BENNETT FAMILY ARCHIVE

Arthur, thank you for sitting down with me. Let's start at the beginning. What is the very first thing you remember from growing up in that cabin?

Well, Kevin, I remember the cold. In the winter, the woodstove would burn out by three in the morning. My brothers and I would huddle together under four heavy wool blankets. But you know, we didn't think of it as poor. It was just the way it was. We had the river, we had the woods, and we had each other.

What prompted you to leave that behind and drive up the highway to Alaska in '68?

Adventure, pure and simple. Back then, Alaska felt like the edge of the world. The highway wasn't paved like it is now. It was gravel, mud, and dust. I had an old Ford F-100 truck, a toolbox, and two hundred dollars. When I hit the border, I knew I was home.

You spent years commercial fishing. Tell me about that storm in Cook Inlet.

That was the only time in my life I thought the sea was going to take me. The waves were breaking right over the wheelhouse. My partner, Jim, was trying to clear the lines while the deck was pitching forty degrees. You realize in moments like that how small you are, and how much you want to live.