Police Chief’s Prime Interests:
Good of Kodiak, Home And Work
By Miriam J. Angell
During the past summer Kodiak
Chief of Police Roland E. Vickery
and his family, after an extended
trip through the states to the south,
returned to Alaska via the Alcan
highway; they were amazed at the
improvments in accomodations and
in the highway its-elf since their
first journey to Fairbanks in 1948.
In that year they sold their home in
Florida, bought a huge, ten wheel
Army service truck on which they
mounted a house trailer, and with
homesteading in mind, headed
north and west to the territory.
Chief Vickery said, “We had just
the resume about homesteading
but I figured we’d make out all
right. Our oldest daughter was
troubled with asthma and when
the doctor suggested a change of
climate we decided on Alaska; we’d
heard a lot about it and it sounded
like a good adventure.
“We started off in May and ar
rived in Fairbanks on July 8th.,
1948. It was a long, tedious trip,
but going up the Alcan was beauti
ful. There was very little traffic
at all. The road was not what it
is today; several times we were
held up by washouts and twice by
bridges that were out due to snow
slides. Gas and oil were really
high, in those days and food and
accomodations were hard to find,
whereas, last summer we found
you could plan a trip in such a way
thatiyou could spend every night
in a motel or lodge. No, it wasn’t
what* I would call expensive this
time; we had a lovely apartment
with kitchenette in Calgary for
$12 a night and the highest we ever
paid on the whole trip was $16.
That’s pretty reasonable for seven
people.
“When we got to Fairbanks in
’48 we were lucky to get the last
cabin in a trailer court; from there
we moved to the best thing we
could find at the time, a trapper’s
cabin about six miles out of the
city. We stayed there all winter
and really roughed it. From
temperatures of 90 plus in Miami
we’d come to a place where it got
down to 60 below zero. Our cabin
didn’t have a well so we bought
drinking water from a truck and
stored it in large casks. You have
to watch that in the winter or
your entire supply will freeze.”
The Vickerys decided against
homesteading, settled in Fairbanks
where he was first employed as
night supervisor by the company
building Ladd Air Force Base, then
by the city as a police patrolman.
At the end of a year he was pro
moted to Police Captain.
“No,” Chief Vickery explained,
“Fairbanks was not a rough town
then; we had only about nine
police officers, a territorial high
way patrol and a U.S. marshall. I
stayed on in the department until
1953 when we came down to Ko
diak.”
We inquired where he had come
from originally and the Chief told
us he was born in Lynn, Massachus
etts but that his father moved a
great deal and the family had liv
ed in Alabama, then in a number of
towns and cities in Florida. Dur
ing high school days in Gains
ville, Roland Vickery won an
athletic scholarship to the Univer
sity of Florida because in 1920 he
was named state champion in
track, football and baseball, the
leading Florida athlete of the year.
He broke the 440 record in 1920
and his record stood for 14 years.
Meanwhile, he interrupted high
school to join the Navy, served for
a time in a submarine division,
then returned to finish high
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school.
The Chief attended the Univer
sity of Florida for a little over a
year, “got a yearning to be a pro
fessional wrestler”, left school, and
wrestled for three years.
For sixteen years after this he
spent the winters in Florida on the
police beach patrol, the summers
in New York with the Metropoli
tan Life Guards on the beaches
there.
“I met my wife, Florence, on
Rockaway Beach, Long Island,” he
continued.
“We will have been married 23
years this coming April. I have
been so lucky to have her and I
wish more children could have
mothers like her. Whatever suc
cess I have derived has been
through my wife.” The chief took
his bride back to Miami and joined
the city police force, a fulltime
job now that the seasonal beach
patrol was no more. And from
Miami, north to Fairbanks with
wife, Florence; daughters, Fran
cis, Joann and Rolanna; and the
Chief’s sister-in-law. A fourth
daughter, Maria Theresa, was born
in Kodiak.
We asked about his work here
and Chief Vickery assured us he
has enjoyed his more than seven
years as Police Chief in Kodiak.
“I would like to say that the people
of Kodiak are very fortunate in
the police officers they have.
There is no finer group; they are
faithful, devoted and honest, and
have given their all for the city.
I am very fortunate to have men
of such high calibre in the de
partment, and to work with the
fine city officials we have here.
No other city officials have ever
given me such backing and under
standing.
“With all fairness I must also
say how much I have appreciated
the wonderful support and cooper
ation we have received from the
base, the friendship and close co
ordination between town and
base.”
In talking further with the Chief,
his interest in young people be
came clearly evident. “One thing
the city needs badly is more recre
ation for children. Of course no
matter how much activity you have
there will always be some trouble
because there are some parents
who just don’t seem to care, but
we all know, for instance, what the
Little League has done for town
boys. ‘Curley’ Wilson and the
others responsible for the work
on the baseball diamond surely
deserve credit. It was a wonderful
advance for the city.
“I have been a Red Cross first
aid and waterfront instructor for
many years and have seen what a
fine thing the swimming pools in
Anchorage and Fairbanks are for
children, and older people as well.
So I’m a strong supporter for gett
ing a pool for Kodiak. I hope the
Chamber of Commerce will be able
to get such a wonderful program
started here, and I hope that when
a pool is built it will be of worth
while size, say about 75 yards by
about 25 yards.
“Another thing I would like to
see here is a community center
with more supervised activities for
teen agers. It’s a shame they
haven’t a place for more dances
and other activities. One could be
built as I have seen it done in
other places, right on top of a
swimming pool. Both would pay
for themselves; they have in other
cities, large and small.”
Chief Vickery said that serious
crimes are few in Kodiak, that
burglaries in particular are rare,
one reason being the security de
partment he set up which checks
stores and businesses individually
several times each night.
“We have a good traffic record
in Kodiak,” he added, and we won
der where else in the motorized
world such a record stands today.
There has been no death on Kodiak
highways since 1956, a fact the
Chief considers surprizing with
the scarcity of sidewalks in town.
He lectures to school children, but
says he knows it doesn’t always
(Continued on Page 11)
To All Residents, Homeowners and
Apartment Occupants
Personal property forms have been mailed to all residents of the
City of Kodiak as sho'vn by the utility lists. These forms are to
be used in rendering your personal belongings and household
furniture and fixtures for personal property taxation as pre
scribed by law. Every person owning personal property within
the city on January 1st must fill out and return this form before
Jan. 15. It is not the responsibility of the assessors office to make
certain these forms are received by you. Forms may be picked up
at City Hall. Every effort will be made by the assessors office to
check all returns that appear to be fraudulent in order to dis
tribute the tax burden fairly and equally. Your attention is
called to State Law, Chapt. 174, Sec. 9, authorizing the assessor
to enter upon any premises and examine any property thereon.
The value of the furnishings of a home can usually be determined
by the value of the home.
DOUGLAS G. PRESTON
Published Jan. 7 and 14 CITY CLERK • TREASURER
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