August 14 and 15, 2008
Sutton and Palmer, Alaska
A Picture of the Alpine Inn with the small cabins behind it. Uncle George Washington Johnson from Sandstone, WV lived in one of those cabins for around 50 years. The first 40 years, he lived in one without running water or a bathroom. A few years before he died, the new owner of the Alpine built a cabin with water and a bathroom, even though Uncle George objected and told him he didn't need it!!!
Walt, Eino, Johnny and Chuck who were kind enough to meet with us at the Alpine Inn and tell us what they knew of Uncle George's life in Sutton and stories related to their years together in the coal mines.
George Washington Johnson. He was known as "Ma" Johnson in the Sutton/Palmer area. He was given that name because he took care of everyone he knew. He never married.
Carolee, Howard and Donna at Uncle George's grave in the Pioneer Cemetery, Palmer AK
Sally Harvey was one of George's best friends. She was with him in the nursing home when he died. She told us so many wonderful things about him and his life.
We went to Palmer and Sutton both days. On the first day, we went to Sutton to see if we could find the cemetery where our Great Uncle George Johnson was buried. Online at one of the genealogy sites, I found a George Johnson who was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Palmer. The birth and death dates matched. I had also found an obituary online that said Uncle George had been a long time resident of Sutton, AK. We knew he had been in the Pioneer Nursing Home in Alaska when he died in 1995. Uncle George had lived in Alaska since around 1942. He came to Alaska with the Army and stayed to do coal mining after he got out of the service. To our knowledge, he only went back to WV one time in all of those years. He sent an occasional Christmas card to one or another of his sisters, but according to what I have heard, that is the only communication they had from him.
We stopped at the Alpine Inn, a small bar in Sutton and they told us we were in the right place. They said Uncle George had lived in a small shack/cabin out back until he had to go into the nursing home because he developed gangrene in his leg and had to have it removed. They also said he actually died from prostate cancer. The people at the bar put us in touch with a Sally Harvey who used to own the Alpine Inn. She invited us to her house and told us a lot about him and told us he was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. She set up a meeting for the next day with some of George's friends that were still living. We met at the Alpine Inn and had coffee and donuts with all of his friends. We got some good pictures of them and filmed some of the stories they had to tell. Everyone said that they never heard him say a bad word about anyone and that he was always willing to lend a helping hand to everyone. He took the young children fishing and acted as a grandfather to many of them.
One corner of the Alpine Inn is called the "Ma" Johnson corner. They have pictures of him and some of the old family pictures he had in his cabin. They also have his cane hanging on the wall and a portrait and poem that people did for him.
We were all so happy that we had the opportunity to find out that he had a good life and that his friends were his family. It's been 13 years since his death and they all still talk about him as if he were still here. He left a wonderful legacy.
