Homer Alaska - News

The year after she graduated from high school, Wilma left the family farm in northern Minnesota, to work for her brother and sister-in-law, keeping house and helping her sister-in-law run a post office. The next year, she found employment on the outskirts of Minneapolis and eventually moved into Minneapolis, doing housework and working for Montgomery Ward.

"I was always trying to save as much as I could so when I got too tired of a job, I could quit and go on to something else," she said.

With World War II under way, Wilma enrolled in aircraft school in Omaha, Neb., learning to read blueprints and make parts for airplanes. For a time she worked for North America Aircraft in the Los Angeles area, and then returned to Omaha in 1942, continuing her airline-related work for several years. When the Women's Army Corps offered medical technician training, Wilma signed up and was sent back to California.

After the war, Wilma pursued her interest in aircraft. She learned to fly and eventually got her pilot's license.

On one of her visits home, Wilma commented that her mother must have thought she was crazy to be jumping from one thing to another.

"She hesitated and then said, 'I just wish I'd had your opportunities,'" Wilma recalled.

In 1947, Wilma decided to follow her brother to Alaska. She caught a Northwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis and landed in Anchorage with $20 in her pocket.

To rebuild her nest egg, Wilma did office work for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, forerunner of the Federal Aviation Administration. It was there that she met Art "Greg" Gregory, who came to Alaska from northern New York. The two married that December.

The Gregorys set up house on Greg's homestead near Anchorage. Their family grew to include daughters Janice and Gayle and sons Jim and Steve, before Greg and Wilma began looking for opportunities elsewhere.

The community of Hope was their first consideration, but Homer won out, offering schools for their children, a beautiful setting, good weather and opportunities to make a living. Alaska Wild Berry Products was looking for people to supply fruit for their products so the Gregorys decided to raise strawberries to sell.

In 1958, Greg and Wilma purchased a 160-acre East End Road homestead. Their first home was a 10-foot-by-12-foot chicken house friends helped truck down from Anchorage.

The strawberry venture turned out differently than planned. The Gregorys' plants had been ordered from the Lower 48 and varied enough from local plants that they had to be processed separately, reducing their value. A season's work amounted to $200, far from enough for the family to live on for a year.

Son Burt was born after the family settled in Homer. The janitorial business Greg developed proved more successful than raising strawberries. So much so that "he was getting asked for more than he could do," Wilma said.

Photo provided The Gregory family, circa 1965. Back from left: Jim, Janice, Art, Wilma and Gayle; front from left: Burt and Steve.

Son Steve died in a motorcycle accident when he was 20, and Greg died in 1993. Wilma continues to live in the home Greg built for them.

In the summer, she tends her garden; in the winter, she keeps a coal fire going for heat. For chores that require help, her family isn't too far away. It's a lifestyle in which Wilma is comfortable.

"I've done a lot of traveling by myself, but I've come to a point where I think I'm better off not trying to do too much by myself," she said.

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