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Val Anderson

Val Anderson was born in Seward, Alaska in 1926, and raised on his family's homestead on Caribou Island in Skilak Lake. His father was a big game hunting guide in the area. Val moved to Cooper Landing in 1940, when he was fourteen years old, after his mother passed away. He served in the Army from 1944 to 1946 and was stationed at Shemya Island in the Aleutians Islands. He worked for the Alaska Road Commission on the road to Kenai, as a fisherman in Cook Inlet, and as a longshoreman for the Alaska Railroad in Seward from 1951 to 1985. Val married his wife, Jean, in 1953 and they raised three children.

Val Anderson appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Exit Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Val Anderson	Val Anderson was interviewed on August 6, 2010 by Rachel Mason, Karen Brewster and Shannon Kovac at his home in Seward, Alaska. Val's wife, Jean, was present at the interview and periodically added her own comments (she passed away in November 2010). In this interview, Val talks about growing up on the island and what life was like in the area in the 1930s and 1940s, his father's guiding operation, being in the Army in World War II stationed at Shemya Island, working as a longshoreman on the waterfront in Seward, the 1964 Earthquake, and how Seward has changed over time. He talks about helping build the Herman Leirer Road to Exit Glacier, especially the blasting work he did, and how people have used the area.	2010-05-09	Exit Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park	Aug 6, 2010