A chapter from “An Artist’s Story,” the life story Lee wrote in his eighties. In his words, as he wrote them.

I would like to stop here to write about my oldest brother Allen, because it was some where about this time in our lives when we were still on Brewer Rd. that Allen and Lucy his wife and three children moved to Alaska.

Dr. Allen H. Mick was born in 1912 in Chicago, IL. He was the second oldest in our family. Douglas my younger brother and I got along with Allen because he was the older brother. He had a way about him that was sometimes hard for us to understand. Allen was the brightest in the family and it was evident in most everything he did. I looked up to him. Because Bud and Allen were so much further along than I they often seemed to me to be like a father always telling me what I could do and what I could not do. This kept me in my place in the family but also I often times didn’t know for sure what was going on in their every day activities. They seemed to live in another world.

Allen often did dishes and helped with meals. I didn’t realize what a good student he was until I was much older. I then found out that he had straight A’s all thru his grade school years and up to and beyond to his Doctorate. Allen was the first valedictorian at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Allen’s personality was different than anyone else in this family. He was reserved and quiet and definitely a thinker.

He was also a fine musician starting with the violin and later as a professional bass violinist with the famous Jack DeCamp orchestra of Lansing.

When he was 17 he attended Interlochen Music Camp along with Douglas our brother. He was so far in advance of me that I secretly envied him when I was young as I got older I held him in high regard.

When I was in high school and doing my own thing Allen was well along in his college career. I would often see him because I had to go along with my parents. There were so many fine things going on at Michigan State University in Lansing. During summer school vacation we went to Traverse City to see him as he was working at the big prestigious resort center called, “Indian Trail Lodge“. He was one of many college students there who could off set some of their school costs. Employment at this resort was well sought after because of the room and board as well as the pay. I am sure it must have been a fun place to be during the bright summer days.

I remember one summer using a wooden canoe to paddle around in Grand Traverse Bay. In those days the water was crystal clear and you would think that the bottom was just a foot deep when incredibly it was 12 to 15 feet deep. I found out a life jacket was a must or you didn’t get the paddle.

We went to Interlochen Music Camp to hear them play in the big outdoor stage. During Allen’s last year at college he spent that summer in France so that he could learn French as a language.

Allen met another student there and her name was Lucy. They were later married and raised two children, Colin and Shannon in East Lansing.

Allen was a member of the ROTC Reserve Officer Training Camp while in college, and became a first lieutenant.

He was called up for active service in December 1941 and reported to Little Rock, Ark. Lucy and the two children moved to Ark. To be with their dad while the army was being formed. The main body of this corp. did their basic training in Camp Maxey, in Texas. Allen was assigned to headquarters of the 102nd infantry division as an expert Aerial Photo Interpreter. After landing in Europe this Ozark division started their 5-month Rhineland push north east into Germany from the Roer River in France near the city of Aachen it is ironical that Allen had spent a whole year in this town studying French during his college years. It was there that he met his future wife to be, Lucy.

The fact that he had been there a year or two earlier helped him a great deal when he was interpreting the aerial photos of this part of the war.

Allen returned to the US when the war was concluded. He had a few close calls but none of them were serious.

Transcription

Original spelling preserved; [brackets] mark uncertain or editorial readings.

Has Bronze Star — Service in Europe Earns Decoration.

Capt. Allan H. Mick, 32-year-old infantryman, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for “meritorious service in France, Holland and Germany,” according to dispatches received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John D. Mick, 6134 Davison Rd.

Capt. Mick was a first lieutenant in the Reserve Officer Training Corps before going into active service in December, 1941. He was graduated from Central High School and has been overseas since September.

His wife, Lucille, and children, Colin and Shannon, live in East Lansing.

[Photograph caption: Capt. Mick]

I believe he was gone over 4 years all told this was a long time over seas. While he was there he became friends with a commanding officer of his headquarters company, who, after becoming a civilian, worked for the federal government in the US Agriculture Dept. This person was responsible for hiring Dr. Allen Mick for the position of Director of the Matanuska Valley Age Dept. in Palmer, Alaska.

Allen and Lucy’s third child was named Kerry Meegan, born in Aug of 1949. I believe this was around the same time that Allen became Dean of Agriculture in the Alaskan State College in Fairbanks. It was a 325-mile trip by train from there to Palmer and he did this often using the trip time to do much of his paperwork. It was a beautiful train ride that many tourists take just for fun. I am sure that Allen must have tired of it at times.

Housing in Palmer, Alaska was practically non-existent and finished lumber of any kind was all manufactured in the states and shipped by barge up the inland- passage way. They decided to order a pre-fabricated home and have it shipped to Alaska from Finland, which they did. Each log was cut to size; they were large 14x14 square logs with a grove that acted as a weatherproof seal between them. The whole family working together without any outside help except for Lucy’s Dad who came to stay a few weeks.

After a year went by they received a call from the local railroad office informing them that two box- cars had arrived with the balance of their order. They didn’t even know there was a balance. Wow!!! They soon discovered that these boxcars contained a shipment of thick roof slate that came from somewhere in Europe. These tiles were meant to be used for their roofing shingles. It took nearly a year for them to be installed by a European builder who was delighted to do so.

Allen wrote that after the big earthquake in Alaska the weight of this slate roof caused all of the logs used in their walls to come together so that there was no need for any calking between the logs. They fit perfect without any cold draft coming in through the cracks.

Allen and his family lived in Palmer for a number of years when mother and dad Mick drove up the Alaskan Highway to visit them for a few weeks. Lucy became very active in Alaskan politics and while working on the Alaskan Statehood proposal; Senator Robert Kennedy visited them at their home during his campaign for president.

Some time in 1964 Lucy became very ill with cancer in the pancreas and liver. She died Dec. 29, 1964.

Allen retired in Jan 1969, he wrote that,” he decided to retire from a job grown impossible by heaps of meaningless paperwork“. Later on he wrote that, “He planned to find some kind of an obscure developmental job where he could sneakily discourage more people from settling in Alaska“. He spent a lot of his retirement years traveling throughout the US and Europe, stopping to see his children whenever he was lonely.

Allen became ill in1969 with the same type of illness that Lucy had. He passed away in Aug of 1970 at the age of 58.

These were two great people who dared to do what many others just dream about doing, building a home in Alaska.