Editor’s note: Reinette Senum’s talks from time to time on becoming the first woman to cross Alaska alone is worth attending. Now Reinette has posted her videos on YouTube from the arduous trek. This is just one example of the amazing people in our area and a stark reminder that most of the challenges in life are, well, nonpartisan. Once in a while, I will post profiles like this, hoping to shine a light on what can bring us together, not divide us. Thanks to Reinette for sharing this.
“In 1994, Reinette Senum would become the first woman to cross Alaska alone,” according to the YouTube videos. “Skiing 600 miles, cutting down 3 trees and building a canoe, to complete her journey by paddling an additional 900 miles.
“It would be two years after Reinette completed her trek that she would discover the journey had actually begun a century before. Upon finding her birth mother, Jane Funston, and that she had already died, Reinette would discover her Great Grandfather, General Frederick Funston, had completed the same journey exactly 100 years before, in 1894, and at the exact same age, 27.
“Not only did he start his journey on Reinette’s birthday, April 10th, but he also snowshoed down the Yukon River, shot and killed a sled dog to eat, and completed his trek in his own hand built canoe.”
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Great story and amazing, fierce neighbor you have next door Jeff…thanks for sharing. Loved Diamond too…Kate
General Funston was an interesting historical figure, too. Well-known (and controversial) in his time for his military exploits in The Philippines and Mexico, and command of San Francisco during the earthquake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Funston
Reinette is an acquaintance that I admire a great deal. I consider her a friend but we really don’t know each other personally. I think she is sometimes misunderstood because the idea of, there are limits to what we can do seems to be more of a challenge than a reality in her eyes. I don’t think her intention is making history but rather to improve the community from which she lives. The quote “Well behaved women rarely make history” seems to fit her well.
Thanks Ben for summing it up well.