Healy Lake elder Ellen Demit passed away Sunday, February 8. Ellen was a truly unique and strong-minded woman, who continued to live independently nearly to the end of her life. Having lost her husband at a young age, Ellen continued to live the trapping life as a single woman, driving a sled with her small children through a country which would see many changes, including the building of the Alaska Highway. Through her unique life experiences she developed an unparalleled knowledge of the middle Tanana country.
Ellen was a tireless language worker, always happy to share her knowledge of Tanacross language over a cup of tea. Uniquely among speakers I have worked with, Ellen consistently refused monetary compensation (though she always welcomed gifts of food or housewares), for she considered her words a gift for future generations. I will never forget how she scolded me when I realized that my DAT recorder had malfunctioned and lost a recording of a story she had told. It was at least two years before she was willing to tell that story to me again. She was a stubborn woman, no doubt. But Ellen was always quick with a laugh and a smile, and that is perhaps what I will remember most about her.
Ellen taught me much about the Tanacross language, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with her. Though I am reluctant to use the term "last speaker", I must admit that there is no one else who shares Ellen's depth of knowledge of the Healy Lake dialect of Tanacross. At the time of her death, Connie Friend and Rick Thoman were working on a volume of Ellen's stories with a small grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum. Ellen would be pleased to know that her words will live on, helping another generation to see the world through her wise eyes.
An obituary appears in the Feb 11 Fairbanks Daily-News Miner. According to Lee Saylor's research using church archives, Ellen's date of birth was actually Dec 3, 1918 -- some five years later than that noted in the obituary.