“You’re going to live…where?”

Hilary Matthews was asked this question many times by friends and family upon her leaving London in 1980. She was a newlywed and her husband had recently decided to become a commercial fisherman in Alaska. Moving from a flat in a major metropolitan city to a small trailer in Kasilof, Alaska, Hilary was on her way to becoming a full-fledged Alaskan—and her digging a well was her initiation to this new life.

Hilary had been a teacher in London for nine years before heading out on her new adventurous stage in life. She began substitute teaching in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD). She had a steep learning curve as she navigated her way through new educational terminology and different ways of doing things, but found that at its core, teaching was very much the same as it had been in England. In 1984, Hilary began teaching Language Arts as a full-time teacher at Soldotna High School, later moving to Skyview High School when it opened in 1990.

Alongside learning the ways of the American teaching style, Hilary also learned how to be a deckhand on a drift gillnet boat in the Cook Inlet, assisting her husband from time to time. In 1984, she and her husband moved into the new home they had built together with friends in true Alaskan fashion. Eventually, Hilary persuaded her husband to find another deckhand, freeing her up to return to London every summer to visit family and friends.

In 1999, Hilary retired from the KPBSD and together with her husband, moved back to London, selling their home and purchasing a small cabin to return to every summer. She continued to teach in London at a junior college until retiring in 2011. Her husband continued to fish until poor health forced him to retire in 2010. Sadly, he passed away in 2019, but Hilary still has their cabin in Kasilof in Alaska and will continue to travel back as long as she is able.

In the 20 years Hilary spent in Alaska, she forged some very important and rock-solid friendships with fellow teachers and fisher folk. Her State of Alaska retirement has helped her be able to return to Alaska every summer and to travel worldwide—many countries in Europe, Vietnam, Cambodia, Jordan, Iran, Namibia, Uganda, Kenya, and hopefully many more.

If you would like to learn more about how your State of Alaska retirement can allow you to enjoy a comfortable retirement, please contact the Division toll-free at (800) 821-2251 or at (907) 465-4460 in Juneau.

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