Raymond Douglas Sr.
A gold-winning heart in Arctic racing
By Teeka Ballas

 

Koyuk, a town of only 5 square miles and 300 inhabitants, does not offer a lot of places for visitors to stay. Racers of both the Tesoro Iron Dog™ and the Iditarod know all too well that their options are limited there.

 

Since the inception of the Iditarod in 1973 however, one man has consistently offered his home, a warm place to find shelter from the cold and a good meal, to racers of both events en route to Nome or returning to Fairbanks.

 

“When we’d make it to Koyuk on the way home and the weather would be bad, everybody’s reluctant to go out on the Sound,” said Iron Dog™ racer Scott Davis. “Consequently he got a lot of us there.”
Raymond Douglas Sr. volunteered to be checkpoint checker for 34 years to the Iditarod and for the Iron Dog™ (formerly the Gold Rush Classic). When racers would stop in Koyuk, his wife Clara would serve up sandwiches and soup, Raymond would check them in, make sure they had everything they needed, give them gas and oil and put them up for the night if they were so inclined.

 

“I remember there was one year, it seemed his house was a revolving door. Guys were coming and going there,” said Davis. “About the time somebody was getting up from a bed, someone was getting into it.”

 

“He was just always willing to give what he had. And a lot of what he gave was his time at all hours of the night. He was just a real great human being,” said Davis. “Throughout the years we watched the kids grow up. We’d sit and have coffee in the morning before we went out. He’d offer to cook something… he and his wife. A very generous individual.”

 

Raymond is considered a rare breed by racing standards in the Arctic arena. Every year for 34 years he consistently volunteered. He checked racers in at any hour day or night. Every time race coordinators would get an update from Koyuk, it was Raymond.
“I’ve been involved in promoting and racing the Iron Dog™ since the beginning, and it’s really hard to find people you can count on,” said Davis. “It’s just really hard to find those few people that you can call and when they say they’re going to do something they actually do it… [Raymond] was just a one-of-a-kind guy and very rare. A real rarity.”

 

“He used to stay up most of the time when the first teams are reaching Unalakleet,” said Raymond’s youngest son J.R.. “He’d start staying up from there until the very last team passes through going to Nome. When the first team was on its way back to Fairbanks, it was my job to wake him up.”

 

Praised as abundantly generous and good-hearted, Raymond got a sense of joy from opening his home to strangers.

 

“Me and dad were real popular volunteering on Iron Dog™ and Iditarod,” said J.R. “When they layover, the school is open to them, but they would stay over here instead. One time we had 12 racers in our house.” J.R., 27, is one of eight surviving children. With most of them coming and going during the races, the Douglas home was surely packed to the brim.

 

“It was quite nice to have [the racers] at the house, they would be thanking for the hospitality and great food,” said Raymond.
 

Raymond is described by racers as a quiet man who intently listened to their racing stories, but to his family he had a great sense of humor, was very talkative and enjoyed spinning tales of his youth: going to boarding school in White Mountain and walking over the hills to the river to go fishing. Raymond had a love for the outdoors and living off the land.

 

“He taught me a lot of tradition, fishing hunting, skinning and putting away Eskimo food,” said J.R.

 

Born Aug. 1, 1934 on the Tractor Trail between Bear Creek Mining and Haycock, Raymond managed to fill his years eventfully. He finished school in the eighth grade, became a father at 17, served two years in the National Coast Guard, the Koyuk IRA, and the Koyuk Native Corp., and contributed many years to the mayor and council members to the city of Koyuk. Raymond also worked as postmaster, village health aide, firefighter crew boss and in the 1970s was a spectator in the Alaska Pipeline.

On Dec. 1, 2006 from a tumor on the stem of his brain, Raymond passed away in the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage with his family and loved ones by his side. During his stay in the hospital, he openly said to his family, “I love you.”

 

“I hope that we don’t miss these opportunities to recognize people along the trail that have given their time and effort,” said Davis. “I am saddened that I never let him know how much I appreciated people like him.”

 

Raymond is survived by his wife, Clara; sons and daughters-in-law, Darin and Margaret, James, Brian, Gary, J.R. and Nora; daughters and son-in-law, Patricia and Terry, C.J., and Michelle; brothers and sisters-in-law, A. Einar and Dora Douglas, Dan and Anna Douglas, Langford and Vera Adams, Richard and Ellen Adams; sisters and brothers-in-law, Matilda and Ron Davena, Elvina and Tom Naranjo, Delores Napayonak; 15 grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

 

Raymond is a 2008 Hall of Fame recipient.

Richard Charles ‘Rich’ Strick Jr.
April 20, 1959 - February 14, 2006

 

Beyondo’ is a place in the woods where no one can find us, it is a place where we are at peace with each other. Beyondo is where we go when life is at its toughest, the safest place in the world, the woods!” — Richard Strick, Jr., blog posting, February 3, 2006.

 

Richard died in an avalanche just 11 days after writing his definition of Beyondo. Rich was a man who loved his family, his culture, and all things Alaska: fishing, hunting, boating, snowmobiling and camping.

 

Rich caught the “Iron Dog™ Fever” when he partnered with Alan “Goomy” Anderson, II and ran the 1997 Iron Dog™ race. In his rookie year he finished the grueling race and learned for himself that it isn’t as easy as it looks. It turned out, easy wasn’t what he was looking for after all: when he finished the 2,000 mile Iron Dog™ race, he immediately turned his skis north and headed back the way he had just come, a ride home through “His Woods” pursuing his joy and happiness.

 

Rich was generous with his time and knowledge; he volunteered countless hours to Iron Dog™ for many years, breaking trail north and south of McGrath and manning the Rohn Checkpoint. Breaking trail north meant traveling to Poorman more than 300 miles round-trip. Someone had to scout out the terrain to do a pre-flight, drop fuel and create a plan… who was going, how were they going and when were they going? At least a week before the race, Rich and a team of volunteers would begin their trek and bushwhack their way to Poorman, two days, maybe four, of hard work, return to McGrath and pack for another week or 10 days in Rohn, go through the checklist again, who, what, when and how. Rich’s wholehearted enthusiastic Iron Dog™ support, always turned into a two-week ordeal, but Rich did it with eagerness, a huge smile, and a private knowledge that his hard work wouldn’t go unnoticed by his fellow racers; he had been there too.

 

Judy Vanderpool, Rich’s long time life partner says… ”The twenty years that we shared were the most wonderful years of my life. I will forever be grateful for those times. He was the absolute best partner for me and he will remain ‘The Love of My Life’ forever. Besides me, our daughters, Veronica, Tamara and Richelle, he also leaves his parents, Sharon Gurtler Strick and Richard Strick, Sr., his sister Sharon Diane and brothers, Frederick and Steffen, as well as nieces and nephews, our grandchildren and many, many friends throughout Alaska and beyond. Richard is greatly missed, but will live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved him - forever!”

 

Richard will live in the hearts of Iron Dog™ fans that will never forget this extraordinary and special man, so passionate in his generosity and singular in his pursuit of this wondrous place we live and enjoy. Richard, we trust you found your Beyondo.

 

Rich is a 2008 Hall of Fame recipient.