This feature appeared in the November 4, 2026 edition of the Star Valley Independent –
Home, where the heart beats in strength and peace, is the university of life’s most precious lessons, shaping each child’s view of life and love. For Alice Fluckiger Erickson, her life-long Bedford home is not only her happy place, but to Wyoming, formally represents a legacy of agricultural endurance through five generations of the Fluckiger Family.
In August 2026, Governor Mark and First Lady Jennifer Gordon, Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, and Representative Harriet Hageman gathered to recognize the Fluckiger-Erickson Family for their work in cultivating the family’s land for over a century through five generations and a budding sixth generation. During the celebration, Wyoming’s 2026 Centennial Farm and Ranch Award was presented to Alice, her ancestors and her descendants, for their enduring legacy of farm and ranch living.
Alice’s grandfather, Jacob Andrew Fluckiger, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the missionary efforts of his brother, John, and immigrated to Utah from Switzerland in 1896. He accepted an opportunity to settle in the Star of all Valleys, often referred to as Little Switzerland, in Wyoming with his brothers, John and Gottlieb, where the three men built homesteads in Bedford. According to Alice, the Fluckiger Family was central to the Bedford settlement and to the church in the small dairy farming community.
Jacob Andrew purchased a homestead in Bedford and courted his Swiss sweetheart, Barbara Baumgartner, who was also an immigrant, through correspondence and the couple married in 1899. Jacob Andrew received some family funds from his brother, Ulrich, who had remained in Switzerland and, with the funds, chose to build a new family home in Bedford, which was completed in 1915. This home still stands and houses the Fluckiger-Erickson family 110 years after Jacob Andrew and Barbara had the home built.
Amidst dairy cattle, hay and grain production, Jacob Andrew and Barbara raised a family of 10 children with Herman Andrew, Alice’s father, being the oldest son. On a trip to the creamery to collect the family payment for milk, Herman found his own sweetheart, Marian Gardner, who worked as a secretary at the creamery. Herman collected the payment and returned to the family wagon, announcing to his brother, Henry, “I found the girl I want to marry.” Alice giggled as she recounted Henry’s reaction. “You can’t marry [Stake] President [Clarence] Garner’s daughter!” Henry was wrong.
Full dedication to the church was important to Herman and Marian, and they both served missions before marrying in June of 1930. They started their family in a small home across the street from Jacob Andrew and Barbara. Three adopted daughters, Maxine, Marjorie and Grace Ellen, came to the family first. Alice joined the family in March of 1935, followed by Joyce, Barbara and Leila. They also fostered two young boys, LaVard and Wayne Jackson, who needed a home and were a blessing to the Fluckiger family.
Alice had a delightful childhood with her sisters. They learned hard work from parents who modeled thrift, creativity and love. The girls spent precious time with Grandmother Barbara, who inspired generosity and kindness through her daily mistering in the Bedford community. In time, Barbara moved to live with relatives, and Herman and Marian moved their family into the legacy Fluckiger home.
Before Alice was 12, the hay barn was entirely lost to a fire. Alice and Joyce had “run down the hill to get some help and Mother thought we were in the barn, because we had a little playhouse in the back. She said it was just terrible that they couldn’t seem to get us out of there.” When the girls returned, “the barn didn’t matter so much.” Marian was grateful that her daughters were safe and sound.
Alice developed significant talents using her hands that have served her throughout her life. She was a skilled milker, seamstress and quilter. She enjoyed handwork, cooking, baking and canning. Music has been important to her, as she has pursued playing the piano and the flute.
As a junior at Star Valley High School, she had a class with two Erickson boys, Duard Blair and Jim. The mischievous pair of cousins was constantly chatting, and the teacher, to tame the two youngsters, asked Alice, who was quiet and reserved, to sit between the boys. Blair, the son of Hyrum Duard Erickson and Vera Hoopes Erickson, asked Alice for a date, and the rest is history. The couple were married in July of 1954 and made their first homes in Afton and Fairview.
Before long, Blair and Alice moved their family to the little house across the road from the Fluckiger legacy home in Bedford. When Herman lost his sight, Blair and Alice took over the dairy farm, moving into the family home in 1966.
Alice’s skills served her well, as 12 children rounded out their family – Jann, Alan Blair, Denise, Betsy Ann, Bart Andrew, Colin Duard, Sven Robert, David Ernest, Brent F., Allison Kristy, Vera Lyn and Aaron Blair. She was the champion milker that baked 12 loaves of bread a day while raising those five boys in the middle of the pack.
The chaos was filled with laughter, prayer, love and hard work, morning and night, summer and winter. Any special treat on the bread board when the children came in from school was sure to be intended for a needy family down the road. She lead 4-H and learned upholstery while corralling all those children with integrity and courage. Folks refer to her as an “angel on earth,” but it’s best not to cross her. Her eyes are the window to her soul, and those flashing eyes will communicate for sure and certain when you are in trouble.
As their children matured and embarked on adulthood, diminishing the supply of farm hands, Alan moved back to the valley for short periods, and Bart raised his family up the road to lend support for 24 years. Blair and Alice transitioned from dairy to beef cattle in the late 90’s but continued with the hay and grain harvest until 2020 when David bought the farm and moved his family there in 2022.
“I love the farm,” said Alice, fondly reminiscing about her life on the Fluckiger land. Her greatest blessings continue to be the closeness of family that the farming lifestyle bred into her heart and mind, and the culture of hard work that she still lives today. At 91, she keeps her hands busy playing the piano, working on crochet and quilting projects, and regularly completing a challenging puzzle.
Though Blair passed away in January of 2023, their family, both past and present, is the light of Alice’s life. She is blessed to live with several of her children in their family homes and to nurture her relationships with her grandchildren and great grandchildren as her children embrace caring for her just as she cared for them all those years, on that precious land that has blessed five generations of the Fluckiger-Erickson family for over a century.
