HUMAN

Name: David Schwantes
Age: 78
Residence: Anchorage, Alaska. 
Occupation: Retired school teacher.
Years involved with Iditarod: 48; since the first one.
Iditarod Role: Well, I don’t know that I have a specific role. I volunteer.
Current Location: Dena’ina Center, Anchorage, Alaska. 
Date of Photo: March 6, 2020
Temperature: 68F/Indoors

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

I got involved with the Iditarod in 1973, the first year of the race. And I really didn’t know any of the mushers. I’m not a musher at all, but I’m a stamp collector, and I thought, “this is a historic event in the state of Alaska. I have to see if I can do something.” So I went to the Post Office and asked the Postmaster if I could stamp some envelopes and have them available to take to Nome. And I didn’t know any of the mushers, but I knew one of the trail breakers, snow machine breakers, for breaking the trail that first yea r- I taught school with his mother – who was Don Rosevear. And so he agreed to carry these envelopes over the trail, even though they weren’t carried by dog team, they went over the trail. And that’s kind of how I got started. Mainly because I thought it was a historical event and should be documented.

What is your Why?..Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?

Well I’m here today and I’m still involved in the Iditarod after 48 years because I think the Iditarod is the most important event that takes place in Alaska every year. It’s bigger and bigger, it involves a lot of people who can be involved in it without being mushers. The volunteers are great. There’s so many jobs to do. And I have continued, through the stamp collecting part, to continue collecting mail, having mail carried over the trail. For a while, up until about three years ago all the mushers carried a packet of mail and so when I went to Nome, I worked with Leo Rasmussen to cancel it all. And they stopped carrying the mail about three years ago, but I have my own covers that I send over the trail and so I have 48 years of mail carried over the Iditarod trail and I’m excited about making it to 50.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was watching Mackey win his first Iditarod. It was the first time that someone had won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. He had lucky number 13, which his father and his brother was wearing when he won, and it was just… he came across that line jumping in the air and he was so happy and excited. His brother was there, and it was something to see. 

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life, what life is about, is that you need to be kind and gentle and helpful to every person you meet and it’s so easy to do, and in the end it just comes back to you. And I’m sure that if everyone thought that way, it’d be a great world to live in. We wouldn’t have wars, we’d help each other out, there wouldn’t be hungry people. It would just kind of all fall into place.