We’re Getting Closer!

The terms “Fairbanks icon” and “unforgettable character” come to mind when Fairbanks people share their memories of Irene Sherman, the self-crowned “Queen of Fairbanks.” And now a widening circle of Fairbanksans and visitors to Alaska is excited about the plans to honor her with a statue. As of the summer of 2026, the life-sized sculpture design by Gary Lee Price was finished and ready for the foundry. However, there are remaining expenses, such as designing and building the base, lighting, and signage, as well as shipping the figure to Fairbanks. Please, if you can help, please click on the Donate Now button below.

Fundraising began in July 2023, with our initial planning committee meeting. The group was comprised of people from academia, business, the arts, and finance. Everyone in the room shared special memories of who Irene Sherman was and how she contributed to the rich tapestry that is Fairbanks history. At that meeting, Virginia Farmer, executive director of the Snedden Family Foundation and publisher of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, took the project under the Foundation’s wing as our host 501(c)3. Since then, we have seen heart-warming grass roots donations from hundreds of people and small businesses inside and outside of Alaska, along with several larger corporate donors chipping in to enshrine Irene’s role in Fairbanks history. As the daughter of a gold miner who arrived in Fairbanks in 1903 (the year Fairbanks was named Fairbanks), Irene’s history and that of the boomtown are intertwined.

Who was Irene Sherman? She is warmly remembered as a woman in the margins who was cared for by a whole community, especially during the last half of the 20^th century. Layered up in second-hand clothing, Irene roamed the streets of town for decades, loudly hailing old and new friends. Her image was frightening for some, as she had been badly burned as a child in a local cabin fire back in 1916, when she was not yet six years old. Irene was born in St. Matthew’s Hospital in 1911, along the Chena River. Irene survived a 1916 cabin fire in which two other children died, and later became a ward of the Territory. The eight-year-old was sent to Seattle for burn treatments and further surgeries, then a series of foster home. When Irene came of age, she came back to Alaska, and rejoined her father in mining, trapping, and fishing in Healy and Nenana. In the 1940s, she became a daily presence on the streets of Fairbanks, and was especially celebrated during the city’s annual Golden Days Parade, in which she rode her adult-sized three-wheeled bike. As she pedaled along the parade route, she was loudly cheered by her “subjects.”

People of all walks in the Golden Heart City were quiet about their charity toward Irene. Some left groceries at her door; others, a load of coal for her stove; there was free beer in her favorite bars. Doggie bags from the kitchens. But it was old pioneer families of Fairbanks who permanently ensured her safety and security, again, without fanfare. The late Les Nerland (former Fairbanks mayor, Alaskan of the Year, prominent businessman, and a signer of the Alaska Constitution) allowed Irene to camp on his land across from downtown for years until the 1967 flood wiped out all that she owned, as it did everyone who lived along the Chena. That year, Nerland built Irene a little frame house on his property and installed her in her own home. He then drew up legal documents ensuring she could stay there until the end of her life. Afterward, the land would revert to city ownership.

Another prominent pioneer family, the Burnetts, later looked after her in a practical way, with Wally Burnett seeing to Irene’s transportation, health needs, meals, and daily spending money. Wally and Ruth Burnett owned the Polaris Hotel, where they set aside one room as a place where she could always stay if the weather turned bad, or if Irene was too tired to walk over the bridge back to her place in the Graehl neighborhood. As Irene aged and experienced more serious health issues, she went to live at Denali Center, but social workers allowed her to continue walking miles every day, as she needed. To keep her safe, caregivers put a lanyard around Irene’s neck. There was her photo and a message from her caregivers. It advised, “You know Irene, as we all do. If she seems tired or in distress, would you please call this number and we’ll come get her? Or call a cab, and we’ll pay for it at this end.” It worked, and Irene continued to happily march around town greeting her people for many more months. She died at Denali Center at age eight-four in 1995. To honor her, the City of Fairbanks chose to reopen its pioneer cemetery, long closed to casket burials, once more just for “The Queen.” There she rests now, in the Clay Street Cemetery, a stop on a must-see storytelling tour of the Golden Heart City.

Will you join the campaign? We’ve made progress in our fundraising, but we still have some distance to cover. Special thanks to major donors: Bob Eley, Kinross Fort Knox, Dave and Jacqueline Fritz, Mt. McKinley Bank, Explore Fairbanks, Judy Shiffler & Family, the Snedden Family Foundation, Ken Ryfogel, Courtney King, Tricia & Perry Brown, and Fred Kuykendahl Sr. We also are grateful to the dozens and dozens who have given sacrificially to bring honor to Irene, businesses and individuals alike. Donors receive a receipt for their gift to the fund under the umbrella of the Snedden Family Foundation’s 501(c)3, and will be named on signage surrounding the statue.