Ranger Colleen — Narrator from Glacier Bay
← Backstories Character Backstory Ranger Colleen Narrator from Glacier Bay Coming Soon Ranger Colleen’s Backstory Is Coming Ranger Colleen’s full backstory is on its way. She’s the calm, knowledgeable Glacier Bay narrator who quietly grounds some of the most breathtaking moments in Inside Passage — and her story deserves to be told right. Watch this space. Want to Be First to Know? Request the Ranger Colleen backstory and we’ll add it to our list. Request a Backstory
Marjorie Klein — Ketchikan Medical Examiner
← Backstories Character Backstory Marjorie Klein Ketchikan Medical Examiner For most of her adult life, Marjorie Klein lived in Atlanta, where she worked long hours in forensic pathology while her husband Joe ran a successful chiropractic practice. Their life was comfortable, predictable, and carefully built around their only child, Danny. Joe was the kind of chiropractor people specifically asked for by name. Calm, patient, and easy to talk to, he remembered details about his patients’ lives long after appointments ended. His holistic approach to wellness earned him a loyal and respected patient base throughout the community. In the busy hub of Atlanta, Marjorie’s world revolved around autopsies, evidence, and difficult truths. Joe’s revolved around helping people heal. Together, they balanced each other well. Then, at fifteen years old, their son Danny received a terrible diagnosis: stage four terminal osteosarcoma. Aggressive. Advanced. The kind of diagnosis that split life cleanly into two versions: before and after. The treatments were brutal. Hospitals became a second home. Marjorie spent her days interpreting death while desperately trying to outrun it inside her own family. Joe slowly reduced his patient load, choosing more time at home and at the cancer center as the reality of Danny’s condition settled over them. One night during chemotherapy, Danny watched a documentary about Alaska. Snowcapped mountains. Orcas surfacing through mist. Grizzlies pulling salmon from rivers. Endless forests untouched by highways or crowds. He became obsessed with it. Not teenage-phase obsessed. Hope obsessed. Danny started pinning maps to his bedroom walls, watching fishing charters online, and reading about bald eagles, glacier tours, and the Inside Passage. He talked constantly about seeing whales in person, catching king crab, and standing in the rain forests near Ketchikan. At first, Marjorie and Joe treated it like escapism. Then they realized it was the only thing making him smile anymore. Danny talked about Alaska nonstop. Eventually, they realized time was short to make this happen for him… and for themselves. Within three months, they sold nearly everything they owned. Joe closed his chiropractic practice. Marjorie took leave from the medical examiner’s office in Atlanta. Friends and colleagues questioned whether they were thinking clearly. Some believed grief had already begun making decisions for them. Maybe it had. But they packed what remained of their lives into the family vehicle and relocated to Ketchikan so their son could spend whatever time he had left seeing the world he dreamed about. And for a while, somehow, Alaska gave them life back. Danny fished for salmon in the cold morning rain. He photographed humpback whales breaching near tour boats. He sat wrapped in blankets watching eagles from the porch of their small home tucked into the forested hills above Tongass Narrows. Local charter captains took him out for free. Restaurant owners sent over meals. Neighbors dropped off halibut, chowder, and stories. Ketchikan, with all its rain, rough edges, and isolation, quietly wrapped itself around the family. Danny died at home less than a year later. The windows were open. Rain tapped softly against cedar trees outside while fog drifted through the mountains above the channel. Joe held Danny’s hand. Marjorie sat beside him, listening to the slowing rhythm of her son’s breathing, helpless in the face of the one thing her entire career had taught her to understand scientifically, but never emotionally. After Danny passed, they knew they would never leave. Danny’s spirit was here, in Ketchikan. Now, years later, Marjorie serves as one of the borough’s most respected Medical Examiners. Joe has become woven into the community as well, helping locals with chronic pain and old injuries, eventually earning the quiet nickname “Doc Joe” among fishermen, tour operators, and longtime residents alike. In a remote town where tragedy hits harder and everyone eventually knows everyone else, Marjorie has developed a reputation for treating the dead with extraordinary dignity and the living with honesty. She attends memorials when families have no one else. She delivers difficult truths gently. She remembers names years later. People trust her because they understand she has stood on the other side of unbearable loss herself. Even now, locals still occasionally leave small things on the Kleins’ porch: smoked salmon, jars of homemade jam, fresh crab, handwritten thank-you notes. In Ketchikan, people never forgot what the Kleins sacrificed to see Danny’s dream through. And Marjorie never forgets the kindness that allowed her and Joe to survive losing him. Want More on a Character? Request a backstory on your favorite character from Inside Passage. Request a Backstory