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John Sackett
John Sackett was an Athabascan who was born in 1944 near the village of Cutoff, Alaska at spring camp on the Huslia River, a tributary of the Koyukuk River. When he was six years old, he attended St. Mark's Mssion in Nenana for a year. Later, he went to Sheldon Jackson High School in Sitka and graduated in 1963. He attended one year of college Ohio University, and graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1972 with a degree in Business Admistration (Accounting) and a minor in Political Science. In the mid-1960s, John became involved with the Fairbanks Native Association and the Tanana Chiefs Conference, and the Native land claims movement. In 1966, when he was only twenty-one years old, he ran for the Alaska State House of Representatives, and became the youngest member ever elected to the Alaska State Legislature. This began an 18-year career in the House (1967-1970) and Senate (1973-1986), where he served on the Finance Committee (ten years of which he was either the chairman and co-chair), was a member of the majority, and was one of the most powerful members of the legislature. He accomplished much for his constituents and the entire state through the formation of infrastructure and social programs, and advancing the educational, social, and economic development of rural Alaska. John Sackett also served as a president of Tanana Chiefs Conference, and in 1972 was the founding president and chairman of Doyon Ltd. John Sackett passed away in 2021. For more about John Sackett, see an article about him in Indian Country Today - Digital Indigenous News (Meghan Sullivan, March 8, 2021).