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USDA district extension agent for the Kenai Peninsula Gladys Musgrove, University of Alaska Fairbanks 1960's

Gladys Musgrove was a USDA district extension agent on the Kenai Peninsula, who served areas from Homer to Hope. Gladys was born in the Pacific Northwest and was widowed and left with a large family. She entered college with her youngest child, and became an extension agent and was assigned to the Kenai Peninsula. Tiny, quick witted, and good humored, no task was too large for Gladys, and she was welcome everywhere. After a few years she went to Northwest Alaska. Realizing its health benefits, especially regarding dental health, she campaigned for the use of powdered milk. Gusick village store owners shelved great supplies of sugar loaded soft drinks, and it was not uncommon to see teenagers without any natural teeth. Furthermore she worked with villagers on St. Lawrence Island on the year round preservation of walrus. Heretofore the harvest was only for that time. She with others devised a a novel type of refrigeration which utilized cold seawater, and meat was safely stored for the winter. After many years in the northwest she retired and returned to Soldotna where she built an ideal small house on West Mackey Lake. Her paintings; watercolors and tempra were often exhibited. The last few years of her life were happily spent in the Palmer Pioneer Home in Palmer, Alaska