HUMAN

Name: Violet Burnham

Age: 68

Residence: I was born and raised in Kaltag, went to school, both high school and university in Fairbanks, moved back to Kaltag in 1979.

Years involved with the Iditarod: Since 1979, that was the year I got married to Richard who actually ran the Iditarod.

Iditarod Roles: More as a supportive role because I was working full-time. So I cooked, I helped clean and things like that, but more supportive than really actually coming down and doing things.

Current Location: Kaltag, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 12, 2022

Temperature: 6F Outdoors

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

I first became involved with the Iditarod after I got married, actually. I had been at university when the race first got started, so I really wasn’t home for it. Then we got married in 1979, and Richard had run the Iditarod, I think three or four times by then, and then moved to Kaltag. On one of my trips home, actually, is when I met him so I didn’t know him before. Then he was always at our parents house so that’s how I met him and started dating my last two years at the university. So he was heavily involved. He was the checker, the house was the checkpoint and so when we got married, just being married to him, I was actually part of helping him. Well, our house was the checkpoint. We had comms upstairs. It was ham radios at the time. So they stayed upstairs, everybody else stayed downstairs and our house was jam-packed with mushers, with vets, with everybody in between, pilots. So at that time I did a lot of the cooking and my family, sisters helped a lot by bringing food out. So it was just kind of at our house for about, I think Jessica was 14 when the kids rebelled and said, “We’re not moving in your room this year, we’re staying in our own rooms.” So they kind of rebelled, and we decided that we needed a different place for the checkpoint. But I’ve always been more of a support person for Richard, rather than actually being involved in the race because I was working eight hours a day and working towards my masters at that time so it was a lot going on. So I was just more behind the scenes, helping him when I can. He’s always been an avid follower and a real part of the race so that was my role these years and cheering, just kind of leading the cheering squad behind everybody that was working here in the community. So, yeah.

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

So today I’m here and involved with the Iditarod because for the first time since the start of the Iditarod, I’m retired, fully retired so I have time to go out and help clean. This year was extra hard because Richard’s been kind of… We actually kind of reversed roles. He’s now the support and Jessica and I were, of course, Jessica did all the work and so I’ve been helping her clean and trying to get things ready. Then here in Kaltag this year, just in the last month, I think, we’ve had major issues with our water. So just everyone involved in the race have had to do a little bit extra, get water. How do we get water here? Not just here, but in our homes as well. So it’s been a little different this year, and Jessica really has stepped up and taken that role on that her dad had all this years and so we’re really proud of her. Then she has two boys that have been helping with bringing people back and forth from the airport. So it’s kind of a family, a lot of family involvement, for sure, and we really… You never know, as a parent, if you’re teaching your kids any, “Am I doing any harm?” And to see her step up and the boys step up has been really rewarding for both Richard and I and so, yeah. So this year I’m a little bit more involved. Don’t like really being out in the front, but it’s okay. I can go home whenever I want to.

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

I think one of my most memorable Iditarod experiences I think was probably the first race. I had just come home from the university for a break and the Iditarod was coming to, and that was the year Dick Wilmarth won. I remember his name only because we had a big party in the hall and for him and for all the mushers that were there. That was the first time, I mean, people were so excited. They didn’t know what was going to happen, they didn’t know what to expect, but they want to be part of it. So almost the whole community was there welcoming them, and then he ended up winning. So people knew who he was just from that party so people were really excited about that. I think, to me, that was the first time I was actually involved in it and after that, I became more of a support person. Of course, I didn’t know then that our house was going to be the checkpoint and, boy, we had, I think for the first 10 years, at least… No, because our daughter was 14. The checkpoint was at our house and during the Iditarod, we had people everywhere. We had people upstairs that were the ham radio operators. We had people under the table that were sleeping, and people around the table talking. The only space that we could call our own was our room. So all our kids moved into our room for, until actually Jessica turned 14 and Dwayne, our son, turned 12 and they said, “We’re not moving this year. We’re not going out of our room. The Iditarod’s going to have to find a place to stay, or they’re going to have to all stay downstairs.” So, that was the year we first used the community hall. I think those two things kind of stand out in my mind because I was so heavily involved at that time just because the checkpoint was at our house so, yeah.

What in life do you know for sure?

What I know for sure in life is that things change. Change is always going to happen. We can try to stop it, we can do things to kind of make the changes a little bit easier. But the thing we know for sure is that change is going to happen and what can we do and how can we best be prepared ourselves for it? What kind of things can we do as people so that our lives benefit from the changes that are happening? Definitely as with this year’s reminder, you age, you get older and, yeah, I think those are the things I know for sure in life.