A Skagway couple is retiring after providing in-home daycare for 35 years. They potty-trained a large portion of the community, and taught many of the residents how to ride a bike. KHNS spoke to the providers about what they’ll miss, and how they’ll spend their free time.
Linda and Ray Calver have a large family. When asked how many grandkids they have, it took a minute to calculate.
“You ain’t got enough toes and fingers to do it,” Ray said. “We got great-grandkids.”
The matriarch came up with the (most current) final results.
“We have 18 grandkids,” Linda said. “We have probably 12 great-grandkids.”
But the pair have a wider community family. After running a daycare for more than three decades, they are called Grandma Linda and Grandpa Ray by nearly everyone in town.
The Calvers moved to Skagway in 1967. Ray retired from the military and went to work for the railroad. A teacher, Linda was employed by Skagway School. She started babysitting grandkids in the summertime which eventually morphed into year-round, in-home day care. It was a much needed service. One mother got on Linda’s waitlist two years before she even became pregnant.
Skagway resident Cynthia Tronrud says all four of her kids attended the daycare. Linda had no problem accommodating one of Tronrud’s children who at times needed a walker, crutches and a body cast. The other thing Tronrud remembers is being told that her food was not as good as Grandma Linda’s.
That made the couple laugh as they reminisced about how excited kids would get about pizza Fridays.
“Sometimes they would just come on Friday so they could have pizza,” Linda said.
At first, a state program reimbursed food costs. Linda says that because she was the only one in Skagway using the program, the funding was discontinued and she was responsible for all food expenses. She didn’t pass that onto parents.
Little Cherubs, Linda’s Daycare, charged less for tuition than the other alternative, a non-profit learning center. When asked how they managed to keep prices low, Ray had a quick answer.
“We didn’t make any money. Well, we didn’t get rich. And you know how much our grocery bill would be when we went to Costco? Two thousand dollars or better. And she fed every kid. Either something for breakfast, for snack, lunch and another snack.”
Linda says they survived because they weren’t counting on the daycare money – they both had retirement to supplement living expenses.
Ray is 82 and Linda is 77. They’ve spent much of their golden years wiping faces and bottoms. When asked why, Ray’s answer pulls on the heart strings.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t have enough time for my kids because we were working all the time,” he said.
Linda’s answer was equally touching.
“I’ve really enjoyed daycare, and that’s probably why I’ve been doing it so long,” she said. “Because I really do enjoy the little kids. They brighten your day no matter what’s going on, and they give you a reason to get up and get moving.”
When retirement begins in the New Year, Linda plans to sew. She’s an avid quilter. Ray wants to travel. He said they didn’t get around much the years they ran the daycare.
But the first order of business is replacing the carpet with hardwood and switching out furniture. Now that there won’t be children running through everyday, the Calvers can finally upgrade their house.
Ray has a nickname for each child they babysat, mostly because he couldn’t pronounce or remember their actual names. The toddler with the sideburns is Elvis. A boy named Elijah became Jack – no one is really sure why.
The Calvers hope their former clients come to visit.
“I think I’ll miss the hugs when they come in the morning,” he said.
Linda and Ray plan on being in town in the winter and having adventures down south in the summer.
