Sidney Huntington
Sidney Charles Huntington was born in 1915 in Hughes, Alaska. His mother, Anna, was a Koyukon Athabascan woman who once walked from Nome back to her family on the Hogatza River alone in mid-winter, a journey of over 400 miles. His father was a stampeder from New York who came into the country in 1897.When Sidney was five years old, his mother died suddenly leaving Sidney and two younger siblings to survive on their own for two weeks. That experience gave him a spirit of self-reliance that he instilled in his own 20 children and in countless other young people he mentored over the years. He’s been a trapper, miner, fisherman, business owner, member of the State Board of Game, civic leader, and advocate for his people.
Although his formal education ended in the third grade, he has never stopped learning and figuring out how to do things on his own. Sidney and his wife, Angela, live in a cabin Sidney built on the banks of the Yukon River in Galena, Alaska, where they still spend their summers fishing.
(photo by Anne Hanley)
Sidney Huntington’s speech given at potlatch honoring cast & crew of The Winter Bear,
Galena, Alaska, October 15, 2010
Thank you for all coming to show your support for the play "Winter Bear." During my early life, young people taking their own life was unheard of. The culture has changed and the way of life has definitely changed. The elder of those days taught the younger generation how to survive off the resource that the land provided.
It has been my sole goal to try to help educate young people to meet the challenges ahead of them to survive in this continually changing world. Education is the key to survival and to the prevention of suicide.
You, the young people, you are the future of this country. We need you. You were put on this earth for a purpose. Life will be difficult at times but those times will pass; your elders are here for you and want you to choose life.
God Bless you all. Again, Thank You.
