Marlys Eloise Tedin died at the Sitka Pioneers Home on Nov. 25, 2015.
Tedin (as she was known) was born in Wheaton, Minn., on Dec. 28, 1929. She grew up in a large and close family with brothers Robert and David and sisters Ruth and Mary Lou.
After finishing high school in Presho, S.D., she graduated from Sioux Valley School of Nursing in 1950. In 1967, she graduated cum laude from Montana State University in Bozeman with a nursing arts degree.
Alaska was in her destiny from an early age. She was raised on her maternal grandparents’ tales of their Norwegian heritage and recalled wanting to see the midnight sun. She was also destined to be a nurse. “It was one of those things I always wanted - even as a little kid,” she said.
Those two fates aligned when she came to Alaska in 1953 with the Alaska Native Health Service. The need for registered nurses during the tuberculosis epidemic was great, so Tedin moved to Alaska from South Dakota.
She began work at the Anchorage Bureau of Indian Affairs hospital tuberculosis sanitarium, then moved to Barrow in 1954 to work as director of nurses at the Barrow B.I.A. hospital. In 1959, she arrived in Sitka to serve as the head nurse of Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital’s pediatric orthopedic section.
Interviews with Tedin about the tuberculosis epidemic are included in “Indian Hospitals and Aboriginal Nurses: Canada and Alaska” and “Healing Histories: Stories from Canada’s Indian Hospitals” both by Laurie Meijer Dree. She is also mentioned in “Health Aspects of Arctic Exploration” based on the research files of Dr. Robert Fortuine, and in “A Divided Forest: The Life, Times, and Lineage of Roy Daniel Bailey” by Doris Chapin Bailey.
An oral history of her work at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital during the tuberculosis epidemic is archived as part of the Alaska & Polar Regions “History of Tuberculosis in Alaska” collections at the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
After leaving Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, she briefly worked as a dental assistant for Dr. Robert Brodie.
In 1962, she became the only school nurse for the Sitka School District. “Miss Tedin” conducted routine examinations for everything from dental health to personal hygiene, and she ran a first aid station treating injuries ranging from minor playground cuts to broken limbs.
Over her 20 years as the school nurse, she helped teach health classes and counseled two generations of Sitkans on everything from drinking problems to teen pregnancies. On June 3, 1982, a Daily Sitka Sentinel headline reported, “Miss Tedin Retires as Nurse!”
“Retirement” for Tedin meant a part-time nursing-security job at Alaska Lumber and Pulp mill. It also meant more time for gardening and an emerging interest in birds.
Tedin and another young Mt. Edgecumbe hospital nurse who decided to stay in Sitka, Marge Ward, had formed a partnership and invested in land together. Among other investments, they bought four lots on Kimsham and lived in a trailer on the property while they designed and built a home there. Little did they know then that feeding the birds in their yard would lead to an avocation lasting more than half a century and bringing them much joy and distinction.
They began keeping a list of backyard and area bird sightings in a mail order bird book they purchased. In 1980, they took an ornithology class, which required keeping weekly records of their bird sightings. Soon, their record-keeping system progressed from the back of a bird book to 5 x 8 cards.
Tedin’s retirement in 1982 and Marge’s in 1988 meant more time for daily bird walks and recording their observations. As the years turned into decades, their daily bird walks and meticulous recordkeeping provided a local knowledge base unique in Alaska.
Their contributions to citizen science include writing the Sitka chapter of the American Birding Association’s Guide to Birding in Alaska, assisting Cornell Lab of Ornithology with Great Backyard Bird Counts and Project FeederWatch, helping to organize National Audubon Society’s Annual Christmas Bird Count in Sitka, participating in U.S. Geological Survey’s North American Breeding Bird Survey, and contributing to the Compilation of Existing Species Data in Alaska’s National Parks. They worked with the Juneau Audubon Society and U.S. Forest Service to map area bird-watching locations, and in 1995, they completed a Sitka birding checklist.
Over many decades, Tedin and Marge met hundreds of birders visiting Sitka and enthusiastically guided them on outings at no charge. Their own birding trips took them to exotic locations including Churchill, Manitoba, and British Columbia in Canada, the American Southwest and Attu, in the Aleutian Islands.
As of 2013, Tedin had recorded 283 bird species, which made her a member of the Alaska 200 Club, an organization of people who have recorded 200 or more species of wild, alive and unrestrained birds in Alaska.
Her enjoyment of birding progressed until she had them eating out of her hands - literally! She and Marge befriended a single Starrigavan raven that they named FR for “Friendly Raven.” Tedin had a special relationship with the raven, which would follow her around as she walked carrying a raven snack bag. After several years of friendship, FR eventually would cautiously snatch a treat directly from Tedin’s hand. However, FR did not qualify as Tedin’s favorite bird. According to an article by Tedin titled, “My Favorite Bird” published in Juneau Audubon Society’s “The Raven” newsletter in December 2003, her favorite was the dark-eyed junco.
Tedin remained a birder to the end. The windows of her third floor Pioneers Home room were decorated with birdhouses, and images of birds surrounded her. She had a view of St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral and kept an eagle eye out the window. Visitors to her room could count on a report about the avian visitors perched on the Cathedral’s cross.
She was a founding member of Sitka’s State Parks Advisory Board and chaired the board for 30 years. Her leadership earned the local advisory board a reputation as one of the most effective State Parks boards in Alaska.
She was humble and skilled in advancing collaborative efforts between local, state and federal agencies to provide more recreational opportunities for Sitkans. She worked tirelessly to advocate for projects, maintenance, improvements and funding for State Parks in Sitka. Take a moment to appreciate her contribution the next time you hike the Mosquito Cove or Forest and Muskeg Trails or visit Halibut Point Recreation Area, Old Sitka Boat Launch and Historic Site, Ft. Rousseau State Historic Park, Pioneer Park (now a city park), Castle Hill or a state marine park like Big Bear, Baby Bear, the Magoun Islands or Sea Lion Cove.
Sen. Bert Stedman and Rep. Peggy Wilson sponsored a commendation honoring Tedin for her years of service, and the Alaska State Legislature passed it in January 2012.
Tedin delighted in being around children, especially outdoors. She had a sense of wonder about the natural world that was inspiring, infectious and often humorous, whether looking at cloud formations or beach combing for treasures. She was particularly fond of her many nieces and nephews. One niece, Mary Pat Mitton, noted “how much Tedin encouraged and helped her nieces and nephews, and they, in turn, had a close and loving relationship with her.”
Her affection for young people flourished during her work with children at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital’s orthopedic section and then 20 years as a school nurse. Watching children grow, change and mature was her favorite part of the school nurse job she said. Students were more willing to discuss their problems with her because of her status in the schools.
“I wasn’t really an authority figure,” she said.
But she was the only school staff member who students saw from the time they started elementary, Blatchley Junior High or Sitka High School until graduation. She was known for being approachable and for spending a lot of time talking to kids, or as she described it, “listening or counseling, I suppose, is the real word for it.”
And listen, counsel and comfort she did, as many children poured out their family and personal problems. Through it all she encouraged students to stay in school and graduate. Over two decades, she watched hundreds of Sitka children grow up and graduate. When a second generation became her new charges and she watched them also graduate, she thought it was time to retire.
Her nephew, Mike Tedin, posted notice of her death on his facebook page and former students shared their memories:
- “(I) will never forget her. In junior high (7th grade) during one of my multiple time outs in the nurse’s office, where she would talk to me about various things in life, she challenged me ... $5 if I stayed out of trouble and didn’t get suspended before I graduated high school. It wasn’t easy, but on the night I graduated...6 years after that bet, she presented me with a graduation card. In the card, was the bet we wrote out and both had signed, along with a 5 dollar bill. I still have that note to this day.”
- “I remember her very well. I was constantly showing up to middle school in a disastrous state, often late after trekking around in the woods or along the shore or up Indian River. I would be sent to the nurse for some reason and she would patch (or clean) me up and send me back to class. Never an ounce of judgment. Lovely, lovely woman.”
In addition to looking after wayward school children, Tedin always had a few critters in her life. She shared her home with four cats, two dogs, two goldfish, guppies and one frog at the time she retired from the School District. Over the years she walked many dogs and waited very patiently while they stopped to “drain” or “read the news” as she described their sniffing.
She was an avid reader and usually had at least one book going plus magazines (The New Yorker, Scientific American, Economist) in addition to Anchorage, Fairbanks and Sitka newspapers.
Her imagination and artistic talents took many forms. She told stories about toys made from animal bones that she and her siblings played with as children. She grew up seeing the potential for giving new life to discarded or found items. In one interview she described converting empty gallon milk jugs into birdfeeders: “I make a good-sized hole in the side then use a heated nail to make holes in the corners.”
She also had a flare for whimsy. Another memory from Mike Tedin’s facebook page says, “Tedin was one of my favorite people. I was maybe 5. I liked her right away. She drew a picture of how I was going to look in 1985. A cartoon of me with big ears and a goofy face (got that one right). I was fascinated and made her draw pictures of everyone. So glad I knew her.”
Her Norwegian-Swedish stoicism and unpretentious, self-effacing manner provided her with a wide variety of friendships. For many decades, longtime friends Carl and Alice Kerr joined Tedin and Marge on their daily bird walks. Tedin would inevitably lag behind to “chat” with someone they had just passed on the trail. After one of many stops waiting for Tedin to catch up, Alice wryly said, “And Tedin thinks she is shy!”
Tedin supported many causes and organizations with her energy, time and financial donations. In 2007, she was honored for her 25-year membership in the Delta Kappa Gamma Society of women educators who promote excellence in education. For many years she served on the boards of the Sitka Mental Health Association and Planned Parenthood. She collected clothing for mailing to St. Labre Indian boarding school and supported Soaring Eagle Heritage assisted living center, both Montana organizations.
She was preceded in death by her parents Albert and Martha (Enang) Tedin.
Tedin is survived by sisters Ruth Pratt and her husband Charles of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Mary Lou Glaze and her husband James of Danville, Calif., and brothers Robert Tedin of Clyde, Texas, and David Tedin and his wife Rita of Lynden, Washington.
Others who survive her include thirteen nieces and nephews and longtime friend and companion, Marge Ward. She also leaves behind an extended family of former patients, students and local, Alaska and international birding enthusiasts.
Tedin loved Alaskans and Alaska. She will be remembered for her quiet intellect, enthusiastic encouragement, many kindnesses, endless patience, sharp wit and good humor - “I’d throw this computer out the window except that it would ruin a perfectly good window!”
A springtime memorial service is being planned in order to accommodate family and friends traveling to Sitka.
People wishing to express their condolences can contact David Tedin at 717 Cedar Drive Lynden, Washington 98264.
