essie Harrison, born in Keokuk, Iowa in 1884, was a widow running a boarding house in Cripple Creek, Colorado in the early 1900s. She had two children, Jack Harrison, born in 1907, and Wilma Harrison, born in 1911. In Cripple Creek, she met and married her second husband, Daily Sullivan. They had two children, Doris Sullivan, born in 1916 and Charles Sullivan, born in 1918.

In 1921 the family packed up and headed for Alaska, first moving to Chickaloon, where Daily worked in the coal mines, then to Seward, and then to Anchorage in 1922. Shortly thereafter, the family returned to Seward, with the exception of Jack, who stayed in Anchorage to finish high school.

After completing high school, Jack Harrison was employed as the youngest licensed big-game guide in the territory of Alaska at the time. His future wife, Lorene Cuthbertson, was born in Sterling, Kansas, in 1905 and came to Anchorage to teach music and home economics in 1928. Jack and Lorene were married in Estes Park, Colorado in 1930.

Jack was employed with the Alaska Railroad as a locomotive engineer. The Harrisons had two daughters, Carol Ann and Peggy. In 1945, Jack established a cinder block plant in Anchorage, which was the forerunner of Anchorage Sand and Gravel Company. In 1946 he joined the Anchorage Sand and Gravel Company as vice-president and served for the next twenty years until his health forced him to retire.

Lorene was kept busy raising their daughters and was extremely active in various music and theater organizations. After Jack’s death in 1968, Lorene opened the Hat Box, a ladies’ ready-to-wear shop specializing in hats. Her activities and interest in music made her a popular figure in Anchorage. She organized the United Choir of all Faiths, which was the forerunner of the Anchorage Community Chorus, and received many awards and honors for her work in the arts. One of the lobbies in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, which opened in 1988, was named in honor of Lorene Harrison.

Jack and Lorene’s daughter Carol Ann married Robert Dodd and they had four children, Kelly, Diane, Romney and Edward. Their second daughter, Peggy Harrison Vielbig had two sons, Earl and Eric.

Jack died in 1968 and is buried in the Pioneer Tract, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery. Lorene spent her final years in the Anchorage Pioneer Home, and died in 2005, shortly after her 100th birthday. She is also buried in the Pioneer Tract of Anchorage’s cemetery.