Introduction
This volume of my Ouzinkie Photo Album is on daily life and special events in the
village, mostly from the post-
I had to move away from Ouzinkie to go to high school in the fall of 1968 (as all
secondary students did in those days) but I was home for many weekends, holidays
and part of the summer until the mid-
(The author) Tim Smith next to the Evangel in the Kodiak small boat harbor, 1971. I was working in a cannery and living on the boat. It was wonderful when I could break away and go home to Ouzinkie.
Slices of Life: Some Comments
Village life has the reputation (by outsiders) of being uneventful and even boring. I
never found that to be the case. All of us could suffer from cabin fever in a long
stretch of bad weather, but there were lots of goings-
When I was a kid, there were movies at the old school every Friday night, there were club meetings at the Mission almost every day, and both the school and the Mission had special evening programs at holiday time.
Of course, in good weather, every kid was out somewhere making an adventure in the natural beauty that surrounds Ouzinkie. Things often happened; sometimes someone had a camera!
Slices of Life: Things to Do at the School in Ouzinkie
A Lapture Game in the Schoolyard
It is spring, 1965 in this photo (one of my first), and the snow has melted away
enough for the young people to play lapture, the native ball and bat game which only
vaguely resembles baseball. The blurry picture above is the only shot I have of
a lapture game, and shows the kids on the right ready to run if their teammate hits
the ball. Formal rules varied, but equipment was various mop and broom handles as
bats, which were used to hit shiny red rubber balls as hard as you could. Each team
pitched to themselves, with the pitcher standing beside the batter, tossing the ball
up in the air. Just as likely, though, the batter pitched to himself. I remember
a lot of run downs, with the game starting to resemble dodge ball at that point! We
tended to tailor the rules to the time we would get for recess, but the game could
often go on for hours. This game took place on the school playground, but epic lapture
games were sometimes held at low tide on the sandy beach below the church hill. If
anyone reading has the rules to lapture, I would love to get them, because my memory
of the game is a little rusty after fifty-
Below: a “soccer” game using football goalposts, no goalie, and a red rubber kickball, fall of 1966. I don’t remember what rules we actually used, if any. My old 616 camera had a slow shutter speed, and the kids are a blur!
Above: My sister Robin and Gene Anderson are crowned King and Queen of the School Christmas Pageant (whatever that meant), as an unknown Santa looks on, Christmas 1959 or 1960.
A young Jerry Gugel, Jr. finishes a piano solo at a school program, around 1960. Joyce Smith (my mom) taught a lot of kids how to play the piano through the years. Jerry went on to become a very successful salmon fisherman. Later, Jerry became a missionary with his wife and family, serving many places in Alaska, including Old Harbor on Kodiak Island.
The most important ceremony at the school, and the high point of the school year,
was eighth-
Left: Wanda and Linda Panamarioff graduate from eighth grade in 1966. Right: In the next classroom, David and Verna show off the cake for Wanda, Linda, Gail and Willis.
Moving up a few years: The priest from Kodiak and a lot of Ouzinkie kids celebrate a Thanksgiving feast in the school in 1971. Dee Dee is on the far left, and Howie is on the far right. Nick is behind Dee Dee, and Teddy is wearing the sweater. (Who are the rest?)
Right: The “new school” takes shape, in the early 1970’s.
This school was built on the site the kindergarten kids used to call “Sunshine Mountain,” a favorite picnic place in the woods behind the Mission (now just up the road from there). The construction of this school was long overdue, and many of us who had to move to Kodiak or elsewhere to go to high school had lobbied for its construction for years (as had our parents). Completion of first class facilities such as this school signaled the end of what had seemed like second class citizen status for village students, as money, materials and facilities finally matched what was available “in town,” and the older kids no longer had to move away to go to high school!
Left: Students head home from the new school, still showing signs of its construction, probably in 1974. The room with the tall windows is an indoor gym set up for a variety of sports and activities.
For my article on what it was like to attend eight grades in Ouzinkie, please see “Ouzinkie School in the 1960’s.”
Things to Do: Go Play at Otherside Beach!
Otherside Beach (and lake) is just a short hike through the woods from the west side of the village. It is a favorite play spot in almost every season, as is Sourdough Flats, a short distance beyond, where the island narrows to a small meadow with beaches north and south, and views north of Marmot Bay and south of the Ouzinkie Narrows. Otherside only has the Marmot Bay view, but it is spectacular. A large rock juts out of the sand just down the beach, and has been a favorite photo spot for generations.
Otherside Beach on a windy June afternoon, 1974. The famous rock is midway down the beach, surrounded by water in a high tide. The abundance of driftwood makes Otherside a wonderful picnic and campfire spot!
Tim and Kelly (my brother) at Otherside with our dog, Oscar, in October of 1966.
In the 1940’s and early 1950’s, families had potato patches at Otherside. They would store their crops in potato shacks, and two of those shacks survived into the 1960’s. The largest one was a favorite place to pose.
Top: Cliffy and Stormy balance on the roof, 1965. Center L to R: Teddy, my brother Kelly, Betty Jo and (lower right) Rosemary. Bottom L to R: Kelly, Teddy, Andy (lying down) Rosemary, Betty Jo, Larry, Stormy
Swimming and Skating at Otherside Lake
“The Mission” was a busy place every day. There were kindergarten classes and afternoon
kids’ clubs on weekdays, Mom often had to assist someone who needed medical attention
as the Village Health Aide, and of course there were Sunday and mid-
A couple of boys (Zack and David?) read from the Mission’s collections of Classics Illustrated comic books. This was a very typical scene when I was growing up. Almost any time of day, we would hear the footsteps of kids coming up the front steps, a knock at the door, and there would be kids wanting to come in and play in the playroom, read the comics or just hang out.
Georgia Smith, with Kevin and Carl, stop in for a visit with the other Smiths (no relation) at the Mission., Around 1968.
The boys are playing with wooden models of Grumman Gooses, painted Kodiak Airways
colors, which I got someone to make for the kindergarten class. There were always
a lot of fun toys in the playroom, and in the special boxes in the kindergarten room
upstairs. In later years, the playroom was converted into a small office and clinic
as Mom’s health-
Left: Larry Chichenoff lights the candles inside the Holy Nativity Russian Orthodox Church in Ouzinkie in 1969. Right: A priest leads a procession into the church, 1974.
Conclusion: A Home Village to Be Proud Of!
Each time I have returned to Ouzinkie, I’ve been amazed at all the building and construction,
the boat harbor and ferry dock, even the school (which is no longer new). I’m “old
school” myself, with memories dating to well before the Tidal Wave, and eight years
of education in the village, graduating to high school in 1967. I’ve been overwhelmed
at how nice the people are there, and how much they feel like family, especially
those of my generation, who are grandparents now! There is definitely something to
be said for a close-
Some families in Ouzinkie still have fifty-
– Timothy Smith, 2/2020
Below: the author at the Otherside rock, on a return visit to Ouzinkie in early March of 2002. I have a big grin on my face as a wave splashes in!
Ouzinkie Photo Scrapbook: LIFE
By Timothy Smith, latest revision in February, 2020
Ouzinkie Photo Scrapbook: LIFE 1960-
A Photo Album and Article About the Village of Ouzinkie, Alaska
From the 1960’s to the mid-
Ouzinkie in the late 1960’s, still in the process of recovering from the Tidal Wave,
but getting better! Top: the boardwalks are back, and there’s a new multi-
Holiday and Graduation Celebrations at School
Above: Photos of Otherside Lake Swimming Hole and Beach
1974 (black and white) 1969 color. Center: a group of kids on a summer outing line
up near the beach for snacks after a swimming party. My parents, on the left, have
brought cookies and Kool-
The same lake would freeze over in the winter, and was the best skating site that was close to the village. Skating at Otherside Lake was a lot of fun, especially when you could push around a big piece of styrofoam salvaged from some float that broke loose in the Tidal Wave. If there was too much wind when it froze, then the lake would be like trying to skate on corrugated tin, and if there was too much snow, it would be like trying to skate on sandpaper until the snow froze down a bit. If the weather was calm and clear, about 28 degrees F. with a good moon (which usually happened a few times every winter) kids could skate or sled all day and late into the night, and we usually did.
Below: Otherside Lake Ice Staking Rink in the winter of 1967. Bottom Left: Kelly skates leisurely by in 1966, a fine Alaska boy not even wearing gloves! Bottom: the trail home through the forest, 1974
Things to Do: Go to the Mission!
Below Left: Baker Cottage, called “The Mission” by everybody in Ouzinkie as it looked from the end of the “Otherside Trail.” Below Left: A 1967 winter shot showing the front door, chapel entrance, and the chapel extension to the right. Right: a 1976 portrait I took of Rev. Norman and Joyce Smith in the hallway by the kindergarten room in the Mission. I hung a blanket as a backdrop.
The building was built in 1937, and served as an orphanage until the spring of 1958, when the Norman Smith family moved there to run it as a Christian Center. After they retired, Rev. Norman and Joyce Smith bought the building and continued their work in the village. Both of my parents passed away in Ouzinkie, Dad in 1996, and Mom in 2006 still active and involved in the village to the end of their lives.
Right: Zack and David drop in to read our collection of “Classics Illustrated” comic books, of classic novels and fairy tales, beneath the watchful eye of a portrait of Jesus (1966). Kids could also check out and take home board games, books, and jigsaw puzzles.
Left: One of my favorite candid shots from the collection of slides taken by Norman Smith: A group of kids sits on the stairs to the kindergarten and listens to a Disney story record. Life without TV!
About the photo above: The LP with illustrated booklet could have been Bambi, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Treasure Island or any number of others. The Disney version of The Three Little Pigs and a 78 rpm version of Mickey and the Beanstalk were also great favorites. The Mickey story was annoying, because the times for each side of the record were so short. “You turn the page, while I change the record!” is what the narrator said. Then someone would have to run to the office and turn over the record.
The phonograph was in Dad's office, and the loudspeaker from the old tube-
Clockwise from top, Vicki, Nick, John, Vicki, Peter Zack, my brother Kelly (with picture album), Kenneth (staring seriously at the camera) and Joan. Notice the sweatshirt and mittens all hung neatly in the hallway to the right (which led to a playroom).
Things for a Budding Photographer to Do: Climb a Spruce Tree!
Below: a panorama of two negatives taken from the “fat tree” down the hill from the Mission, which was at the time one of the tallest trees in the village. Its site is an intersection now!
The photo is from 1967, and shows the houses in the center of town, the church hill, sand the white metal roof of the store.Through the trees, the Western Pioneer freighter is across the bay at the Ouzinkie Seafoods dock.
Left: a view from a tree near the Mission summer of 1966.
It shows a corner of the Mission, the neighborhood spruce trees, and even the Ouzinkie Narrows, with the beaches of Cat Island in the far distance. In the lower foreground, two kids are playing piggyback!
Slices of Life: A Sampling of Ceremonies and Special Events
So far I have focused on the mundane and ordinary activities of daily life. But occasionally, there were times when the village of Ouzinkie shone forth in all its remote and exotic glory. Those events took place in the Russian Orthodox Church, and reflected the spiritual soul of the village. Even when I was a kid and wasn’t familiar with life anywhere else, I felt that the ceremonial drama of these events was something special.
My first village home, Larsen Bay, had no Orthodox church. Except for “starring” at Russian Christmas, the village was lacking in the ceremonies and traditions of the Orthodox faith. But Ouzinkie had a Russian Orthodox church, and for most of my youth, Father Gerasim was present for many of the important dates on the church calendar. Through living in Ouzinkie, I became aware of that rich Orthodox spiritual heritage. When I grew older and got the chance to attend some of those wonderful ceremonies, I wasn’t disappointed. It was my home village from kindergarten through graduation from college. I always felt as though I was privileged to live in Ouzinkie, a place where the traditions and practices of Russian America were still alive and flourishing. In recently reviewing my Dad’s photos, I can tell he felt the same way.
The beautiful Russian Orthodox Church in Ouzinkie, in the fall of 1966. This is one of four of my photos of Ouzinkie that were featured in Yule Chaffin’s 1967 book, Koniag to King Crab.
Some Scenes of the Holy Nativity Russian Orthodox Church
Left: Peter Squartsoff rings the bells for a worship service, 1974. My brother Kelly looks on from outside the gate. Right: the bells in the bell tower, 1971.
Weddings in Ouzinkie Through the Years
Top two photos: During a wedding ceremony, the couple receives their crowns.
Next, a priest leads a couple around the altar.
Next, the couple departs the church, receiving lots of rice!
Finally, some mid-
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