FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]

Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Alaskan Grilled in D.C. Over Climate Science
26 Mar 2024 14:51

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]

Faster Internet Speeds In Rural Schools OK'd
26 Mar 2024 13:53

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]

Native Words Gathered In Environment Studies
26 Mar 2024 13:52

By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
    In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska,  [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Police Blotter
26 Mar 2024 13:49

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Community Happenings
26 Mar 2024 13:48

Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m.  [ ... ]

Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens in Hayward
25 Mar 2024 15:30

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]

Projects on the Table For Cruise Tax Funds
25 Mar 2024 15:28

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]

Braves Take Second at State after Close Loss
25 Mar 2024 15:23

By Sentinel Staff
    Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]

City League Games Continue
25 Mar 2024 15:11

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

Nellie Laura Lord Dies; Had Sitka, Yakutat Roots

Nellie Laura Lord

(CORRECTED)

Nellie Laura Lord passed peacefully on Sept. 9, 2020, in Anchorage. As she did in life, she brought family together in laughter, sharing, and Tlingit singing and drumming during her final days.

She was imbued with a calm, sweet soul but most remarkable about her personality was her love of laughter and bringing smiles to those around her.

Nellie was born on the banks of the Situk River in Yakutat, Alaska, on July 28, 1932, to Emma Harry and Henry Shodda. She was Kwaashk’i Kwaan (Humpback Salmon Clan) of the Dis hit (Moon House), Raven moiety, Tlingit tribe. Immediately upon her birth, her Uncle John Harry snatched her up and ran her to the Situk River and placed her tiny feet in the water saying, “You are a child of the Situk River, it belongs to you and yours as long as the water flows.”

Nellie was lovingly bestowed with three Tlingit names to honor the strong women who came before: Daasdiyaa, Sdáantlaa, and Kaaijináa.

She graduated from Mt. Edgecumbe High School – she was one of the very first students, along with her sister Lena, to be brought there by the BIA, when she was 8 years old.

Nellie went on to college to earn her teaching certificate, studying at Sheldon Jackson College and then under the tutelage of Jeff Leer and Michael E. Krauss of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Center, learning to read and write the Tlingit language while making contributions to their knowledge of the language and to dictionary compilations, as well as to ethnographic studies with renowned cultural anthropologists.

Nellie then spent the next 45 years teaching the Tlingit language, culture, song and dance, bead working, and regalia making. She was profoundly honored in her first teaching positions to work professionally with the Sitka ANB Education Program (now known as the Sitka Native Education Program) and her colleagues there who became lifelong friends: Charlie Joseph Sr., Ethel Makinen, Isabella Brady, Vida Davis and Annie Johnson. She grew to love and cherish all the young people who danced with the Gajaa Heen Dancers of Sitka, with whom she worked for so many years.

Nellie also performed with the Naa Kahidi Theater group with Dave Hunsaker as playwright and producer under the auspices of the Sealaska Heritage Foundation (now known as the Sealaska Heritage Institute), traveling extensively including to Europe and England.

She taught for years for the Yakutat school district, retiring after a long career in public education. She is beloved by generations of Yakutat students who learned so much from her about their culture. She also worked for decades as a dance group leader with the Yakutat Mt. St. Elias Dancers and the Junior Mt. St. Elias Dancers. She was often credited publicly and in writings for contributing to the rejuvenation of the Tlingit culture in her own community after so much was lost during the socially and culturally destructive era of boarding schools in Alaska.

Nellie met and married Gilbert Lehman Lord Jr. from Fort Yukon  while she was at Mt. Edgecumbe and he was attending Sheldon Jackson. She is survived by her children (and their spouses): Vik Lord Irwin (Mike), Arleen Henry (Russell Bogren), Katie Converse (Bob Fraker), Monica Wolf, Tomi Phillip (Damen Gray), Dorothy Lord-Matthew, and Richard Lord (Rogelita); and 25 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren with another due in October.

Nellie was predeceased by her husband, and her firstborn son, Gilbert Lord III; her mother and father; her siblings, Charles Shodda, Robert Henry, Dick Henry, Roy Henry, Lena Farkas, Elsie Shodda, Eleanor Shodda, and Mary Shodda; and her half-siblings Dan Henry, Paul Henry, David Henry, and Emma Williams.

“Rest in Peace, Mama. Your life of grace, humility and good humor has been a lifelong beacon of inspiration,” her family wrote.

 A private, family-only service was held at Legacy Heritage Chapel on Sept. 16. Her full obituary can be found at the Legacy website. Condolences to the family can be mailed to 5784 Grand Teton Loop, Anchorage AK 99502.

 

Correction: The family of Nellie Lord wanted to properly acknowledge the contributions of Annie Johnson to the early programmatic history of the Gajaa Heen and the Sitka ANB Native Education Program.”

Login Form

 

20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

Calendar

Local Events

Instagram

Daily Sitka Sentinel on Instagram!

Facebook

Daily Sitka Sentinel on Facebook!