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Lillian Walker

Lillian Walker was Yup'ik and born in 1924 to Katherine Bradley and Gabriel Kootok in Unalakleet, Alaska. She lived in Kaltag from age four to seven, then her stepfather, Fred LaBelle, moved the family to a mink farm located between Unalakleet and Kaltag. When she was thirteen years old she was sent to the Holy Cross Mission for school in Holy Cross, Alaska. She met her husband, David Walker there and was married in 1942. They lived in Ghost Creek, a few miles outside of the village, and had six children. In the late 1970s, Lillian was selected to be the community health aide in Holy Cross, and at one point helped put together one of the health aide training manuals. Lillian was so popular as a health aide, that when she retired, the alternate health aide and other people in the community urged her to return to the job and continued to call on her for advice. In addition to providing direct medical care, Lillian went into the schools to educate children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and to promote healthy living. After retirement, Lillian continued to be involved with local and regional health boards. She was an accomplished beader and sewer who created beautiful pieces. Lillian Walker passed away on October 17, 2022. For more about Lillian Walker, see her obituary in the Anchorage Daily News newspaper.

Date of Birth:

May 22, 1924

Date of Death:

Oct 17, 2022

Lillian Walker appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Lillian Walker, Interview 1, Part 1	Lillian Walker was interviewed on on September 2, 2003 by Debbie Turner from the Holy Cross Tribal Council and Karen Brewster from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program at Lillian's apartment in Anchorage, Alaska. Lillian was in the process of moving to another apartment, so the living room was empty except for a small table covered with beading projects, two chairs, and some boxes. Lillian took time out from her busy day of packing to do this interview. She moved to Anchorage from Holy Cross in order to be closer to medical facilities. In this first part of a two part interview, Lillian talks about growing up on a mink farm near Kaltag and going to school and living at the Holy Cross Mission, holiday celebrations, and the important skills she learned there, including beading, gardening, and cooking. She discusses living and raising a family at Ghost Creek, away from the main village of Holy Cross, when they did not have running water, or electricity, berry picking, potlatches, and how the community has changed. She also talks about her experiences as a mid-wife and community health aide, alchohol and substance abuse in the village, and her continued involvement with local and regional health boards.	2002-10-09_PT.1	Holy Cross Community Project	Sep 2, 2003
Lillian Walker, Interview 1, Part 2	This is a continuation of the interview with Lillian Walker on September 2, 2003 by Debbie Turner from the Holy Cross Tribal Council and Karen Brewster from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program in the empty apartment Lillian was moving out of in Anchorage, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Lillian continues to discuss getting an education at the Holy Cross Mission and what life was like there, and living at Ghost Creek, outside of the village of Holy Cross. She also talks about her wedding, sewing clothes for her family, homeschooling her children, the challenges of living and raising children at Ghost Creek, and when they first got electricity.	2002-10-09_PT.2	Holy Cross Community Project	Sep 2, 2003
Lillian Walker, Interview 2, Part 1	Lillian Walker was interviewed on August 24, 2005 by Karen Brewster at Lillian's apartment in Anchorage, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Lillian talks about learning to deliver babies and being a midwife, being selected as health aide for Holy Cross, various types of cases she was faced with over the years and how she treated them, communication systems used, relationship between the health aide and the community and the regional health corporation, use of traditional medicine, how she liked helping people, and her retirement.	2004-17-09_PT.1	Community Health Aide Program	Aug 24, 2005
Lillian Walker, Interview 2, Part 2	This is the continuation of an interview with Lillian Walker on August 24, 2005 by Karen Brewster at Lillian's apartment in Anchorage, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Lillian talks about the reason she became a health aide, training she received, lessons she learned from being a health aide, and caring for patients. She also gives advice to anyone wishing to become a health aide and shares her own experiences with healing through the power of prayer.	2004-17-09_PT.2	Community Health Aide Program	Aug 24, 2005