Comments:
My wife June and I are both majors (ordained ministers) in The Salvation Army. Together we have spent 13 years working with the Tlingit natives of Southeast Alaska. On June 28, 2010 I was reassigned as the administrator at The Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Program in Anchorage, AK, which is a 60 bed residential alcohol and drug residential treatment program for men. Most of our clients come from the prison system. June was initially assigned to the Army's divisional social service department, but joined me as the associate administrator at the center a few months later. Besides being an ordained minister in The Salvation Army I am a certified addictions counselor. I am currently doing my doctoral research project on Post Traumatic Stress Disorders among Tlingit natives.
In 2000 June and I were pulled from Southeast Alaska by The Salvation Army and we were sent to the small Pacific island of Pohnpei. The island of Pohnpei is located in the Federated States of Micronesia. It is near the equator. The Salvation Army work in Micronesia was in crisis due to two cases going on simultaneously involving adultery, familial abandonment, and spousal murder. So, we ended up having to take over two church congregations on the island of Pohnpei under very adverse circusmstances. On Pohnpei we had to deal with the murder of a colleague, the murder trial of her husband, 300 unexploded Japanese WWII bombs found buried near one of our churches, a crazed narcissistic youth worker, the theft of several thousand dollars in church funds by fraudalent business man and a cholera epidemic that was thrown in just to make life interesting.
After getting to Pohnpei I ran into Cindy (nee Boris) Victor, who lived on the tiny island of Langar. Cindy took a boat to work every day. Cindy called me up after seeing my name on article that I had written for the local Pohnpeian newspaper on HIV/AIDS. Preaching on Sunday mornings, barefooted in sweltering humid heat under palm trees, to bare-breasted women took a little getting used to. My master's thesis concerned the problem of shame and addiction in Pohnpeian and Tlingit societies.
Because of health issues
June and I were sent back to the United States. Currently, we are in the native village of Kake. In the summer time our house is surrounded by bears, as we live only yards away from salmon creek.
As a certified addictions counselor I spend a good deal of time addressing addictions issues such as sexual addictions, religious addictions, relational addictions, as well as alcoholism and other chemical addictions. In the village we provide monthly training sessions on addictions as well as general counseling services. We work heavily with a bereavement counselor who comes to Kake three days each month to provide grief and loss counseling services to the native people.
Besides doing Salvation Army work in Alaska and on Pohnpei June and I served two years on Maui. Someone has to do it. However, we did lose a couple years of our lives choking on the smog of the Los Angeles area, working with the homeless population there.
Before entering the training college to become a Salvation Army officer I spent two years working with German Mennonites on a senior citizen project in Reedley, California, near Fresno. The fruit in that area was great; the heat was terrible.
June and I do not have biological children. However, different children in our congregations have adopted us. Also, we have a native nephew and three native nieces. According to Klingit culture the uncle and aunt are the real parents of nephews and nieces. The biological parents in the Tlingit society are considered too close to their biological children to raise them properly. So the uncle and the aunt are very important in the lives of the Tlingit children. Also, adoptions are very important to the Tlingit people. I have been adopted by the Eagle people. June has been adopted by the Raven people. This means we have many relatives among the Tlingits through adoption. In the local dance ceremonies I wear a native vest with my native family's crest: a killer whale and a seal on the back with eagles on the front.
Much of my time is spent doing the work of The Salvation Army and providing addiction counseling services to the local people. We do a monthly newsletter in Kake. Those who are interested in hearing more about our work among the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska can email me and I will put you on our email newsletter list.
