Alaskans Crowd Town To Bury Revered Chief Northway, 117

NORTHWAY, Alaska - A casket bearing revered Athabaskan Chief Walter Northway was draped with a Native blanket and an American flag as more than 400 mourners crowded the Northway school gymnasium to pay respects over the weekend.

Chief Northway, who authorities say was 117 years old, was remembered as a self-reliant hunter and fisherman who made his own snowshoes and loved to dance.

Chief Northway died Nov. 21 at his home in the village that bears his name, roughly 300 miles northeast of Anchorage.

While village cooks prepared a traditional feast of moose meat and salmon Saturday, others endured temperatures to 10 below to dig Chief Northway's grave in the family plot, on a hill with a mountain view.

Eulogizing her grandfather from a podium in the packed gym, Cheryl Silas said Chief Northway's wisdom had commanded respect.

"He was the elder of elders," Silas said, her voice occasionally breaking. "He taught everyone to care for each other and help those who needed help."

Dignitaries included a contingent of Native leaders from Doyon Inc., the Native regional corporation that served the Athabaskan settlement.

"He was a traditionalist," said Doyon President Morris Thompson. "He preferred to speak his own language. He shunned hospitals and medications."

"I think everyone will miss him," said Rose Maher, chairwoman of the Doyon board and a Chief Northway relative. "He really will be missed at the potlatches. We don't really have anyone to take his place right now."

Alaskans statewide have come to note Chief Northway's birthdays in recent years, which were celebrated with huge potlatches and an annual airplane ride over the region for the chief.

Silas recalled how her grandfather enjoyed traditional dance and was pleased to learn that village youths were learning the steps.

A 1987 oral history by the Alaska Native Language Center said Chief Northway at age 111 was still taking part in spring muskrat hunting and summer dipnet fishing.

Most of the 300 residents of Northway were related to the chief. He is survived by his wife, Lilly, 92, and six children.