Long time Central Peninsula resident Jean Brockel died over the weekend at the age of 85. For more than 50 years, she worked behind the scenes and at the front of the stage to help build some of the area’s institutions, like Kenai Performers and the Performing Arts Society and of course, Kenai Peninsula College, whose first director was her husband, Clayton (1927-2012).
“Nobody brought energy to the room like Jean Brockel," says Dr. Alan Boraas, anthropology professor at Kenai Peninsula College since 1973. "Real communities have a soul and Jean Brockel understood that you have to create that soul. And she did it through education and the arts."
It’s pretty tough to unlink the Brockel name from KPC, but Boraas says she carved out her own legacy in the local arts community while the college and surrounding area grew.
“First of all, Jean came to Kenai as a public school teacher. She had graduated from St. Scholastica Girls Catholic school in Duluth, Minnesota. Grew up in the Iron Range of Minnesota. Her father was a carpenter, first generation Italian immigrant from Sicily. And her mother as well. She found an opportunity to come to Kenai, Alaskia in the 1960’s. She came with another woman, they taught at one of the schools. They happened to live in a log cabin duplex and who lived on the other side was Nick Kalifornsky, Peter Kalifornsky’s father.”
Soon after that, she would decide to make Kenai her home and the work of community building began. First, as an educator teaching vocal music at the school district and as an adjunct professor at KPC, but also in venues outside the classroom. She was a founding member of the Performance Arts Society and Kenai Performers, along with others like Lance Peterson and Jean McMasters.
“She herself performed," Boraas says. "She was the first Kitty in the Ballad of Kenai. When she sang Kitty’s Song, it was spellbinding. It was amazing. I asked her how the Ballad of Kenai went this last time. She sat in the back row, this past winter. The back row in that theatre has the best audio. She said Terri Zopf-Schoessler did a great job and the whole performance she thought was done wonderfully.”
Brockel carried that spirit and sense of community throughout her life. It was evident to me the first time I spoke with her in 2014 at a celebration of KPC’s 50th anniversary.
“When you’re in the midst of something like that, you know you’re working hard, but it doesn’t matter. The spirit is there. You’ve made up your mind that you want something and you know that it’s going to happen, there’s a spirit, an energy that comes from that, flows from that and yeah, it’s hard, but it’s fun.”
*An earlier version of this story misidentified the Brockel's son John in the above photo. John died in 2008 at age 44. We regret the error.