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Former Kuiu Island resident Matilda "Tillie" Katherine Kushnick died Aug. 3, 2008. She was 82.

Born Aug. 14, 1925, to Maggie Kennedy James and George James Sr. in Port Beauclaire on Kuiu Island, her father was from the first Wolf House of Kuiu, and her mother was from the first house of Double-headed Raven of the Dog Salmon Clan of the Thlinadi Shakan.

She could remember "being forcefully removed from her tribal village Shakan and Kuiu in 1934," her family said.

She was the matriarch of Kuiu and Shakan, northern Prince of Wales people, and to both her 12 siblings and her own 15 children and all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She adopted numerous sons and daughters.

She was a troller, trapper, hunter and nurse at Ketchikan General Hospital. She also served on the South East Alaska Regional Health Consortium board of directors.

"She was an advocate for the subsistence rights of the Native people of Alaska," her family wrote. "She attended (the Alaska Federation of Natives) and spoke about subsistence and Native rights, and was always given a round of applause for raising her 15 children and never needing welfare. She spent many years in politics fighting for the rights of her people statewide," her family said.

She was a shareholder of Sealaska Corp. and Cape Fox Corp. She served 30 years on the Cape Fox board, and more than 20 years on the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority Board of Commissioners.

She was a past president, camp mother and lifetime member of Saxman Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 15. She was honored as "Mother of the Year."

In 2003, the Alaska Native Sisterhood honored her as "Citizen of the Year." Tlingit and Haida Central Council also honored her as "Citizen of the Year."

She also was a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

She was preceded in death by her husbands, James Charles Sr. and William George Kushnick; parents, Maggie and George James Sr.; brother, Robert "Tom" James; daughter, LaVina Ann Sherwood; and grandsons, Patrick Horwath and Wally Sherwood.

She is survived by her children, Melvin Charles, Ginger Fox, Marvin Charles, Margaret Smith, Gary Charles, Thomas Charles, Donna Brew, Lillian Jaenig, Sharon Charles, Candy Williams, James Charles Jr., Geraldine Lewis, Darrell "Bruce" Charles and William P.C. Kushnick; brothers, Benjamin James, Rudy James, Murphy James, George "Koosh" James, Franklyn James, Embert James, Daryl James and Henry James; sisters, Margaret E. Peterson, Georgia Ann Miles and Goldie Abel; and numerous relatives of Kuiu, Shakan and northern Prince of Wales.

A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, at the Saxman Community Hall. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11, at the Ted Ferry Civic Center.