Hometown teacher achieved her dreams
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Jenae Larson.
Lifelong resident and first-year kindergarten teacher Jenae Larson is missing and is believed to have perished as a result of the Dec. 2 landslide. She was 23 and shared her Beach Road home with longtime partner Walker Blair.
"Jenae's talents as a teacher were clearly born into her," Haines School colleague and Larson's student teaching cooperating teacher, Tracy Getchell said. "Her love of children, her enjoyment of seeing students' eyes light up when they learned something new, and her ability to understand the needs of kids without them having to ask, were innate abilities of hers." She noted that Larson's talents had been nurtured by spending time with her mother Kim and growing up with her childcare business in their home. The experience, Getchell said, "Gave Jenae wisdom and maturity when dealing with children that was well beyond her years."
Ever since she was a child, Larson knew she wanted to be a teacher and worked hard to make that happen. "I love that Jenae accomplished her goals. She planned to teach in Haines, and live in Haines with Walker and she was doing both, and they had their dream apartment and even a dream dog," her godmother Nancy Schnabel said. Larson began knitting recently, "because she wanted to do something productive while she watched TV," Schnabel said.
"Jenae and I were as happy as people could be. I never had a doubt in the world that she was the one for me," Blair said. She enjoyed spending time with him, her family and friends, and being outdoors, especially hiking with Red, her young golden retriever. He was lost in the slide with her.
Jenae Larson was born Nov. 2 1997 in Juneau to Kim and Doug Larson, and was close to her older brother Jeremy. They moved to Haines when she was 7 months old. She attended Haines schools from the Chilkat Valley Preschool through twelfth grade, graduating in 2016. She played basketball and was a Venturer Scout (her mother was a co-leader) and traveled with the scouts to Australia in 2014. At her Haines High graduation she sang "Don't Stop Believing" with Matthew Greene, even though she had never been in the choir, telling friends she knew she would regret it if she didn't.
Her mother said she was always a dependable, "no drama" person, and a "bucket filler" who was kind and thoughtful.
Larson received many local and statewide scholarships to college, and to help pay for her education worked several jobs in high school, including work at Alaska Fjordlines, The Rusty Compass, the Fireweed, Alaska Seaplanes and with her mother's daycare business. While attending the University of Idaho (where she was on the Dean's List) she waited tables in a diner. She graduated in four years with no debt and her teaching certificate.
She was also one of 55 applicants from across Alaska for the first Chilkat Valley Community Foundation Art Jess Memorial Scholarship in 2018 and was awarded it based on her "stellar" resume, letters of recommendation, personal essay, work ethic, and school and community involvement, CVCF president Liz Heywood said. "More than any other candidate, Jenae exemplified Art's ideals of community through one's actions and generosity." Larson wrote in her application that it was her dream to "eventually end up back in my hometown of Haines, and return the favor of all the support Haines has given me throughout the years, by teaching and giving back to the community that raised me."
Principal Lilly Boron said that because she and the staff at the school knew Jenae so well as a student before she became a teacher, they felt added pleasure and pride in her accomplishments. "Jenae was so excited to be the kindergarten teacher. She had worked so hard to make it happen, and honestly I never heard her complain. Jenae saw every day as a joy and a challenge. 'We are filleting salmon today,' or 'We are going apple picking' she'd say, and she was so happy to be right where she was. Jenae lived a full life to the very last minute. Words cannot express how much we will miss her."
"Jenae was my daughter, but she belonged to everyone in her hometown," her father said.
Larson's grandparents Lester and Anita, and grandfather Robert Larson, and uncles William Larson and Roy Grady precede her in death.
In addition to Walker Blair, she leaves her mother Kim Larson, father Doug Larson, brother Jeremy Larson, aunt Kristine Robinson, uncle Kevin Robinson, cousins Javan Nuzzolo and Jordan Robinson; Grandpa Marv and Grandma Myrna; Grandmother Diana Kuest, and aunts Katie Larson-Markiewicz and Christina Schmitz and cousins Cheyenne Nissen, Brian Hawley, Chris Hawley, Jonathan Schmitz, Aila Larson-Markiewicz, Mia Larson Markiewicz and Freyja Larson-Markiewicz.
Cards may be sent to Kim Larson at HC60 Box 6140 Haines, AK 99827 and Doug Larson at Box 1391 in Haines. Donations may be made to the Haines Borough School District at P.O. Box 1289 for a memorial fund they are establishing.
