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After two years of discussion and prayer among
The Rt. Rev. George Harris, 5th Bishop of Alaska; Ed Thielen, then
the Dean of the Southcentral Deanery; Ven. Mark Boesser,
then Diocesan Resource coordinator and Ven. Norman H.V.
Elliott, then Rector of All Saints, Anchorage, the Thielen family
accepted the mission to organize an Episcopal Congregation in Eagle
River, Alaska.
“The
Episcopal Church in Eagle River, began in 1984 at the home of Ed and
Ginger Thielen with the gathering of 19 Episcopalians.
 The following Sunday, 28 of us held our first
formal service in the Frontier Mall at the Artist Piano store owned
by Dyana and Robert Orrin. Never lacking for music, and with our
choice of pianos each Sunday, our greatest challenge was moving all
the pianos each week to make room for our chairs, then moving them
back in place for business as usual in the store the next week.
Members of the Altar Guild sometimes gasped
each time Fr. Boesser led the service. His habit of “leaning”
forward on the altar to make a point during a sermon, made the
makeshift sawhorse and plywood structure bow significantly.
Eventually Leon Greenlund designed a sturdy, yet still portable
altar. Our first Baptism was Easter Sunday of our first year.
 Our children grew rich in the diversity of our
growing congregation. Deacon Bob Franken frequently served communion
from his motorized wheelchair and after months of Southcentral
clergy taking turns as our service priests, we selected Rev. Norman
Nauska, a Tlingit Indian, to serve as our part-time vicar until
1992.
Bishop Harris had so much confidence in this
new congregation that he asked us to host the first Southcentral
Deanery Bishop's Picnic at Otter Lake. Every congregation in
Southcentral was represented, as were all of God’s creatures. As
he prepared blessed the elements for communion outside in the
sunshine, a large moose sauntered behind the Bishop and the altar,
but didn’t stay.
 As Christmas rolled around, the many young
families in the congregation embraced the idea of a Christmas
Pageant, a tradition kept up every year except one, the year of the
fire. Young people were important to this congregation from the
beginning; a very young mother was told that the sound of children
in a congregation meant that we had a church that was alive and
growing.
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