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ench honors volunteerNano Williams stands beside the sign dedicated to her late husband Jack Williams, kkisi ypps vpws mini rDave Lyons talks about his sears working w ith Jack Williams at Pioneer Park.vears that stern wheelers plied those waterw ays.He was my mentor. said Dave Lyons, who spearheaded building the dioramas. “He had so much v ision. He always wanted to do more. He did so much in this place,When first built, the dioramas were not covered and they fell victim to dust, insects and sometimes pilferer v Now. the entire diorama display is enclosed.“There are still seven villages left to lie done, Lyons said.He recounted the early day of researching individual villages — through photographs and interviews — and then accurately depicting them in the dioramas. It wasn’t unusual for a longtime member of a v illage to point out that ahouse should he a different color, or to suggest some other adjustment Diorama artisans made those changes.One person even fainted upon seeing her village recreated in such tiny detail He recalled a startled Williams looking at him and say ing, You killed her'Someone from the audience recounted the thnll of being with renowned Alaskan Sidney Huntington, overcome with emotion, when he saw his hometown recreated so accurately.“We knew we did our job when that many people reacted. Ly ons said For many years, third-grade classes visited the rrverhoatevery year A couple of retired teachers spoke about those visits and how the nverboat w as “a good learning tool for our kidsThen, the kids would bring their families here and thevwknew everything about it, said one teacher, who was happy to announce that she worked hard to convince Williams to let her get married on the boat.The ceremony ended with the Stemwheeler Nenana getting the last word. New park director Donnie Hayes rang the ship s hell eight times, signaling the end-of-watch, a maritime tradition.Reach columnar community editor Kn* Capps at kmpp*{a nswsmmer ctm. Cud her at the ,ifffce * ~,u ?S4*i Fdkm- her on Tirittrr (u FPS'StKn** i h* ’Mmnm.-i'~?S**2S3S
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Tue, Aug 29, 2017
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
John P.
AK, USA 26 Nov 2024
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