Get to Know Jake

Were you to read my original birth certificate, near the bottom where is says “physician” you would see typed there William E. Buell – Father. The image to the right is the one room log cabin where I was delivered by my father. Chitina sits 33 miles off the Richardson Highway down McCarthy Road, little more than a gas station and a bar. I used to joke that I brought the population from 10 to 11. Turns out I was #39 if I am to believe Wikipedia.

My first years were spent living in Alaskan wilderness between remote cabins, and traveling by a dory named Tippy between small fishing towns and villages in Prince William Sound. Wanting a more substantial “home” we decided to go to Bristol Bay and find a double ender we could breathe new life into. We flew to Dillingham and spent a winter in Aleknagik, care taking a lodge. During our time there, we learned that most of these beautiful wooden boats had been abandoned on beaches and left to rot. Eventually, however; we found two that had been left in an abandoned cannery mostly protected from the elements and were able to make one ours for $300. The Jasmine was our new home.

An article in Wooden Boat Magazine about a boat builder in Ouzinkie, a small village outside of Kodiak, spurred the next chapter. Taking the route up the Kvichak river to Iliamna Lake, eventually the portage to Iliamna bay, we were able to take the Jasmine to Kodiak where I would spend most of my childhood. My mom met with Ed Opheim (the boat builder) and commissioned what has become her favorite child. The FD Gayer named after her grandfather and The Jasmine had become central to our life in Kodiak. A family of 5, we spent winters living in a bus in a park, camping on a nearby island, or living out of our step van (the pumpkin express). Summers were spent living in and fishing out of our boats. We lived simply, sometimes delivering just enough fish to buy a new pair of boots, or on special occasion, an ice-cream.

Eventually home schooling and the nomadic lifestyle gave way to a need for stability. I began attending school, and we moved into a trailer at the end of a dead-end road in Bells Flats, Kodiak. We didn’t have many of the modern conveniences – no running water, no shower, no laundry, and electricity was an extension cord from a neighbor. We did, however, have a warm place to sleep and food on our plates, so still better off than many in the world. School is tough, and being the poor kid is a special kind of tough. But as they say, whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It took me well into my adult life to figure it out, but I truly believe it made me stronger.