In 1934, Rev. Ken Hughes and his wife Vivian worked as missionaries (in Wrangell) with Salvation Army's Major Carruthers. That year, Ken and Vivian realized how much they enjoyed working with the Native population of Alaska; it was a vocation they would embrace for the rest of their lives.

In 1935, the young couple left Wrangell and moved to the Matanuska Valley where they lived in the tent city of Palmer and ministered to the Palmer Colonist's. Ken also found work as a finish carpenter for the ARRC Colony Project during the summer of 1935 through the winter of 1936.

In 1936, while on a trip to Seattle, Rev. Hughes stopped in Valdez where he met Blanche Nason, a missionary who had been counseling federal prisoners, in Valdez,  since the early 1930's. She also had a small orphanage that began in 1934 when the Valdez Marshal brought her a young (sick and abandoned) Native boy; it took her several months to nurse the child back to health.  Blanche named the orphanage El Nathan Children's Home and it was housed in the (donated) former home of Anthony J. Dimond. In 1936, she was caring for 12 orphans.

"Nana Nason", as she was affectionately known, died suddenly on 11/13/1936, just weeks after Rev. Hughes met her; she was 43 years old. The next spring, the El Nathan Children's Home was legally incorporated and Evelyn Komedal, of Seattle, was sent to temporarily oversee it.

In 1937, Louise Johnson, a missionary from Minnesota became the director of El Nathan and she sent a letter to Rev. Hughes asking for his help at the orphanage. Ken and Vivian liked the idea and moved their young family to Valdez in 1938. Rev. Hughes helped with various construction projects and general maintenance for the orphanage. He also conducted church services and worked with the older boys, teaching them the life skills that they would need as adults.


The orphanage continued to expand; a 2nd house was donated and became the nursery; a 3rd house was donated by Dr. Charles E. Bunnell (Valdez lawyer and later the 1st president of the University of Alaska); two more houses were donated and they became a dispensary and a boys dormitory. The staff of El Nathan was growing as well. Louise Johnson, married Rev. Arthur H. Segerquist (a widower) and they adopted two children.

Children were placed in El Nathan for a variety of reasons; some came through the welfare system; some were orphaned when their parents became ill (or died) from tuberculosis and some children were simply dropped off when their families disintegrated due to hard times; all were welcome, regardless of financial support (or lack of it).



After the fire, children were packed into El Nathan's two remaining buildings and the infants were settled into a small home donated (temporarily) by a Valdez bachelor; other children and staff were housed in a partially empty hotel and the older boys were housed in an empty garage owned by Anthony Dimond.

Rev. Hughes had long dreamed of starting another branch of El Nathan in a more rural farm setting; an idea he had discussed, at length, with Max Sherrod, a friend living in  Palmer.  In 1946, Mr. Sherrod donated 40 acres of land, (on Lazy Mountain) to the El Nathan Children's Home through Rev. Hughes.

The next spring, shortly after the devastating fire at El Nathan, Rev. Hughes took a few of the oldest El Nathan boys to the new Lazy Mountain property to put in a road and do some basic land clearing. The Fort Richardson Army Base heard about the ambitious project and offered them several quonset huts (if Rev. Hughes could come and get them). It took the group weeks to dismantle, transport and reassemble the quonset huts on the building site. Max Sherrod was so pleased with their progress that he donated an additional 20 acres to the project.

By July of 1947, a small house had been built on the land and the quonset huts were attached to it like wings. As soon as the structure was habitable, 36 of the older El Nathan children (and a group of workers to care for them) were transferred from El Nathan to Lazy Mountain to live. The Rural Electric Association installed electricity that December and a variety of chickens, pigs and a few cows joined the new farm in the spring of 1948. The orphanage, with a rural farm setting that Rev. Hughes had envisioned, was now a reality; he called it Lazy Mountain Children's Home.

Because of the fire tragedy at El Nathan, Rev. Hughes decided to build a fire proof dormitory at Lazy Mountain. In the summer of 1949, a water well was dug, a 90' x 50' concrete footing was poured and the first blocks laid. In 1951, a group of U.S.Army soldiers volunteered, every weekend, to build the new 2½ story (45 room) main building that housed a large dormitory, staff apartments, cafeteria and the homes electrical plant. The soldiers wives also held fund raisers and bake sales to raise money for the children's needs. The orphanage was licensed to house 53 children between the ages of 2 and 18.

The El Nathan and Lazy Mountain orphanages were funded by stateside churches as well as income from the Alaska welfare system and the B.I.A. The orphanage missionaries received no salaries, but were supported financially by their own hometown churches. Generous Alaskan's like Florence Barnes, who owned the Copper Center Roadhouse, donated her entire estate to the El Nathan Children's Home in Valdez when she died in 1948. The proceeds from "Ma Barnes" estate was divided between the El Nathan Children's Home and the Lazy Mountain Children's Home. El Nathan used their half to build an addition on to one of their buildings and Lazy Mountain used their half to purchase concrete blocks.

Because funding for Lazy Mountain was unpredictable, most of the food that the orphanage used came from a subsistence life style. Each summer the staff and older children processed enough wild berries, salmon, moose meat (donated by the game warden) and summer vegetables (they had large gardens) to last the winter. Fish, berries and vegetables were canned and fresh produce was kept in a buried quonset hut that served as a root cellar. Cows provided milk for the children and
moose meat was frozen and kept in a commercial cold storage locker in Palmer.

Hughes, Kenneth R. 50 Superintendent Hughes, Vivian 32 wife Hughes, Vosella 14 daughter Hughes, Kenneth L. 13 son	Phillips, Walter T. 35 Laborer Phillips, Lillian E. 39 wife Phillips, Walter T. 9 son Phillips, Ruth 3 daughter	Hubbard, Eston 42 Laborer Hubbard, Leetha M. 36 wife Hubbard, Avis M. 15 daughter Hubbard, Reta A. 12 daughter	McElhinney, Margaret 25 co-worker Carbley, Vivian I. 31 co-worker VanArsdalen, Gladys 57 co-worker Boursa, Esther 63 - cook
Peterson, Esther 16 Peterson, Paul 14 Peterson, Carol 13 Peterson, Walter 11 Peterson, George 17	Carroll, Albert 17 Carroll, Helen 11 Carroll, Raymond 8 Carroll, Florence 7	Hobson, Alice 13 Hobson, Eleanor 10	Olin, Amy 15 Olin, Marjorie 13
Nicoli, Niga 14 Nicoli, Faye 11	Shaginoff, Bert 11 Shaginoff, Donald 10 Shaginoff, James 8 Shaginoff, Lloyd D. 6	Ring, Ella 10 Ring, Katherine 6	Jackson, Caroline 10 Jackson, Frances 8
DeWitt, Charles 17 DeWitt, Mary 12	Nudlash, Antone 16	Nickita, Danny 2	Bennett, Sophie 16
Galeshoff, Macar 12	Nickoli,  Nicky 12	Ezi, Sammy 9 Ezi, Damon 15	John Elizabeth 15
Olanna, Nancy 18	Wilson, Wendell 11 Wilson, Jesse 9

After his 1958 retirement from Lazy Mountain, Rev. and Mrs. Hughes moved to Big Lake where Ken flew airplanes for Arctic Missions Inc., ferrying whatever was needed to missionaries in remote parts of Alaska. Mrs. Hughes volunteered as a cook
at Victory Bible Camp.

The Lazy Mountain Children's Home burned down on 12/8/1960; only the block basement survived.
When the fire broke out, all but ten of the children were at school in Palmer; the nine pre-school children (and one older child that was home with the mumps) were rescued by orphanage staff.

Generous people immediately stepped up to help the orphanage. The children were housed in private homes at first, but later, the Civil Defense arranged for the them to stay at the Wasilla Youth Camp. Clothing, food, bedding and money was collected for the children by Anchorage fire stations, schools, gas stations and the Alaska Railroad.

Rev. Hughes returned to Lazy Mountain to help rebuild the orphanage on a smaller scale; they built a one story structure on top of the old basement and several small houses instead of one large dormitory.

About the same time as the Lazy Mountain fire, the El Nathan Children's Home in Valdez, began to  struggle. The number of children residing there was down because many of them had grown up and moved away. Additionally, new rules that were introduced when Alaska became a state, required the orphanage to hire a full time nurse and psychologist which was an expense the home could not afford. When El Nathan closed its doors in 1962, Louise Johnson Segerquist (orphanage director and now a widow) retired and moved to Lazy Mountain.

Lazy Mountain Children's Home closed in 1972. The few young children that were still living at the orphanage were taken into the private homes of the staff. That same year, the property was taken over by  the Arctic Bible Institute and Multi-Media Productions. Today, it is the Alaska headquarters for the Oregon based InterAct Ministries.


Victory Bible Camp, which started out with one tiny log chapel and a few army tents grew over the years under the watchful eye of John and Nadine Gillespie and Arctic Missions Inc. It even had a christian boarding school from 1959 to 1982. Today, the camp is a multi-million dollar, 389 acre institution (owned by Victory Ministries of Alaska). It hosts missionary conferences and church camps for all ages, complete with riding stables, a shooting range and a 1,700' runway.

The Hughes legacy continued with Ken and Vivian's son, Ken Hughes Jr. He and his wife Jennetta built a small church in the Athabascan village of Grayling in 1966 and ministered there for many years. Later, they moved to Big Lake where Ken took over his fathers flying job with Arctic Missions, and Jennetta taught Bible studies. In 1977, they started a church in their home; today it is called Wasilla Bible Church and has 900 members. Ken Jr. and Jennetta retired in 2006 after 40 years of service.

Rev. Ken Hughes Sr. passed away in 1980 and his wife passed away in 2001; they are both buried at the Valley Memorial Park Cemetery at the Butte; their children Ken and Vosella still live in the Matanuska Valley.





Information Sources:

Spokane Daily chronicle 1937
Daily Sitka Sentinel 1947
Valdez News 1950
Matanuska Valley Record 1951
Anchorage Times 1961 and 2005
Valdez Cemetery
Billy Graham Archives
House Bill  H.R. 1558
A is for Teacher by Naomi Gaede-Penner
U.S. Census 1940
Vosella Hughes Heaton
Kenny Hughes
Keith Rupp
Barney Furman
Jim Fox
Mary Jane Phelps
Stefan and Yvonne Marty
Star Patterson
Evelyn Berestoff Hart
Carl Hart
Yvonne Marty
Sherry Cole
Shannongail Chernoff
nancy Sacco