See also, the original Ice Chapel Construction from 1999

Honoring

Tula Belton
Pat Cook
Walt Coty
Ivalie Cox
Harry Gerjets
Martha Johnson
Mack Maysilles
Bill Pair
Lefty Roberts
Glenn Stoneman
Bill Trigg

For Hours
of Volunteer Service
to Make Our
Community a
Better Place

A Sanctuary in Ice

This year’s “Sanctuary in Ice” was first inspired by the “Ice Chapel” which was created in 1999 in memory of Ivalie Cox and Harry Gerjets who passed away in 1998. They were important volunteers who worked tirelessly for Ice Alaska for many years. Since that time, Wallace (Wally) Cox, husband of Ivalie Cox and one of the originators of Ice Alaska, desired to create a new variation of the original ice chapel to commemorate his wife and all those who have dedicated so much time and heart to Ice Alaska. "This year, which unfortunately may be the last year for the event, I wanted to make it happen” says Wally Cox.

Wally knew all along that he wanted Stan Zielinski, the designer of the original ice chapel, as well as Barbro Behm, of Sweden, to be the ones to sculpt his memorial vision into a reality. Stan, being a Fairbanks native, was somewhat easy to “recruit”, however, Barbro, being in Kiruna, Sweden was a little more challenging. However Wally made it happen! And so began the birth of this year’s “Sanctuary in Ice.”

Barbro Behm was selected because of her expertise in building snow and ice chapels. She has been constructing them for more than 20 years and is responsible for the design and construction of a beautiful ice church and ice hotel in Kiruna. She has previously won awards at the BP World Ice Art Championships and has been a judge in many snow sculpting and ice sculpting competitions.

Stan Zielinski is a retired university professor who taught ceramics for 33 years. He has worked with clay, wood and metal and ice. He has been sculpting ice for the past 19 years.

The vision behind the Sanctuary is a circle of 11 blocks of ice, each one representing the 11 members of Ice Alaska’s volunteer family who have passed away within the past ten plus years. Each block will have a framed photo of the deceased placed within it.

Barbro’s forte is abstract design and is known for her work with natural ice which she uses to maximizes the internal beauty. It is for this reason that she does not care to work with commercially manufactured ice. She says, “There are no cracks, no bubbles…it is dead.”

When asked what message he would like to convey through the Sanctuary, Wally emotionally answered, “What a gift that each of them gave year after year to serve our community, thus adding to the quality of life here. We just want to honor them.”

The Sanctuary in Ice can be found in the Special Tribute area of the Ice Park.