Harriet Walker
Harriet Thomas Walker was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, of missionary parents in 1927. She was homeschooled with her brother and sister until she reached the age of ten when her parents returned to the United States. She completed high school in Coffeyville, Kansas and obtained a BA at York College in York, Nebraska. Some years later, she furthered her education at the University of Idaho earning an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Foundations of Education.
In June of 1949, Harriet married Harold Walker, a York College classmate who had returned to college after serving as a B-29 pilot in World War II. She and her husband dedicated their professional years to public education although her passion was always to become an author. Throughout her life, she kept carbons of letters that she typed to her family and friends. After retiring she went back to those letters to shape the wonderful books she has published. Harriet died in 2013 in Bishop, Georgia.
The Stories Behind
Your Alaskan Daughter
Letters Tell the Story
Alaskan adventure stories come in many shapes and sizes. Your Alaskan Daughter reads from the carbon copies of letters typed by the light of a kerosene lamp on an old Smith Corona portable typewriter. The year I (Tom) was born, 1953, my mom and dad traveled the Alcan Highway to the Alaskan frontier. They went to stake a claim on an Alaskan future filled with the promise of becoming the 49th state in America. Mom recorded the events of that adventure in her many letters to her mother, family, and friends. A very personal story emerges from these letters filled with challenges, triumphs, and the daily details of life on the Alaskan frontier.
A Dream in the Making
My folks dreamed of going to Alaska and creating a homestead supplemented by a sawmill business. Dad especially liked the potential of running for office during the formation of a new state. With Dad’s two sisters already settled with their families in the Alaskan territory, the opportunity for establishing a successful business in the forest industry with his brother-in-law seemed like an easy step toward their dream. Mom was already pregnant with me when they headed north into Alaska’s promise. Her hope for establishing home and life in a small community empowered her departure from the safety of a teaching career in Kansas. Like all dreams, my parents’ Alaskan aspirations had to face the reality of life in a challenging setting, especially when little went as planned.
A Dream Transformed
I had a lot to do with changing my parents’ Alaskan dream. I remember nothing of that time, but the love for me that appeared in my mom’s letters was a clear catalyst for the way our family’s vision was transformed. After I put in my appearance, life for our family charted a new vector, while life in Alaska through the winter of 1954 produced anecdotes and stories that have shaped our family through a lifetime. Read my mom’s letters in this Third Edition of Your Alaskan Daughter. I promise you’ll love the story and the adorable little baby I was 70 years ago.
