Marty Owen

Name: Marty Owen

Age: 73
Residence: Kodiak Island, Alaska

Occupation: Retired city harbormaster & now we run a Bed & Breakfast

Years lived in Alaska: It’s a bit complicated but since the mid-1960’s

Current Location: Backyard at Cliff House B&B in Kodiak, Alaska

Date of Photo: September 3, 2023

Temperature: 55 F/Outdoors
Current Weather: Overcast

What brought you to live in Alaska:

Well, I first came to Kodiak because my grandparents were here. They came here in the thirties during the Depression. And I went to high school in Washington State. But I came up here in the summers of my high school and college years to have employment so I could pay for college, and eventually wound up going in the US Army and spent 25 years there. Came home to Kodiak in 1995, and I’ve been here ever since.

How has Alaska captured your heart?

Well, it’s without a doubt the beauty of Kodiak Island, that captured my heart long ago. And the other thing that most impressed me is I came back as an adult after my time in the Army was the strong work ethic everybody has here. It’s just we’re kind of thin. We have just a few of every profession and trade and everybody does their part to make our community vibrant and livable and delightful.

Describe just one of your favorite “Best Days” or  “Most memorable experiences”  in Alaska. 

My most memorable experiences included the time we spent running a dinner cruise boat in Kodiak. We did about 1500 dinner cruises over the course of 15 years. And we often had out of town guests, most of them were, but people getting to see a whale for the first time is just huge for most people, particularly women, it seems, and there was many times when you just say, these people should be paying me instead of the other way around, or I should be paying them because we got so much delight about sharing the beauty of Kodiak and the wildlife here. The sea otters, the sea lions, two or three different kinds of whales. And we never had guests leave without a happy smile on their face because of the wildlife and because of the great food my wife served.

What in Life do you know for sure?

What I know for sure in life is that Kodiak has got a hold of my heart and I probably can’t take Kodiak with me, but I’m really grateful that I had this time on earth on this particular spot.