Norwegian Heritage, Alaskan Roots, Californian for Good
- Joyce Dyer
- Marin County
- UNITED STATES
A proud native of Alaska, daughter of immigrants from Norway, a mother of two and wife of well over 50 years, Joyce Dyer (nee Vig) has also been a proud California transplant since 1963. Her road to the Golden State from Alaska wasn’t exactly direct, as she crisscrossed the USA with her new husband and young family. But once she arrived in California, there was little doubt that she’d come to stay. Her story of relocation is tied to work-related opportunities (namely, the promise and fulfillment of an engineering career for her husband, Gene) and it begins well before actually setting foot in the state. It begins with her parents' own migration to the New World, and their heritage and roots that became firmly placed in southeastern Alaska.
First-generation Americans, Joyce and her siblings were born and raised in Ketchikan, a lively island-based town, economically based on fishing. Her father, Louis (originally Lars) Vig, was only 16 years old when he left his homeland—not so much for economic reasons, but to escape an acrimonious family atmosphere. Although it’s generally understood that he arrived in New York on April 30th of 1904, aboard the SS Oceanic, numerous attempts to track down documentation of his arrival have unfortunately come up short, suggesting that he may not have been on board legally.
His mysterious arrival soon turned into a well-documented and colorful life as a young man striving to make a living in the vast territory of Alaska. He tried his hand at prospecting, as the Alaskan Gold Rush reached its own fever pitch. Then he opted for a more stable income delivering the US mail, and various supplies, from Anchorage to distant Hope, using a unique but suitable form of transportation—mushing a dog team through thick snow and over frozen water. Following his naturalization, Louis joined the US Army and also became a fisherman in Ketchikan, the latter a typical line of work for men in both coastal Alaska and Norway.
Joyce’s mother, Thora Holdal, also came to Alaska from Norway, but much later than her future husband. In 1923, Thora’s brother convinced her to come to Ketchikan, to help his growing family. Part of the agreement was that she’d stay for three years, then return to Norway. Three years came and went, and by 1930 she had married Louis and they began their own family. She did return, eventually, but not until some 30 years later, and just to visit her left-behind family. Early on in their marriage, Louis became disabled, resulting in his general retreat from the picture and the daily responsibilities of raising the young family, forcing Thora to take on that role alone. Thora became both mother and breadwinner, taking on various jobs, including housekeeper and maid, working in laundries and dry cleaners, and fish and crab canneries. During the Depression fish formed the backbone of their diet, and they managed to get by with relatively little.
Still, Joyce remembers Ketchikan as a great place to live, where whale sightings were commonplace and the close-knit community provided some much-needed support. She has no memories of discrimination against Scandinavians, although the native Tlingit population didn’t fare as well. For them, segregation was a fact of life, where native people were forced to stay on their figurative side of the tracks, in an area dubbed Indian Town. “It was just accepted that they lived down there, and I had a lot of [native] friends down there.” Her first foray out of Alaska happened as a young teen, whetting her appetite for experiences that an isolated town couldn’t necessarily provide.
When she graduated from high school, the pull of Seattle couldn’t be resisted. Joyce made the big city her new home as she went to college, and within a few years she found herself working in an HR department, in eastern Washington State. The move proved to be much more than just an interesting job. In Richland she met a new engineer, Gene Dyer, and within a year they were married. Not long after they found themselves in the Washington, D.C., area, where Gene found work in the US Navy and the Atomic Energy Administration. There they started a family, but another cross-country move was soon in the cards.
In 1963, Gene accepted an engineering position at a San Francisco firm, and so Joyce and kids joined him in what turned out to be the family’s final relocation. Before buying a house they lived in a San Francisco apartment, notable for their famous next-door neighbors, the Kingston Trio. They would occasionally hear them practice, or just partying, their harmonizing voices muffled through the walls but unmistakable nonetheless. Later that year they found an affordable house in suburban, bucolic Marin County; despite it being a relatively affluent area, their new community wasn’t segregated as were other parts of the country. They were, and continue to be, happy to have neighbors of various races and ethnicities, including Asian, Black and Jewish. No Indian Town in their new found home!
Over the years, Joyce has made her presence felt in the community. While raising two kids, she volunteered her time at an elementary school, promoting child literacy in its popular “Paperback Book Club.” She remains especially proud of her successful efforts to help secure open space of the pastoral, rolling hills that overlook the idyllic valley community. They were painstaking efforts which took several years, but in the end the homeowners’ board of directors was able to convince enough neighbors in Terra Linda (Spanish for “pretty land”) to join together and buy the land, protecting it from development. Joyce has faced several hardships over the years, from humble Depression-era beginnings through various bouts of serious sickness (polio, MS), but all have failed to dampen her optimistic, cheerful disposition. And despite her firm roots elsewhere, she continues to relish the Good Life in the Golden State. Not bad for a fisherman’s daughter.