Last speaker of the Eyak language, who was a native to South-central Alaska.
She was a full-blooded member of the indigenous Alaskan Eyak tribe, who fished in the waters that the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled oil into.
She spoke to the United Nations on the issue of indigenous rights and considered the loss of a language like hers a cultural disaster, the same as if "your baby died," she told one reporter.
She was born in Cordoba, Alaska and grew up in Eyak Lake, her people's traditional grounds and where her parents had their homestead.
Like Candido Rondon, she dedicated herself to preserving a disappearing native culture.
