Erik was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, and Robin is from Kansas City, Missouri. They met at The Kansas City Star, where Erik worked as a photographer, and Robin covered city hall and courts as a reporter. Moving to Anchorage in 1984, Erik began a long career as a photojournalist with the Anchorage Daily News, and Robin worked as a freelance journalist. She later earned a Master's degree in education and taught in the Anchorage School District for almost 20 years. Robin also co-founded the local Habitat for Humanity Anchorage affiliate. Erik and Robin have worked for several years as election workers, are members of long-established book groups, and volunteer for various community organizations. They each served on the AUUF Board, Program Council, and various other teams and committees. Both enjoy reading, walking, long road trips, and spending time with family and friends. They have two adult daughters and recently became grandparents.

Mel Langdon grew up in Anchorage, lived in Denver for 12 years, and returned to Anchorage in 1994 to raise two daughters. She worked as a civil engineer for various entities in Denver and Anchorage. She retired in 2017 and spent the first 14 months of her retirement teaching high school math in Lesotho. She joined the fellowship last November and came across the announcement for the LLP pilgrimage in a Fellowship newsletter. This sounded like the inspiration she needed, so she signed up just before the registration deadline.

Marty Freeman is retired from a career with the AK Department of Natural Resources in land use planning and forest policy. Retirement has allowed her to volunteer with OL and AUUF and serve as an election worker for the Municipality and state. She still has time to indulge in gardening, canning, and quilting and to happily spend more time outside on Alaska's trails and waters. A lifelong northerner, the Alabama Living Legacy Pilgrimage was her first visit to the Deep South.

Slides for opening - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xq9tt2pn0g8lf7nmwkchl/Slides.pdf?rlkey=hyv9s19ewpkn3yra4u4lu0ukp&dl=0

Viola Liuzzo slides - Robin - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gha4xrnteqpiy01uowo3e/ViolaLiuzzo_Robin.pdf?rlkey=l6t9wbruilxeg981oxsmkxi0r&dl=0

James Reeb slides - Erik - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vbwwm46eidycxkqsjo3jl/JamesReeb_Erik.pdf?rlkey=ruwz8btk27oixb4aci9h7a07r&dl=0

Cathy Giessel, the majority leader of the Alaska Senate Bipartisan Coalition. She was first elected to the Senate in 2011 and served as Senate President from 2019-21 before taking a short break from elective office. She was born in the Territory of Alaska, in Fairbanks, where she was raised and graduated from Lathrop High School before moving south to Anchorage in 1974. Cathy is a Nurse Practitioner, in Family Practice. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan and her Master of Science degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage, both in Nursing. She is actively engaged in community service with a behavioral health board, a school-based clinic, children's programs at her church, and as a foster care and health fair volunteer. She received the Anchorage Republican Woman of the Year award in 2007 and was named an 'exceptional leader' by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing in 2010. She and her husband of 50 years, Richard, raised three kids in the home Rich built for them in 1979. They have 7 grandchildren.

George Bryson is a journalist who worked for the Anchorage Daily News for 30 years as a reporter, Washington correspondent, magazine writer, and editor of We Alaskans. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing and has taught journalism and literary nonfiction courses at UAA and UAF. He's co-authored books on natural science and Alaska history and served as the longtime organizer of the University of Alaska /Anchorage Daily News Creative Writing Contest. Since retiring from the newspaper, George has traveled extensively by motorcycle, bike, boat and foot. A 46-year resident of Alaska, George was born and raised in California. He developed a love for rowing that he still maintains as a member of the Anchorage Rowing Association and through trips worldwide for the World Masters Games. He and his wife, Ann, have three grown daughters and three growing grandchildren and are happily settling into their new home in Bear Valley.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/s/j15x4lp54eyrn0w/Girls-in-the-Boat.pdf?dl=0

George's slides contained several videos. Videos are a little weird in PDFs, so I have placed "placeholder" numbers on the slides where the videos go.

Video links for slide place-holders -

Slide #27 video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1icxew82qlqh2irsgtch2/27_kiss_the_joy-trailer.mp4?rlkey=z8eqsugdwdd2shq8wwnps8kb0&dl=0

Slide #30 video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wqlztl1hpru5yguctlgng/30_A_HERO_FOR_DAISY-trailer.mp4?rlkey=hano2nwj4cdy3831h5iz1ecrn&dl=0

Slide #32 video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d8b9p3pb368whycbe6i1k/32_Alaska_Sports_Hall-of_Fame_Inductee-Kristen_Thorsness.mp4?rlkey=7clvvq0dsb41eexpsj71qtce0&dl=0

Slide #43 video - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hqljmf2h775uhig28idyl/43.mp4?rlkey=ed7jyuyw3kxnswt19zx6vv6gu&dl=0