FAIRBANKS, Alaska — For more than four decades Ruth Jolly Knapman has been educating tourists about Alaska — in particular the greater Fairbanks area, sharing historical, cultural, mining and scientific facts and anecdotes interspersed with personal stories and humor.
The 79-year-old's career as a tour leader started innocently, 47 years ago, a year after she moved to Fairbanks, when she began showing the local sights to relatives, friends and friends of relatives visiting the Interior.
But Knapman didn't get paid for her researched repartee until the summer of 1982 when she started Golden Enterprises, a step-on guide service.
That first summer, Knapman was engaged by one independent tour company for multiple tours to Alaska. In the following 29 years, she has led tours for 123 independent tour companies. She also does private and family tours in a van.
"My business has grown totally by word of mouth," Knapman states proudly.
So much so that she has trained seven tour guides to help out during the busy months of June, July and August. Of the seven, one is fluent in German and another in Japanese.
In years past, some of Knapman's tours have gone much farther afield — around the state and northern Canada, and a dozen to the nation's capital and back.
After 9/11 Knapman saw her business decrease because many people were afraid to fly after the attacks.
And the past three years have seen a downturn in visitors because of the lagging economy, she said.
On a recent Sunday morning, Knapman led a three hour tour followed by lunch with a partially filled busload of tourists traveling with Christian Tours, a company Knapman has been affiliated with since 1983.
Dressed in a colorful home-sewn kuspuk (Native-style dress), Knapman stands at the front of the bus opposite the driver for the three hour tour which begins and ends at the Pump House.
Her husband, Larry Knapman, a retired BLM reindeer range manager and forest fighter, and also a trained guide, accompanied her. Larry is on the mend from a life-threatening accident earlier this year, and occasionally adds some information or answers a question.
This particular group of tourists understands the power of prayer and enthusiastically applauds after Knapman briefly shares the saga of her husband's miraculous recovery, which she attributes to the many people praying for him.
Over the years, the self-described farm girl from Iowa has amassed a wealth of information about her adopted state and treats each tour group individually, reorganizing her spiel to incorporate information pertinent to special interests.
"It depends on the time element, their interest and what they plan to do for the day," Knapman explained.
Oftentimes, Knapman is so sensitized to what her "captive" audience craves that she answers questions before they are asked.
The recent morning tour included stops at the Morris Thompsom Cultural and Visitors Center where group members were able to peruse the exhibit area and other areas of interest on their own there, and again later at a 45 minute stop at the University of Alaska Museum of the North.
The tour also includes a stop at the trans-Alaska oil pipeline exhibit on the Steese Highway where Knapman led some group members to an ideal spot for unique/comic photos. There, tour group members raised their arms as if to hold up the 48-inch pipe the conduit for transporting North Slope oil 800 miles to Valdez.
Between stops, Knapman keeps up a running commentary on points of interest such as a residential fence made entirely of old skis she calls "the epitome of recycling," explains the philosophy behind shotgun log cabins, "Had a kid, added a room," and the efficiency and aesthetics of old-time sod roofs.
During pauses and short stops, Knapman manages to whittle down the overburden of information about the far north community and inherent lifestyles into short, understandable segments commingling it with interesting vignettes from the state's boom and bust eras to the present.
Knapman's patter ranges from weather extremes, precipitation, permafrost and global warming to cemeteries, earthquakes, geology, agriculture, gold mining, and northern lights as well as the number of recent graduates from the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Visitors, awed by the vast expanses of Alaska wilderness, also are amazed when Knapman lists the percentages of land ownership: Federal, 58 percent; State, 28 percent; Native, 10 percent; Glaciers, 3 percent, and Private, 1 percent.
Previous to starting the step-on guide businesss, Knapman, a preschool teacher, operated Young Learners Preschool for 17 years. Her educational background and longtime interest in local and Alaska history made for a smooth transition to educating newcomers and tourists.
When tourists dwindle, Knapman picks up her many other interests and projects. Historical research and genealogy are high on her list of favorite pastimes. She has taught the latter at the OLLI program at UAF.
For many years Knapman was involved as a volunteer at the old St. Joseph Hospital and Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. She was a member of the first Hospice of the Tanana Valley volunteer trainee class in 1988 and continues her association with the organization.
An active member and past president of the Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo No. 8, Knapman's many volunteer hours have included researching unmarked graves in both the Clay Street and Birch Hill cemeteries.
The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Fairbanks Drama Association and Fairbanks Light Opera also have benefited from Knapman's generous volunteerism.
As for juggling her many interests and activities, Knapman has no specific plans to retire.
"I'll continue as long as I am physically able," she said.
Information from: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com