HUMAN

Name: Jona Van Zyle

Residence: Birchwood, Alaska

Age: 75

Occupation: I’m an artist and an author, and the wife of the Iditarod artist. 

Years involved with Iditarod: I’ve been involved with the Iditarod race since 1979 when I got my first Siberian Husky and got involved. I was in Ohio at the time. I did volunteer with Iditarod, but mostly I’ve been the assistant curator of the Balto exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and taught school children about Balto in the Serum run for many years and also organized events at the museum annually to highlight Balto and the Iditarod race.

Current Location: Settler’s Bay Lodge in Wasilla, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 1, 2022

Temperature: 68 F Indoors

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

I first really got involved with the Iditarod in about 1984. One of the programs I did at the Ohio Museum, we had Howard Farley out of Nome as our guest speaker, and he really filled my head with foolishness about coming to Alaska, so it wasn’t long after that when I came up. Mary Shields was another guest speaker at our events and after she visited me in Ohio and we did the program, I went to Fairbanks and we did several hundred-mile dog trips, winter camping and adventures, and I was really hooked after that. My family said that my body came back, but my head and my heart never left Alaska after that.

What was one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was in 2004, we mentored a young musher named Ellie Claus through junior Iditarod and then in 2004 she raced Iditarod. Her parents are pilots so we flew in their plane and camped along the way and followed the race to Nome, and that was truly memorable and exciting.

What does the 50th running of the Iditarod mean to you?

Knowing this is the 50th Iditarod makes me feel old. There have been so many years and so many special friends that I’ve made over the trails and over the years, who’ve been involved with this race. And I feel really blessed in every one of those adventures and friendships.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in this life is that, Iditarod’s going to happen each year, my husband’s going to create artwork for it and that we’ll get to see the whole gang, and we look forward to that.