rolland Armstrongin May of 1962.
- Rolland ArmstrongThere is also an award that came to me after I arrived in Arizona.
- Rolland ArmstrongThe Alaska Press Club made me a member of the Alaska
- Rolland ArmstrongForty-Niners state of Alaska. These things
- Rolland Armstrongthat hang on the wall. I'm not
- Rolland Armstronga