1931-2025
Obituary
Born April 13, 1931, Joan grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and graduated from the Shady Hill School in 1946, where she took shop and learned skills helpful later in life as a young homesteader in Fairbanks. Her Westtown, Pennsylvania boarding high school (1949) reinforced a lifetime of Quaker belief in the dignity of all people and the pursuit of peace in the world. Being more attracted to equine pursuits than academic study, Joan spent memorable school days off campus AWOL communing with horses at a nearby racetrack.
Joan’s college years at Antioch in Ohio were life changing. On work-study, she assisted with adobe house building on the Papago Indian reservation, and found the opposite of challenges as an office worker in New York City. It was at a college dance that Joan met her future spouse, Niilo, when he twisted his ankle. She provided an ace bandage and its return ensured the long, stretchy attachment that was to come of their relationship.
Married in 1951, Joan and Niilo drove to Fairbanks and in 1952 were temporarily settled in a rustic cabin in Olnes. The homestead on Chena Ridge was scouted out, and the land clearing and house building began. Joan and Niilo dismantled a cabin in Cleary, which Niilo identified as Felix Pedro’s abandoned abode. It was reassembled on Chena Ridge, where it provided the core of a sprawling series of additions for the eventual five children and assorted animals.
The family spent 1959-60 in England when Niilo pursued a graduate degree. Joan studied flamenco guitar there and oversaw the children’s introduction to the delights of endless water from a spigot. 1962-1966 was spent in Massachusetts for another graduate degree. A refresher course in less rough and tumble housing must have spurred Joan to look to upgrade her facilities in Fairbanks: when the family returned permanently to Fairbanks, the little cabin was no longer to be the kitchen/living room/sleeping loft for all.
In 1966 the well went in. Many neighbors on Chena Ridge still had no water, and it was the Koponen house which provided water jug fillers a needed stop at Joan’s for tea, conversation, and water. Flush toilets, sinks, and a bathtub went in also. The sauna in the Pedro cabin remained, a Finnish solution for bathing and socialization that continues to this day.
Joan had a strong independent streak. She didn’t care how “they” did things. Although she worked to better the world around her, conforming to societal rules wasn’t essential to her. She often assumed the best of people, and left her key in the car ignition in town and at home. Not a gossip, her children were often unaware of how she might secretly feel about others. She hired the unemployed and unwanted for odd jobs around the homestead. Joan spent hours listening to people talk of their troubles or philosophical concerns, and welcomed folks to pitch tents on the property when they needed a place to stay. Several families built houses on the homestead, and she favored trading work for benefits when folks were short of money.
Joan was a talented horsewoman from an early age. She organized many interior Alaska horse shows, designing jump courses and classes judged by national equestrians. Awarded the Alaska State Horseman’s Maynard Smith Memorial Award for promoting Alaska’s horses and horsemanship in 1989, she trained horses in the fine arts of dressage, jumping, stock, and trick performance. She traveled to Costa Rica and Portugal with her sisters on horse trekking adventures.
Joan served her community as a listener and trainer for Crisis Line, as well as State of Alaska Prison Industries Board member. She was a counselor for Women in Crisis, Counseling & Assistance, as well as running Alternatives to Violence workshops. She wrote “Building From Within” with interviews of others like herself who had built themselves through building a house. Her Letters to the Editor ran the gamut from abortion in 1961, University faculty firings 1967, wolves 1968, part time work, and much more.
Joan’s Quaker beliefs were reflected in her active listening skills, her sense of responsibility, and her focus on finding solutions that minimize conflict and promote mutual understanding.
In December 1991 Joan was head injured in an automobile accident. After emerging from coma, she learned to walk and talk again. Her short term memory was permanently altered, and for the rest of her life she needed assistance in varying degrees. Many friends were invaluable and kept in touch. Her husband Niilo and her children enjoyed life with her at the Chena Ridge homestead house where she died.
Joan’s parents were J. Malcolm (Mac) Forbes and Ethel Cummings Forbes Amory. She was predeceased by her husband Niilo in 2013, sisters Holly Leon and Beryl Eddy, and her brothers J. Malcolm “Jock” Forbes and Charles Dabney Forbes.
Joan is survived by her children Karjala, Sanni, Chena (Gary Newman), Heather, and Alex. She is also survived by grandchildren Saari, Wendy, Colin, Matti, Katya, Peter, Danny, Eric, Max, Ben, and Dane. She is also survived by great grandchildren Callie, Theodora, and Rose.
A memorial service will likely be held in June 2025 See https://koponenalaska.org for information as available or email joankoponen(at)chena.org to be received by all Joan’s children.