Homer Alaska - News

Photo by McKibben Jackinsky, Homer News A surprised and tearful Margie Youngman accepts the Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce Golden Deed Award Saturday night. For more on the awards, see page 1, Real Estate and Business section.

A lower Kenai Peninsula resident since the early 1980s, Margie Youngman was given a nod of appreciation from Anchor Point Saturday night when she received the Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce Golden Deed Award.

This makes Youngman a two-time chamber award recipient. She was named Anchor Point's 2009 Citizen of the Year. Her efforts with the chamber, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10221 Ladies Auxiliary and her ability to help others in need have won the hearts of those who know her.

"We actually hired her at the chamber of commerce because she was such a good volunteer," said Joanne Collins, chamber board vice president. "She was willing to work whenever I wanted her to and she went out of her way to answer questions for the visitors and track down what they wanted to know. She used all of her resources to try to find the answers for them. She was just really friendly and welcoming."

Youngman has held several positions with the VFW auxiliary. She is currently a trustee and holds a knitting class on Saturdays, helping teach others the skill she has used to make hats, slippers and afghans, many of which have been sent in boxes to the troops in Iraq, according to auxiliarist Jennifer Henley. Putting together food baskets distributed by the auxiliary at Thanksgiving and Christmas also has been one of Youngman's activities.

"She's the one in our community that if someone has had surgery or she hears through the grapevine that they need something, Margie will call and ask what she can do for them," said Henley. "She's pretty incredible."

Youngman was born in New Mexico and raised in Arizona. After years working as a nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, a 600-bed facility at the time, she decided it was time for a change of pace.

"I got burned out and wanted to be a bartender, but nobody would hire me because I didn't have any experience," said Youngman.

In 1975, Youngman sold everything that wouldn't fit into the lemon-colored 1971 Volkswagen bug she had purchased new and named "Sam," headed to Alaska and ended up in Fairbanks.

With the back seat taken out and a piece of plywood and carpet put in, the little vehicle filled in as Youngman's "permanent" residence.

"I fit right in there," she said of the fits-like-a-glove space. Overnights were spent parked at a friend's house at Mile 9 Richardson Highway.

The day she interviewed for a nursing position, the temperature was pushing 95 degrees. Youngman took the edge off the heat by stopping in a local watering hole, the Midnight Mine, for a cold beer and got hired as a cocktail waitress, eventually working her way to the bartender slot.

Later, Youngman went to work on the North Slope. Her first job was as a payroll clerk and then as a recreation director.

While on the Slope, she put out a daily newspaper with a circulation of 75 copies.

In 1978, while bartending, Youngman met Mike, the man that she would later marry. It fit perfectly with a message given to her by a Phoenix fortune teller years before.

"She told me I was going to move to Alaska, meet a big man named Mike and I would be with him for a very long time," said Youngman.

Mike, who is 6-feet-one-inch tall, and Youngman, who measures five-feet-one-inch, were married on Oct. 14, 1988, "to the minute of the day that I met him," she said.

In 1980, the couple moved to Homer. Like many, they accepted whatever jobs they could find in order to stay in the area. The first year, they held a total of 14 different jobs.

"I did maid work in the hotels in the morning, in the afternoon I was a telephone assistant and in the evening I ran the movie projector at the theater," Youngman said of one particular period.

Youngman worked at South Peninsula Hospital from 1981-1985, and, from 1985-1989, operated Margie's, a little Mexican kitchen in Homer. It specialized in the kind of food she grew up with in New Mexico.

In 1989, Youngman moved Margie's to Anchor Point, where she operated it until 1998.

Except for a couple of years in the late 90s when Youngman and her husband were out of state to care for Mike's family, a fixer-upper on the old Sterling Highway has been the couple's home.

Since returning, Youngman has been involved in her community through the chamber of commerce and the VFW Auxiliary. She provides in-home care for individuals in the area. Her knitting projects are enjoyed by many here and afar. She also checks the height of Anchor River for NOAA on a daily basis when the river is ice-free.

Plans for the future include more of the same.

"I was looking for adventure and I found it. One thing I liked about Alaska is you have more opportunities up here," said Youngman, quick to point out the support she has received over the years from her husband.

Summing up her life in as few words as possible, Youngman said, "I was born, I lived and I'm here."

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben. jackinsky@homernews.com.