“Letters from the Carpenter’s Wife” is a recently discovered and published collection of letters written in October 1971.
Leah Allender and her carpenter husband, Jack, had left their small farm near Centralia to fly to Alaska. Jack had been hired to work on the Glacier Bay Lodge expansion, where Leah assisted the cook.
The story, as told through the eyes of Leah, the carpenter’s wife, offers a look back into the adventures of over 50 years ago at Glacier Bay Lodge.
“Last year, my wife, Mimi, found a small box of handwritten letters from Leah in our store room,” Ken Allender, Leah Allender’s son, told The Chronicle. “The letters had been there since 1972, forgotten for all those years. Leah wrote to family from Glacier Bay Lodge, Alaska, during the winter of 1971-72 when Jack was carpenter foreman for the construction of 37 cabins at the lodge, and Leah ultimately became the head cook. A family effort to complete, the book contains the text of these letters with engaging added illustrations. My wife and I edited, and Leah’s grandson, Mark Allender, illustrated and published the book.”
In the book, Leah expects a mostly relaxing stay in Alaska, but unexpected adventure ensues with the worst winter in 40 years. Blizzards and dangerous travel complicate life. Interesting characters, sincere camaraderie and lots of drama keep Leah, and the reader, from ever getting bored.
"A delightful read, ‘Letters from the Carpenter’s Wife,’” wrote Theodore Catton, author of “Land Reborn” and “A Young Sailor at War.” “I liked Leah more and more as the story unfolded. I was eager to get to know her, a woman in her 50s with fairly straight habits living among a bunch of grubby men in their 20s. It’s classic … The cook is either loved or hated, feelings are never neutral. Leah was loved.”
Leah Schneider Allender was born in Kansas in 1916 to German immigrant farmers and moved with her family to Oakville when she was 10.
There, Leah met neighbor Jack Allender, who she married in 1936. The couple moved to Fords Prairie in 1945, where Jack built a home and established a 12-acre farm with barns, beef cattle, a milking cow, chickens, rabbits, a pig, sheep and the occasional horse.
They had three children — Betty, Ed and Ken. Eventually, seven grandchildren, and many more great-grandchildren, completed the Allender family.
Following the events of the book, Jack and Leah drove their camper to all 50 states, spent winters in Yuma, Arizona, and summered in Centralia where Jack built a smaller home and grew dahlias until their deaths in 2000.
“Letters from the Carpenter’s Wife” will be available soon at Book ‘N’ Brush in Chehalis. Call 360-748-6221 or visit booknbrush.com for more information.
Copies are available at sentondesign.com, as well as other online retailers.
