Fairbanks homesteader,
former legislator and lifetime liberal activist Niilo Koponen has spent
more than a half-century fighting for union rights and civil liberties.
His dreams for a better state are still a work in progress, he says. (Photo
by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News)
Niilo Koponen
stands outside his homestead cabin off Chena Ridge Road near Fairbanks.
(Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News)
Joan still
suffers the effects of injuries she suffered in a car wreck near the homestead
in 1991. Niilo left the Legislature after five terms to help care for her.
(Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News)
Joan in a photo
taken by her daughter Chena and used in "Building From Within," Joan's
1982 book about home-building.
Joan and daughter
Chena ride near the Koponen homestead. To Joan, "a homestead meant horses,"
Niilo says of their decision to move to Alaska. Joan taught all five of
their children to ride.
Niilo has a
collection of Alaska campaign and political buttons. (Photo by Bill
Roth / Anchorage Daily News)
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