Gene building cabins in Alaska
In April of 2025, I received the following email from Susan Beeman Sommer:
Hi Larry,
I came across your family website when I Googled "Gene Lanzaro Alaska" after talking to my 94-year-old dad, Edward "Red" Beeman. He and my mom (Marydith "Bunny") built a cabin on Byers Lake in 1959 and I'm pretty sure it's Gene's little cabin they stayed in a bit while building their own. I'll attach a couple of photos of them with it in a second email. I've always known about the old cabin there, but hadn't ever asked my dad about details until yesterday when he mentioned Gene's name. He said Gene worked for Oscar Vogel (as did my dad), and when I read the article on your site (https://LanzaraLanzaro/genealaska1952.html) I figured the guide referred to in it was maybe Oscar. And it was likely the legendary bush pilot Don Sheldon of Talkeetna who flew Gene to Byers Lake. That's who my parents flew in and out with.
Once the Parks Highway was built, our family used our cabin at Byers Lake for many years until we sold it to Alaska State Parks when they expanded and built a campground at the lake. People visit our old cabin all summer to peek in the windows and imagine what life was like for the couple who built it. There's an effort underway to have it added to the National Register of Historic Places, so that's why I've been going through old family slides and asking Dad about it (Mom passed away last year). A volunteer from Alaska State Parks is interviewing my dad this week, so I'm helping with that.
There's no trace left of Gene's old cabin.
Anyway, I'm thrilled to come across this info about Gene online. I'll share it with Dad. And I'd be happy to put you in touch with Alaska State Parks if you’d like. Maybe you have additional details about Gene's time in the area that I bet they'd be interested in.
You might've already seen this too (it's not from Byers Lake; it shows Gene and a friend building a cabin somewhere near the Alaska Range in 1965), but thought I'd add it in case you're interested.
Thanks,
Susan Beeman Sommer
John Baker narrates a film in which he builds a log cabin from the ground up in the northern south central region of Alaska. He and his trapping partner Gene Lanzaro clear a site for the cabin, burn brush, peel and cut notches in logs, build walls, install the roof and a window, assemble a chimney for the stove, collect water from a nearby creek, and haul firewood with help from John's dog Queenie. John Baker filmed the sequence in 1965 and added narration in about 2000 (Color/Sound/16mm film).
Click here to view the film on Youtube.
You'll recognize Gene in the film by the wool hat he is wearing in the photos, above.
