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Lloyd DeWilde

Lloyd and Amelia DeWilde

Lloyd DeWilde was born in Oakland, California in 1927. His parents were Thelma and Victor DeWilde. For much of his youth, Lloyd dreamed of coming to Alaska. After he finished school, Lloyd worked odd jobs on farms and ranches, and at a gas station. As a 20 year-old, Lloyd's dream came true when he got off a ship in Seward, Alaska in 1947. He didn't waste any time getting a job, and spent his first summer working as a farm hand for Art Thompson in Anchorage. Lloyd spent his first winter in Fairbanks, then in 1948 he went to the Ruby area, where he prospected in the summer and trapped in the winter. In May 1955, Lloyd went to Whitefish Lake near Huslia to find Amelia Simon, who he had met previously in Ruby, and they were married the following month. In 1960, Lloyd and Amelia left the Ruby area and homesteaded at Dutchman's Creek, about 15 miles below Ruby on the Yukon River. But Amelia missed the lakes, meadows, and sloughs of the Koyukuk, and in 1965 the family moved to an area northwest of the village of Huslia. Since then, Lloyd and Amelia have lived along the North Fork of the Huslia River, relying on what they could hunt, fish, trap, and grow in a garden to raise their 14 children. Even as elders, Lloyd and Amelia continued as long as possible to live at their remote homestead, which was a six hour boat ride or a three and a half hour snowmobile ride away from Huslia. Lloyd DeWilde passed away in 2006 at the age of 79.

Date of Birth:
Aug 14, 1927
Date of Death:
Aug 27, 2006
Lloyd DeWilde appears in the following new Jukebox projects: