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By LJ Evans

All the years she was growing up, Helvi Sandvik, '86, and her family spent summers in the village of Kiana, on Alaska's Kobuk River, and the school year in Glenview, Ill., a Chicago suburb. She became an adult with feet planted solidly in both worlds, as the Anchorage-based CEO of a major Alaska corporation with close ties to her family's rural background.

"It was a Huck Finn kind of life" during summers in Kiana, Helvi said. Every year she and her brothers and sisters fished and hunted and explored all the riffles and eddies of the Kobuk. "They were wonderful, wonderful adventures." Although she had exposure to different facets of the world because of the time in Illinois, Helvi said Kiana has always been the place she considers home.

"My parents broke their necks to be sure we went back and forth every year," she said, so that connections with Kiana and her mother's Inupiat roots were maintained.

Helvi's father was Peter Olaf Sandvik, the son of Matanuska Valley colonists. He completed two bachelor's degrees at the University of Alaska, in geology in 1950 and mining engineering in 1951, and went on to earn a doctorate in geology at Stanford. At UA he met his future wife, Ruth Blankenship from Kiana, who in 1951 also graduated from UA with a bachelor of arts degree. Peter traveled a lot in his career but he, Ruth and their seven children spent a portion of every year in Kiana at the Blankenship Trading Post alongside the Kobuk, which was owned and operated by Ruth and her cousin Rob Blankenship. Blankenship died in 2001 but Ruth runs the trading post to this day.

Several times every summer, Rob would pilot a barge and the Helvi Kay -- the trading post's small tug -- down the river to Kotzebue to get supplies. When the children were sufficiently well behaved, they got to go along.

"Those were just heavenly trips," Helvi said. They would wait for the weather to clear so they could safely cross the sound to get into Kotzebue, which to the children seemed like the big city.

"Rob would let us buy Archie comic books. That was not useful reading as far as my mother was concerned, so we would hide out in the bow of the tug to read our comics," Helvi laughed.

College choices helped define the path

Helvi chose Kalamazoo College in Michigan for her bachelor's degree in economics, which is where she met Kelly Culver, her future husband. The couple moved to Alaska, where Helvi went to work for Maniilaq Association. Helvi felt she needed to continue her education, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to be a lawyer or go into business.

"I realized if I went to law school I'd have to leave Alaska," Helvi said, which helped tip her decision. She opted for a master's degree in business administration at UAF. Because of what her parents had told her about the school and the research she'd done, she knew she could get a good education there.

"Going to UAF allowed me to stay in the state, keep in touch with what was going on in Alaska and not feel as though I was missing things.

"It was the best decision I ever made."

A young widow

Helvi's husband, Kelly Culver, died of heart failure in 1999, leaving her a single parent to three children; the youngest was only 3 years old at the time.

"I work very hard to balance my life," Helvi told an Anchorage Daily News reporter in 2004. "My husband, prior to his death, was the parent who stayed at home and so when I became a widow, I really had to step back and say, […] how do I continue to succeed in my profession […] and still make sure I provide the proper parenting responsibility? So I work very hard to make sure that every free moment that I have is devoted to my children."

She still spends as much time as she can in Kiana, helping her mother run the trading post. Bob Marovelli, '50, was friends with Peter Sandvik while they were students at UA. He has maintained a close relationship with the family, and after Peter's death in 1995 he started going to Kiana part of every year to help Ruth run the trading post.

"I help with the 'donkey' jobs," Marovelli said.

Extended family

Helvi appreciates the contributions Marovelli and other UAF alumni have made to her family.

"My parents both graduated from the University of Alaska, and my entire life there were these very accomplished people in my life who they met in college," Helvi said. "One good example is Bob Marovelli. He's just one of many people my parents met at UAF that were lifelong friends, all of whom achieved significant things in their professional lives.

"It seems that the University of Alaska was good at attracting and developing talent," Helvi said.

Marovelli in turn tells admiring stories about Helvi's abilities, like how she can expertly maneuver a large jet boat to haul visitors and supplies up and down the Kobuk. All the Sandvik children were taught as youngsters how to navigate the river. They were raised to be exceptionally self-sufficient and independent.

"When Helvi does something, it's all out. She just gets in that boat and goes," Marovelli said. "She juggles her NANA job, takes care of things in Kiana and at the same time she is an excellent mother and role model for her children."

"I went to an excellent high school in Illinois," Helvi said. "But it wasn't like Kiana where absolutely everybody knows your name. You could run into somebody on the river and they knew you so well they could tell you your whole family tree. That leads to such a sense of belonging."

"I grew up with the comfort of knowing exactly who I am."

Some of you shared your fondest memories of UAF with us. Following are a few of the entries. Join the alumni association on Facebook and send in your UAF memories.
 

John T. Baldwin, '95, Kansas City, Mo.

"The small herd of moose that would bed down at night next to our back porch. The hissing of the snow, the wind blowing through the trees, that at the end of two years I could go anywhere in Fairbanks and run into someone I knew and we would stop and chat. Trips to Fred Meyer that lasted for hours, most of that time spent chatting with friends. The quiet of winter as my wife and I watched the lights dancing in the sky."

Merritt Helfferich, '66, Fairbanks, Alaska

"Fondest memories include helping to start the 'Hang the Dean' revolt in 1958.

"Turning the entire UA water supply green with Ernie Kaiser on St. Patrick's Day/Engineers Day.

"Following the utilidors to the steep tunnel slope under the water tower (now gone) next to the north side of Signers' Hall to the mining engineers' mine drift where the university's emergency disaster supplies were located, where one of the university wells was drilled, and where the most beautiful ice crystals would form by the entrance to the mine drift in winter.

"Being involved with the graduate students from the Geophysical Institute and their creative and sometimes wild ideas of interesting and funny things to do; being a jazz program announcer on the university station that preceded KUAC. It was KUOA.

"Meeting Ginny Wood and Celia Hunter in 1958.

"Graduation!

"English faculty member Joseph W. Meeker, his thoughtful, skilled instruction and his great book, The Comedy of Survival.

"Drinking with Otto Geist, Ivar Skarland and Magnus 'Rusty' Heurlin in the Malemute Saloon!

"Being on the UAF Fire Department and once in 1959, while rescuing roommate Chuck Vernon from overindulgence in Tommy's Elbow Room, on the way back to UAF on College Road, discovering a house fire, calling the UAF Fire Department, and then keeping a corner of the almost completely burned-out house burning until dawn because it was 40 below and we needed to keep warm.

"The aurora borealis and the crunch of cold snow as one walked."
 

David Kingsland, '88, '94, Seward, Alaska

"How about sneaking into the utilidor tunnels that ran underground to every building on campus. Anyone else been to that huge fall-out shelter underneath the parking lot by Eielson Building???"

Sean LeMay, Matric., Huntsville/Decatur, Ala.

"There are far too many great memories of UAF and Alaska in general to enumerate but one of my favorite things about freshman year was 'foot-skiing' from Bartlett to the chow hall for breakfast and dinner! Who needs Breckenridge when you have a frozen hill and frozen shoes?

"Plus the best ab workout ever every time one of your friends busted. ☺"
 

Ted Locke, '97, Philadelphia, Penn.

"I remember DJing one of those dances at the Hess Rec center. It was a fundraiser for Nerland. We had two 3'x6' bass cabinets (two speakers apiece), four 4'x2' mid-range cabinets (three mid-range speakers and two tweeters), and various others from KSUA and around campus. I think it was during the winter of '95.

"We had the sound cranked and the floor packed so much that we were getting complaints from people on the third and fourth floors of the surrounding dorms. ☺ We also had to constantly push the stacks of speakers forward because they had a tendency to 'dance' backwards.

"If I remember the cash draw that night was about $5,000. After paying the rental bill for the speakers we were left over with about $4,500. It was supposedly one of the largest dances in that place.”

Jennifer Sarah Lombard, '98, Anchorage, Alaska

"One thing that comes to mind is the percussion students' drumming sessions outside near the Great Hall. Whatever I was doing, I had to stop and listen whenever they played.

"Also, spending many hours in the pottery studio is among some of my favorite memories of UAF, and the friends I met at Nerland Hall and through Zeta Mu.”

Margot Monhollen Maynard, '97, Youngstown, Ohio

"Ditto on the Fred Meyer memory! Walking, nay, JOGGING up to the West Ridge to make classes because the shuttle never seemed to run at precisely the right time. The way Denali looked on a clear day from the far side of the West Ridge. Classes with Dr. Cornwall and his frequent segues to war stories. The jalapeño burger at the cafe. Great friends. Rappelling off of Lathrop Hall. So many more!”

Tracy Shringarpure, '02, Fishers, Ind.

"Wow. So many crazy adventures...

"Sliding down the hill from MBS to Lola on stolen dinner trays.

"Tweaking the elevator in Skarland to get down to the basement.

"The bonfires in the fall and fruit toss in the spring.

"Dragging old couches onto the lawns to chill in t-shirt and shorts when the temps hit 32.

"Tossing boiling water into -40/-50F air to watch instant snow!

"Blowing bubbles in the same temps to make solid soap bubbles.

"Getting up super early to trudge to the KSUA building only to find the last DJs left and having to wait for a security person to open the building up.”

Spring brings hope and promise for Alaska and the university. The fall elections will bring new direction and we will work to make sure that funding for the university remains at the top of our Legislature's priorities.

The UAF Alumni Association remains very active in representing UAF in the community, at sporting events and in lobbying on its behalf. We are grateful for the regents' decision to place the UAF Life Sciences Classroom and Lab Facility at the top of the capital projects priority list. This project will provide excellent return on investment of Alaska's public dollars and will contribute significantly to Alaska's economic growth. We will continue our lobbying efforts in Juneau during the legislative session.

For those alumni in the Pacific Northwest, I want to let you know that your association is planning a Nanook reunion in Portland sometime in April. This will provide an opportunity to become more involved in student recruitment, mentoring and networking with old friends and alums. Please visit our website, www.uaf.edu/alumni/, for details. We look forward to meeting with many of our West Coast alumni during this visit.

In addition to the social activities of your association, we cannot lose sight of the main reason we stay involved, which is to make sure we have the best university system possible to provide the finest education opportunities for all students. We are looking forward to this year's commencement activities during the weekend of May 15 - 16. We wish all the best to those graduates who are working on their final studies at UAF.

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