m SUNSHINE’ FINDS A LOT TO
UVE FOR DESPITE HANDICAP
(From the-Seattle Times), .
Bf MARJORIE JONES
Gilbert Fidjeland has been par
alyzed from his hips down for the
past seven years and may never
walk again, but he doesn’t count
this as time lost.
“I’m satisfied,” said Fidjeland,
who until he was hurt seldom
spent a day inside, never was sick
and not infrequently skied 40
miles in a day across the broad
Alaskan expanses.
(Fidjeland lived in Nome for
several years and mined in Gold
Run before the war years.)
“I’ve had time to do many
things I enjoy since I’ve been laid
up,” he smiled. “I never before
had time to read much or study
music or philosophy or learn to
type.”
At the Norse Home, where he
lives, they call him “Mr. Sun
shine."
As his nickname suggests, Fidj
eland radiates warmth and happi
ness. He blames only himself for
his condition. “I wasn’t careful
enough,” he said.
Seven years ago while helping
switch cars during construction
work on an Alaska railway, Fidj
eland was knocked from a flatcar
between the rails. His spine, his
right arm and both legs were
broken.
During the first few months of
the year he spent in a Seattle hos
pital, his husky 200-pound frame
shrank to half that weight, and
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his spirits along with it. Then as
he began to progress he regained
his “faith and fight.”
“Doctors and nurses and science
can do only so much for a man,”
Fidjeland philosophized. “Then
you must fight for yourself.
“First you must adjust your
mind to your condition,” he said,
“and then get interested in some
thing.”
Fidjeland got interested in mu
sic and has learned to play the
accordion so well he is always in
demand at the home.
“When I play music I like,” he
said, “I can’t feel the pain.”
In a way he’s even glad about
the pain. He reasons, and the doc
tors go along wgith him, that
while he has feeling, even pain,
there’s a chance his injured
nerves will work again.
Fidjeland, 61, a bachelor, lived
25 years in Alaska, mostly work
ing as a mining mechanic.
Fidjeland accepts the fact that
he probably will not ski again,
but refuses to think he will not
walk. He looks forward to each
spring with the hope that it will
see him on his way back to Alas
ka.
“Perhaps I shall never work
again as I once could,” he said.
“But if I can’t I would like to
spend my time in a hospital or
nursing home and try to help peo
ple who are sick and crippled
realize that there still is very
j much to live for.”
i
ALASKA AIRLINES
I I
HAPPY
NEW YEAR
\
OUR GOAL FOR 1958:
GREATER TALKING PICTURES
AND
GREATER NON-TALKING AUDIENCES
™ENOMERAMA
.
Water
Delivery
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JlafLfUH&U
P'uo&ft&friiy
)
May the New Year see
the realization of your
every ambition and may
you enjoy health, happi*
ness and prosperity.
Best of luck to each of
you during the New Year,
is our sincere wish.
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