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Matchmaker brings brides to Alaskans
Alaskan men are known for being strong and rugged. They also have a reputation as outdoorsmen who enjoy unlimited freedom in the state's wide-open tundra. In other words, they have the stuff that most men's dreams are made of. It is enough to make the most northwestern US state seem like a men's paradise. Not quite. That is because it is sorely lacking in one important category: eligible women. Alaska has 114 bachelors for every 100 single women. In the rest of the United States the ratio is 86 men to every 100 women. That is why Susie Carter decided to make it her personal goal to help the men of Alaska find their way down the aisle. Carter, 62, is the founder of the magazine AlaskaMen, which features glossy pictures of eligible bachelors who live in the state. There are fishermen, hunters, oilmen, policemen and teachers such as Markus Doerry, 37, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Germany years ago. "It is just hard to meet someone here," said Doerry, a maths teacher in Anchorage. "The winters are long and cold, people stay in more, and I am not the type to hit on women in a bar." Young women from other US states travel to Alaska to perform in strip shows held in places like the legendary Great Alaskan Bush Company in Anchorage. But rarely does a man find the love of his life in a strip bar. Mindful of this, Doerry turned to Carter full of hope. "Isn't he a darling?" said Carter, straightening his shirt as he prepared to be photographed. Doerry definitely belongs in the category "Catch of the Day," a feature Carter uses in her magazine and on her website to introduce especially attractive bachelors. In the course of a year, Carter helps hundreds of them to wedded bliss. Her success was clear during a walk through Anchorage. "Look, that lawyer was once in my magazine," she said pointing to a law firm ad. Carter began her enterprise 17 years ago on her kitchen table. The mother of nine children ran a day care centre at the time and got to know numerous single fathers who often poured their heart out to her. "It was clear to me what needed to be done," she said. The job came naturally to Carter, who even as a young girl was successful as a matchmaker. Initially, she published the magazine a number of times throughout the year, but ultimately switched to once a year - in the springtime - because of high costs. Carter charges men US$600 to be featured, but she makes no money on the magazine. Thousands of issues are sold every year across the nation. The website, www.alaskamen.com, is an even bigger hit. It enables easy inquiries from women around the world. "About 80 per cent of the brides come from other US states and foreign countries," she said. One of the foreigners was a young German nurse who got an issue of AlaskaMen a few years ago and wrote to a widower with three children. The man had cancer and wanted to back out when Carter interviewed him for the magazine. He has now recovered from his illness and happily married. Carter arranged another match when she took six of her bachelors to Germany to appear on a talk show. She sprang into action when the bachelor sitting next to her whispered in her ear: "I am going to marry the girl in the sixth row." Carter arranged a meeting, they fell in love and the Alaska man cancelled his return flight. He returned a few weeks later freshly married to the women he spotted in the talk show audience. Carter once had a 50-something "small, grizzled gold miner" who had his sights set on marrying a 6-foot tall blonde bombshell in her 20s. Carter dissuaded him, but the man stuck with his intentions and wrote his wishes in his ad. Weeks later he reported back to Carter he had found exactly the right woman, and had been feverishly exchanging letters with her. The truth came out, though, in a letter he received just before the man transferred payment for her flight to Alaska. It was from a prison administrator who asked whether the man knew he had been corresponding with a convicted criminal.
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