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Land Barons
Romance changes its face when children,
even as a singleton, enters the fold. Denvy and Gail stayed close to their
little home on the hill. A second bedroom became a nursery while riverboating
and fishing slowed considerably. Attention was redirected on an investment.
While in Michigan some friends back in Alaska
gathered around an idea of buying some acreage, subdividing it and reselling
it for a profit. There were five members--four young couples and a bachelor/brother-in-law
of another partner. After a month of no sales, three partners fostered
the idea of builiding houses on the lots so they would sell faster. So
the prints of the first house were drawn and approved. As fall settled
in, three of us with our wives (mostly Gail) started building our first
house by hand, with a "how to build a house" in the other hand.
Come spring the house was sold and finalized with the help of a contractor.
We had become land owners and builders.
Being Businesslike
The first partnership called themselves Taku
Developers. The offshoot called themselves the Taku Builders. About the
same time Denvy and Gail became interested in food coops and started gathering
caselot orders from friends and neighbors, and monthly they would order
groceries from a local wholesaler and distribute among the the coop members.
During these early years of marriage, resources
were scarce and scrounging for whatever would be found was popular. They
joked about behaving like pack rats. As they dreamt of turning things around,
they chose the business name Star Kap, essentially reversing the name as
well as the financial future.
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