Haines Mayor Doug Olerud addresses a crowd of about 200 people gathered at Picture Point (Corinne Smith/KHNS)

Here is a transcript of Haines Mayor Doug Olerud’s speech at the one-year storm commemoration and dedication event at Picture Point on December 4, 2021.

Hello everyone,

I’ll keep my remarks rather brief today as we’re all outside. That said, I do want to say a few words to all of you about our loss, about trauma, and about healing and recovery for our community.

The landslide of December 2nd, 2020 was a traumatic event for the people of Haines and we are changed forever as a result.  Although we were faced with a disaster unlike anything since the slide at 19 mile wiped out the Tlingit village of Kluktu in the 1890’s, we came together.  I realize that is an anglicized pronunciation and I apologize to my Tlingit friends and neighbors for not pronouncing it correctly.  

I talked last year about how we all experience grief differently. We don’t get to quantify grief, or compare our grief to others.  The same holds true to the trauma caused by the storm. We experienced the storm differently so likewise we were traumatized differently.

We all lost friends, we lost loved ones, and we lost family. We also faced the destruction of roads, driveways, and homes. We lost feelings of comfort, security, and safety.  

These are all real consequences from the storm.  

We also experienced solidarity, compassion, love and kindness. We took care of each other and were cared for by others. These are also results from the storm.  

My message to you today is this: Let’s open our hearts to the grief and trauma experienced by each of us. Let’s each of us have an open, caring heart to those who suffered alongside of us with help and with healing.

A year has passed since those dark and challenging hours. Today, we mark the anniversary, pay tribute, and take a step forward in our individual and community healing. 

From the start of December’s storm, neighbors helped neighbors. Public works, State DOT, and local contractors worked through the night to mitigate as much damage as possible. They continued their efforts for several days and saved homes and infrastructure.

As soon as the Beach Road slide was reported, our first responders and harbor staff stepped up and evacuated residents trapped by the slide.  

Recall with me the morning of December 3rd, when the Public Safety Building was overflowing with Alaska State Troopers, Seadogs, Coast Guard, Alaska Army National Guard, Capital City Fire, along with our own Haines Volunteer Fire Department, Haines Borough Police Department, Emergency Operations Center, and so many other Haines volunteers and outside agencies who selflessly lent aid to our cause. 

Seeing the parking lot filled, and cars lining up along Third Avenue was an emotional sight… an uneasy emotional mix of both gratitude and shock. The Public Safety Building was filled with volunteers for days as they waited for their turn to respond.  

Our first responders always answer the call when tragedy strikes Haines. One of those responders was Phil Reeves.  Phil embodied the spirit of Haines’ first responders, and he is missed by many.  

Behavioral health professionals from SEARHC and Bartlett Regional Hospital were there also…attending to many of our needs.

The American Legion provided food, shelter, a gathering spot for support and information.

Haines was also supported and cared for by the Red Cross and Salvation Army…and so many more that I’m simply unable to acknowledge all the agencies and resources who came to our aid. 

The unending sea of help was so overwhelming, a year later and I still don’t have adequate words to express how I felt in many of those moments.

Today, it is easy for us to see the physical impacts – the remnants of the destructive storm.  The Beach Road slide is the most prominent.  But it is hard to drive around Haines and NOT see the overflow next to creeks and streams.  To see the slides along Lutak Road and Haines Highway. To see the rock and gravel debris in people’s yards.  

Mother Nature has taught us that, over time, these visible scars will eventually fade into the landscape.  Grass, alder, willow, moss and other vegetation will slowly hide many of these signs.  The slides will take longer, but eventually, they too will be hidden by new growth.  

Each of us knows also that the personal and emotional damage we each suffered is harder to see. As with most trauma, many of us spend a lot of energy making sure no one sees that damage.  

Being vulnerable scares us. But to fully heal we need to be vulnerable.  

The trees and grass won’t grow on the hard rock. No, they need softer soil to take root.  Over time, as they grow stronger they will break down the stronger rock.  

Can’t the same be said for the deep hurt that still resides in our hearts?

By armoring up and holding the pain within, we aren’t allowing the seeds of growth to develop within each of us. However, if we give these seeds of growth a small crack to start, they will grow stronger over time and soften the toughest of our trauma.

As I think about our collective healing as a community, I can’t help but remember that many who were affected weren’t here for the actual event. 

Still, they answered our call for help and also felt the impacts of the storm. They saw the toll the storm took on our community. Yet many I have talked to speak reverently about the strength and resiliency they witnessed while working among us. Community members helping their neighbors. The volunteer efforts that continue to this day.  All who stepped forward in our time of need also become personally invested in our recovery.  

The seeds of healing are germinating.

So many groups came to Haines’ aid a year ago, and they continue to help today – lending assistance, but also in a greater sense, they are helping to nurture recovery throughout our community. 

I want to specifically acknowledge the Haines Long Term Recovery Group who has been in partnership with so many great organizations. The Long Term Recovery Group has worked with The State of Alaska Individual Assistance Program, Chilkoot Indian Association, Salvation Army, Tlingit and Haida Central Council, Chilkat Valley Community Foundation, Ministerial Affiliates, Haines Chamber of Commerce, Sealaska Heritage Foundation, United Methodist Committee on Relief, and many others to distribute $1.31 Million dollar to our community members in need.

Here are some recent figures that can help us to measure our recovery and regrowth:

Out of 131 total cases:

  • 65 households no longer need assistance
  • But 66 households still need help
  • And 7 households are still displaced

Speaking of recovery, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Team Rubicon.  1 team, 1 week and a huge lift to our community.  They also saw the strength and resiliency of Haines and are continuing to assist residents with recovery.

Friends, we are dedicating a table today and have plans created for two benches.  The benches honor David Simmons and Jenae Larson, two souls who were lost in the Beach Road slide.

David was a unicorn.  He was a unique individual who had friends across the political spectrum, a difficult task in our current climate.  David didn’t see you for your views, he saw you for the person you were.  He opened his heart, and his life story to everyone.  That allowed him to make deep, personal connections with everyone he met.  

Spend five minutes with David and you felt like you had been friends for a lifetime.  I won’t remember the summer of 2020 for the Covid pandemic, I’ll remember it as the summer I got to know David when his business was shut down and he came to work at our store.  Seeing his excitement for life, his love of Haines, his constant search for knowledge, and his love of Libby up close was a unique gift. 

I am forever grateful for David changing how I view life and I know many of you are deeply grateful for his life and for what he contributed to our community.

Jenae grew up in Haines and had a passion for teaching.  She loved Haines and was excited about beginning her teaching career. I didn’t interact with Jenae very much.  When I did it was usually when she came in the store with Walker. While Walker would be looking at hunting or fishing supplies, Jenae would often get restless and come up front and look at Yeti and Hydroflask drinkware. She was usually successful in getting Walker to buy her whatever she was looking at! We would talk about school and how she wanted to become a teacher.  

You could see her light up when she talked about teaching.  When she talked about being able to do her student teaching in Haines the light grew brighter.  When she was hired to teach kindergarten in Haines, she was absolutely glowing with pride and excitement.  

There is no doubt in my mind that Jenae would be the teacher that students look back on 30 years later and talk to their classmates about how she changed their lives.  Those teachers are special.  She was one of a kind.

The benches we will be dedicating in the spring were designed by Darwin Feakes’ high school shop class. Engaging students in the design, estimating, and building of the benches would have pleased both David and Jenae. David’s bench was designed by Dalton Henry and Jenae’s bench was designed by Miranda Allen.  

These benches will allow us a place to sit and reflect on the lives lost during the storm – to soak in our surroundings and give thanks that we live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by so many caring people.

As you can see we don’t have the benches here today.  We have all encountered challenges the last two years and this was one more.  We had a choice in having the benches built right, or on time.  We decided on the built right option.  Mr. Feakes’ class will finish the benches once the rest of the supplies arrive and they will be set in place, along with the table, next spring. We do have the sketches that Dalton and Miranda submitted if you would like to see what they will look like. 

There will be an engraving on each bench that reflect David and Jenae. David’s bench will say; “Haines is the best place on earth” – David Simmons, world traveler and raconteur, established home in Haines 2017-2020.  And Jenae’s bench will say; “Don’t stop Believin’  Forever Classmates 2016 Matthew, Zane, Jenae.”

The table is in recognition of our entire community and signifies our coming together around the table and all contributing to the healing of our community. It represents “all that everyone has brought to the table.”

Many responded to our disaster last December and many of them returned to join us today.  I hope this table becomes a spot for contemplation, healing, friendship, and renewal.  We have Sylvia Heinz and John Carlson to thank for the design and construction of this table.

On behalf of the entire community of Haines, I want to thank all the individuals whose creativity and skill were brought to this project and for the everlasting impact of this new gathering spot.

Many of you have been so generous in your sharing of books that were given to me this last year.  One of those books in particular has a special message for us all tonight. The book “The Body Keeps The Score; Brain, Mind, and Body in The Healing of Trauma” by Bessel Van Der Kolk speaks to our path forward.  In the book the author says,

“Social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others.  The critical issue is reciprocity; being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else’s mind and heart.  For our physiology to calm down, heal, and grow we need a visceral feeling of safety.  No doctor can write a prescription for friendship and love: These are complex and hard earned capacities.”

The last year has shown we have earned the capacity for reciprocity, and yes it was, and is hard.  Let’s continue to be truly heard and seen by one another.   

I want to close my remarks with a few questions for all of you: Where do we go from here? How do we come together as a community? How do we heal our own trauma?  

I submit to all of you that our path toward healing is to become more like David and Jenae – to emulate the very best of their lives in our own.  Be open to new ideas, get to know people with different opinions and views than your own, share time with others, invest in our children.  

Let’s remove our armor. Bravely confront our pain. Practice vulnerability. 

Let’s allow seeds of compassion, forgiveness, understanding, and love for each other to grow within us individually and as a community.  Let’s continually nurture that growth so no matter what external forces we encounter those roots will be strong enough to weather any storm.  

Thank you everyone for coming out today. Have a good evening.