Kevin Whitley came to Alaska from Baytown, Texas, in 1972 at the age of 9. His father was drawn to Alaska to work on the transcontinental pipeline. So, the family packed their bags and moved more than 3,000 miles away to start a new life in Alaska.
The move was anything but easy. Kevin had to adjust from the hot, humid plains of East Texas to the cold, mountainous landscape of Alaska. But little by little, he adapted. He swapped his football for a hockey stick, embracing the northern lifestyle, as his Texas accent began to fade. Kevin was adapting.
After graduating from West Anchorage High School, Kevin joined the Job Corps and trained as a mason. He built a normal life raising a family and pouring concrete for many of Anchorage’s buildings as a mason. He didn’t know it then, but those hands-on skills would become important later in life…