SOCIAL NOTES
— Homemaking —
Happenings About Town
— Gardening —
OF THIS AND THAT By Betha Digree
We made an error in this column
two weeks ago when we wrote
that Barbara Dimock is on the
Milepost staff . . . Barbara is a
staff member of the Guide to
Alaska . . .
We understand there is a speed
limit for all craft, whether boats
or planes, in the small boat harbor.
The limit of safety is often dis
regarded, tho, and we have seen
several accidents. Large, fast boats
often fail to consider the small
outboards and rowboats . . . Too,
some float planes use excessive
speed inside the harbor. We watch
ed one entering from the channel
at a fast dip Tuesday morning
while another one was slowly and
carefully leaving. There could eas
ily have been a collision. Whether
or not there is a legal limit, com
mon sense should be used in all
cases . . . There might be young
sters in a rowboat that could be
swamped . . .
Our heart is filled with grief at
the loss of one our best friends.
Duffy McDuff, our little Scotty,
was hit by a truck Tuesday after
noon and is now taking that last,
long sleep. We shall miss his loy
alty, his affection and his way of
greeting us with a wag of his tail.
We could say much more about
Duffy but shall only add that he
was a gentle, loveable little fellow
. . . Always a gentleman and a
good companion. We wish to thank
all those many people who were
kind to him during his lifetime.
Susanne, 12-year-old daughter of
Walter and Audrey Kraft, spent
the past week in Anchorage as the
house guest of former Kodiak resi
dents John Hughes and family.
Fourteen youngsters helped Kev
in Kraft celebrate his fifth birth
day Thursday with a party at the
home of Kevin’s parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Walter Kraft . . .
The wedding of Miss Johanna
Wilhelmina Beukers, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Jan Beukers of Ko
diak, and Mr. Roland Bruce Moysey
took place Saturday, August 27
at the Community Baptist Church
which was decorated with asters
and gladioli.
Mrs. Moysey was given in mar
riage by her father. Rev. Lewis
White officiated at the ceremony.
Carrying a bridal bouquet of
white carnations and red roses,
the bride wore a chapel length
Miss Lila Olsen, attired in a coral
colored gown, and Miss Zoe Nel
son, wearing a yellow gown, were
bridesmaids. Each wore a flowered
hat and carried nosegays of
white carnations and yellow roses.
Candle-lighters were the bride’s
brother, Jan, and her niece, Miss
Janice Panamaroff, who wore a
white dress and corsage of red
roses.
Scattering rose and daisy petals
before the bride were flower girls
Janelle Panamaroff, in a pink dress
gown of white Chantilly lace with
high neckline decorated with se
quins and pearls. Her veil depend
ed from a crown of pearls and
sequins.
Mi's. Helen Panamaroff, sister of
the bride, was matron of honor.
She wore a blue ruffled gown with
matching flared hat and carried
white carnations and yellow roses.
Miss Caldwell To
Arrive Thursday
Miss Joyce Caldwell, daughter of
Admiral and Mrs. H. H. Caldwell,
will arrive on Thursday to visit
her parents for about twelve days.
Admiral and Mrs-. Caldwell also
have as house guests Mr. and Mrs.
Joyce Nixon from Chicago
and hat, and Sharon Beukers, who
wore a blue dress and hat.
Mr. Charles Pemberton acted as
best man for the groom, who comes
from Charleston, S. C. Ushers
were the Messrs. Herman Beukers
and George Panamaroff.
Playing the traditional wedding
music was organist Mrs. DeWitt
Fields, while Mrs. Lewis White
sang "Because” and the ‘‘Lord’s
Prayer.”
The bride’s mother chose a light
blue dress with matching hat and
a red rose corsage.
The young couple were honored
at a reception held at the Elks Hall
following the ceremony.
Mr. and Mrs. Moysey plan to
make their home in Charleston
within the next few months.
Personal Possessions Meaningless
After Losses Suffered By Sturmers
By Miriam J. Angell
About a year after the seat of
Russian government and commer
cial operations in Alaska was
moved from the original site at
Three Saints Bay to Kodiak in
1793, a Russian Orthodox mission
was established, and from it grew
the church which still serves a
large congregation on the island.
Some 90 years ago a parsonage
was built opposite the church; it
served as the home for priests and
their families until it burned in
1956, along with the books and
time, my father and I, but he
stayed.”
Father Sturmer smiled and add
ed there was another reason for
her not leaving Russia. “She was
acquainted with an Ensign, Mr.
Sturmer. When Ensign Sturmer
asked for the hand of Miss Harvey
from her father, he refused to let
us get married.”
Mrs. Sturmer added, “He thought
I was too young. My father thought
the revolution would be over in
three or four months, and we could
have a proper wedding.”
FATHER and MRS. ROMAN STURMER
other possessions of Father Roman
A. Sturmer and Mrs. Sturmer.
To most, the calamity might
have seemed insupportable, but to
the Sturmers it was merely the
climax to a series of losses, the
results of the chain of violent
events which moved them through
almost 40 years from Russia to
Kodiak.
Father Sturmer explained the
attitude which has sustained them
all these years: “Since my mature
life I have lost caring for personal
belongings because to begin with,
my first ship blew up during the
first World War and 1 lost every
thing, and whatever of ours did
not burn in Manila, was finished
here. The books you see are ours,
and this fine Hi-Fi set which our
children gave to us, but everything
else belongs to the church.”
Xenia Sturmer continued, “I
like something nice but if I lose
it I am not so upset; I lost every
thing in Moscow, and that time in
the Philippines, and in the fire
here. I am used to it.”
Father Sturmer said, “Mrs. Stur
mer and I are the only ones on the
island who were born in Russia.
Mrs. Sturmer was born in St.
Petersburg, now called Leningrad.
My family came from Nijny Nov
gorod on the Volga River but I was
raised in Warsaw where my father
was an officer stationed with Rus
sian troops in Poland. From there
I went to the St. Petersburg Rus
sian Naval Academy. Mrs. Sturmer
was a daughter of the editor of
one of the largest newspapers in
Moscow.”
Mrs. Sturmer continued, “It
might seem strange but my father
was a British subject. He was
educated partly in Russia but he
kept his British citizenship all his
life. We were offered help by the
British government to get out of
Russia at the beginning of the
revolution in 1917, but my father
would not go; he loved Russia and
wanted his to be the first news
paper to announce the end of the
revolution, and the end of com
munism. There were persecutions
and we were put in prison one
Continuing Father Sturmer said:
“Well, so when I received the
cold shoulder from my future
father-in-law. I went to my station
with the Black Sea fleet. During
the civil war I fought in the Black
Sea, the Sea of Azov and in the
Caspian Sea, and then when the
White Army of General Denikin
was defeated, we had to retreat to
Persia where the British disarmed
us and we were sent to a concen
tration camp in Basrah. After sev
eral months we embarked in a
large transport and went by way
of Singapore and Hongkong to
Vladivostok, where we were glad
to find a White Government, and
some ships. Under Admiral Stark
we fought the Reds until 1922 when
we were again overpowered, and
in October we evacuated the city
of Vladivostok in 35 ships which
comprised the Siberian White Flo
tilla. I was at that time Executive
Officer of a gun boat; the normal
complement was 80 officers and
men, but we took aboard 500 civil
ians from the town, including Mrs.
Sturmer, who boarded the ship on
the eve of evacuation after our
church wedding ceremony. Miss
Harvey had arrived on the last
train that came from the west to
Vladivostok.”
It was in 1918 that Miss Harvey
first left Moscow with an uncle to
go to the south of Russia. “We
went to the estate of my grand
mother. My father wanted to get
the family away because there was
almost no food in Moscow; the
situation was very bad. My mother
and sisters went to another region.
The White forces were closing in
but my father stayed to be present
at the end of communism.” Mrs.
Sturmer smiled wryly at this, and
continued, “At the beginning of
1920 the White forces were re
treating and I joined my mother
and later returned to Moscow.”
About this time Miss Harvey was
forced to work in an office in the
town of Voronezh. Father Sturmer
recounted this episode because
his wife does not like to remember
such things. “Many people met
with such accidents and I was quite
lucky,” she said.
“She was forced to work as a
clerk in an office that was super
vising the making of trenches by
civilians for Red Army troops.
Since she heard rumors that White
troops were approaching, she and
13 or 14 others in the office de
cided to cross the lines and join
the White army. They were walk
ing on a road and met a cavalry
detachment they thought were
White Cossacks: they were really
Red Cossacks. The Reds surround
ed them and made them dig a
large grave, and put a board across
this grave for them to stand on.
Then they fired. Just one split
second before the bullet would
have hit Miss Harvey, she fainted
and fell into the grave with the
others who were shot.”
Mrs. Sturmer said, “One fellow
was wounded, badly. The rest were
dead. The wounded one saw I was
alive and he dragged me into a
wood. We stayed there overnight
and in the morning were given
refuge by some peasants. From
there I just got aboard a train
and started to Moscow. I was ar
rested as a spy, because of my
British papers, but some people
helped me and I was able to get
to my father.”
In the spring of 1922 Miss
Harvey received a letter from Lt.
Sturmer and finally persuaded her
father to let her go the 6000 miles
to join him. She was a long four
months persuading the Red gov
ernment in Moscow to allow her to
leave Moscow. When finally she
did receive permission, with the
help of a contrived story, she set
out for Harbin in Siberia. Harbin
was known as a Pink city, a poly
glot of Red and White sympathiz
ers and agents, and those in be
tween, “where you could find any
one.” In time she learned the
whereabouts of her fiance and
joined him in Vladivostok at the
last moment of chance.
Father Sturmer continued the
narrative. “We started south
aboard the evacuation ships and
no one would accept us; the Kor
eans, the Chinese and Japanese all
turned us away. At last we came
to the Philippines where the Gov
ernor-General there was General
Leonard Wood. He was very nice
and provided a transport, the Mer
ritt, for those who wanted to go
to the United States, to San Fran
cisco, but we stayed in Manila.
“Then I had to change my pro
(Continued on Page 11)
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