Haines school veterans memorial recognizes community’s veterans and active service members

This year the Haines School is honoring Veterans Day with a memorial on display through the month of November. In recognition of the community’s veterans and active service members, they’ve created an exhibit of over 100 photos of students, staff and their family members in the armed forces. KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports.

 

Haines students walking down the hall to their next classes may also walk by a piece of their own family history, side-by-side with those of classmates and staff.  A new veterans day memorial displays over 100 school photos of students and staff paired with a photo of their family members in uniform. 

“So on this hallway we have veteran’s related to the freshmen and sophomore classes,” said Haines School Principal Lilly Boron leading the way. She says the idea was to create a veteran’s memorial to connect the wider community to the school. But it also connects students to each other in new ways.

“It’s really nice to have it staged so it’s meaningful to the people in close proximity but it also makes people stop and go wow, I didn’t know this about you,” she said. 

Boron says when they put the call out initially, the response was overwhelming. 

“We thought maybe we’ll have 30, we’ll see. We ended up having over 100, and they’re still coming in.”

There are parents, grandparents, siblings and staff, some black and white photos from generations past, some new photos of those currently serving today. They represent all branches of the armed forces, US Army, Navy and Air Force, and the photos stretch down elementary and high school hallways and through the entryway.

“So it’s more than just a bulletin board,” Boron said. “It kind of spreads through the school, and we did that intentionally so we could see, just how powerful that is. And we do have a tradition of service to our country (in Haines), and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to honor that.”

Haines has a large veteran’s community, for a small town. There are over 300 veterans presently in Haines, according to the American Legion Lynn Canal Post #12, which hosts social and political functions and connects veterans to programs and services. 

One of those featured in the high school hallway is recent graduate Odin Jacobson, pictured in Army fatigues and camouflage face paint. He enlisted after graduation in 2020, and was recently stationed in Romania. His younger brother, and Haines junior, Phoenix Jacobsen, says he joined the military in hopes of becoming an Army Ranger.

“It’s pretty cool…It’s cool to be part of the limited group of people that come from this school. It’s like Haines, where there’s not that many people. So it’s like, he becomes part of something bigger,” Jacobson said. 

Jacobsen and his family visited his brother in Romania this fall. Their mom, Aimee Jacobsen says it was short but good to connect as a family.

“We got to see him for four days. That was great. And now he knows that wherever he stations, we might just show up at the gate,” she said with a laughs. “So he knows he has our support. And, and he knows that he can always come home to Alaska.”

Haines’ vocational shop teacher Darwin Feakes is among those featured on the staff display in the school’s entryway.

“​​It was quite impressive to see all of them up in the school and how many people are really touched by the military in our school…I feel really honored to be represented in that.

He’s pictured in uniform next to Haines school custodian, David Cowley, who served in the Army, and over a dozen staff and their family members. Feaks joined the National Guard in 1985, and retired in 2007 to teach full time.

“Most of my time was spent with Montana Army National Guard,” Feakes said. “I served lots of different roles and different positions in armor and NBC nuclear, biological and chemical warfare as a chemical officer, company commander, company XO… both at state level and company and battalion or squadron levels.”

Feakes said the veteran’s memorial also highlights how military service impacts families, not just the individual. And he hopes it raises awareness about its difficulties and the struggles veterans’ face when they come home. 

“And just that they understand the sacrifice that all those people gave,” Feakes said. “As Chuck Mittman said at the Veterans Dinner, there’s a lot of wounds that are visible and a lot of invisible wounds as well in our soldiers who have come back from war areas. And so just that people recognize that, and I always wished for everyone to have a little kinder heart.”

The Haines school veteran’s memorial aims to bring past and present together, inspire dialogue and honor families and their loved ones in the service. 

The memorial project is up now in the Haines School entry, elementary and high school hallways. The public is welcome to visit and view the project after school hours, between 3:15 – 4 p.m, through November.