Machelle Violet Haynes of Chisik Island passed away on Feb. 22, 2014, at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, after five years battling cancer. She was 55.
A memorial was held March 8 at the Alaska Center For Spiritual Living, in Anchorage.
Machelle was bom Dec., 31, 1958, the daughter of Betty (Mork) and Ray Haynes. She was raised in Anchorage, and made Chisik Island her primary residence.
She was in part an indigenous Alaskan, Tlingit, and pursued her interest in that ancestry through family, writings and studies of historical legal happenings. She knew her rights.
Machelle was known for her bold strength, and she was brave like her mom, friends said. She fished on days others would not. She ran all aspects of her commercial fishing gill net sites, all while defending a claim on land that will remain in her family and is a distinct part of her legacy.
She was a pilot, like her dad, and flew a Cherokee 6 with balloon tires for beach landings. She kayaked and skied. She hunted, skinned and canned. She beaded, sewed leather, made drums and even did taxidermy (once). Mostly she welcomed all in for coffee and allowed anyone to be themselves, and “you dang well better let her be her, too,” a friend said.
Machelle was also known for her successful decision to spend the last 30 years of her life in sobriety. “I feel that she furthered this integrity by helping to raise her niece and by providing foster care to others, as well as creating a safe space for the neighbor kids to congregate,” a friend said.
“Shell had an enthusiasm for so many things, we’re sifting through them now, and what an amazing joy, to see the way she saw value in the ordinary,” a friend said. “So many treasures and unsent cards that we will forward. What a sweetheart we experience as we read her reflections, always exploring herself and herself in relation to others, trying for a betterment.
“We love you, Shell, and it will always be so.”
Machelle was preceded in death by her parents, Betty and Ray Haynes; uncles Bill Mork and Ray Mork; and aunts Anna Breseman and Agnes Ulrich.
Survivors include her siblings, Mary McDaniel, Ramona Morgan, Oscar “Sonny” Haynes, Claudin Haynes and Marina Haynes; aunt Marie Laws of Sitka; uncle Elmer Mork of Wrangell; and many nieces and nephews.
