Respected elder's lifelong work will continue 04/18/2008
www.times- standard. com/localnews/ ci_8969494
<www.times- standard. com/localnews/ ci_8969494>
To' kee kem ney-wu chek.
For many, who respected and loved Yurok elder Aileen Figueroa, the
phrase "I will see you again," offers solace after the death of
the talented singer and devoted teacher of the Yurok language, who will
be remembered tonight at her wake.
As early as 1927, Figueroa was sharing her use of the native language to
preserve the culture when she sang at age 15 for a University of
California, Berkeley researcher. She died last week at 95.
It's a mission the Westhaven resident pursued right up to her passing.
She and her daughter Kathleen co-taught two Yurok language classes at
the American Indian Academy at McKinleyville High School five days a
week as well as a weekly public class at United Indian Health Services'
Potawot village in Arcata.
The daughter of Maggie and Henry Pilgrim, Figueroa was born in 1912 on
the lower Klamath River and later fled from her forced enrollment in the
Hoopa Boarding School -- a move away from the widespread effort to
squash native cultural and toward a life of making sure the cultural not
only survived but thrived.
"She dedicated her life to sharing it," friend Lisa
Sundberg-Maulson said.
And that sharing wasn't just limited to the North Coast. After Figueroa
sang at the American Indian Folk Festival in Washington, D.C. in the
mid-1970s, representatives from the Smithsonian Institution traveled to
the North Coast to record her singing and that of others.
As well as teaching the Yurok language for more than 60 years, Figueroa
was instrumental at the very basic level of making the language
available in written form with the use of the synthetic or phonetic
alphabet -- originally developed for the International Airline Authority
that would allow weather transmissions be translated from the reporting
language to the receiving one simultaneously.
The developer of that language -- a friend of then Humboldt State
University social psychology professor Tom Parsons -- gave Parsons full
access to what he described as a single-sound alphabet. The professor
used the alphabet known as Unifon to put the Yurok language in written
form. Identified as an excellent speaker, Figueroa was recruited to help
with that effort, Parsons said.
"Our purpose was to get people talking," he said.
Parsons, who has since retired to Decatur, Georgia, worked with Figueroa
for at least 15 years, interviewing her and scheduling presentations for
his classes.
He had high praise for the elder's singing.
"Aileen had a beautiful voice," Parsons said, "a very high
female falsetto."
It was the cultural voice -- whether through her expert basketweaving or
the determination to live the language in all that it means to be Yurok
-- that will live on.
"She was just constantly teaching the culture to keep it alive,"
Sundberg-Maulson said. "She just lived being Yurok."
As Yurok language advocate Leo Canez noted, "Aileen said if you're
going to learn the language you need to live the language."
That means, he said, everything having to do with being a Yurok person:
respecting yourself, respecting others, respecting the environment,
honoring the relationship with the ceremonies and the traditional way of
life of the Yurok people.
"That's all part of the language," Canez said. "She always
said you can't separate your language from your culture. It's all
one."
Canez, who studied the language with Figueroa for more than three years,
said her work with high school students underlined the need to carry the
Yurok language and culture forward. He's working in that direction by
teaching three introductory Yurok language classes through HSU's
American Indian Studies Program.
Figueroa is, in fact, the inspiration for ongoing organization of the
Yurok Elders Wisdom Preservation Project -- an effort to use digital
media technology to preserve the wisdom and knowledge of elders for
future generations.
With just a handful of native speakers of the Yurok language left, the
work will continue.
It seems ultimately appropriate that the language would escort the
esteemed elder to her next journey.
"She just sang songs and went to sleep," Sundberg-Maulson said.
"She died singing Indian songs."
A wake will be held at the Westhaven Fire Department, 446 6th Ave. in
Westhaven from 7 tonight to 7 a.m. Saturday. All singers and drummers
are invited to honor her. Funeral Services will be held on Saturday at
the McKinleyville High School main gym at 1300 Murray Road, at 11 a.m.
followed by a Reception at Trinidad Town Hall and Trinidad Elementary
both on Trinity Street in Trinidad.
On the Web: Yurok elder Aileen Figueroa lent her voice to UC Berkeley's
Yurok Language Project, which is working to preserve the Yurok language.
Visit http://linguistics. berkeley. edu/~yurok/
<http://linguistics. berkeley. edu/~yurok/> .
www.times- standard. com/localnews/ ci_8969494
<www.times- standard. com/localnews/ ci_8969494>
To' kee kem ney-wu chek.
For many, who respected and loved Yurok elder Aileen Figueroa, the
phrase "I will see you again," offers solace after the death of
the talented singer and devoted teacher of the Yurok language, who will
be remembered tonight at her wake.
As early as 1927, Figueroa was sharing her use of the native language to
preserve the culture when she sang at age 15 for a University of
California, Berkeley researcher. She died last week at 95.
It's a mission the Westhaven resident pursued right up to her passing.
She and her daughter Kathleen co-taught two Yurok language classes at
the American Indian Academy at McKinleyville High School five days a
week as well as a weekly public class at United Indian Health Services'
Potawot village in Arcata.
The daughter of Maggie and Henry Pilgrim, Figueroa was born in 1912 on
the lower Klamath River and later fled from her forced enrollment in the
Hoopa Boarding School -- a move away from the widespread effort to
squash native cultural and toward a life of making sure the cultural not
only survived but thrived.
"She dedicated her life to sharing it," friend Lisa
Sundberg-Maulson said.
And that sharing wasn't just limited to the North Coast. After Figueroa
sang at the American Indian Folk Festival in Washington, D.C. in the
mid-1970s, representatives from the Smithsonian Institution traveled to
the North Coast to record her singing and that of others.
As well as teaching the Yurok language for more than 60 years, Figueroa
was instrumental at the very basic level of making the language
available in written form with the use of the synthetic or phonetic
alphabet -- originally developed for the International Airline Authority
that would allow weather transmissions be translated from the reporting
language to the receiving one simultaneously.
The developer of that language -- a friend of then Humboldt State
University social psychology professor Tom Parsons -- gave Parsons full
access to what he described as a single-sound alphabet. The professor
used the alphabet known as Unifon to put the Yurok language in written
form. Identified as an excellent speaker, Figueroa was recruited to help
with that effort, Parsons said.
"Our purpose was to get people talking," he said.
Parsons, who has since retired to Decatur, Georgia, worked with Figueroa
for at least 15 years, interviewing her and scheduling presentations for
his classes.
He had high praise for the elder's singing.
"Aileen had a beautiful voice," Parsons said, "a very high
female falsetto."
It was the cultural voice -- whether through her expert basketweaving or
the determination to live the language in all that it means to be Yurok
-- that will live on.
"She was just constantly teaching the culture to keep it alive,"
Sundberg-Maulson said. "She just lived being Yurok."
As Yurok language advocate Leo Canez noted, "Aileen said if you're
going to learn the language you need to live the language."
That means, he said, everything having to do with being a Yurok person:
respecting yourself, respecting others, respecting the environment,
honoring the relationship with the ceremonies and the traditional way of
life of the Yurok people.
"That's all part of the language," Canez said. "She always
said you can't separate your language from your culture. It's all
one."
Canez, who studied the language with Figueroa for more than three years,
said her work with high school students underlined the need to carry the
Yurok language and culture forward. He's working in that direction by
teaching three introductory Yurok language classes through HSU's
American Indian Studies Program.
Figueroa is, in fact, the inspiration for ongoing organization of the
Yurok Elders Wisdom Preservation Project -- an effort to use digital
media technology to preserve the wisdom and knowledge of elders for
future generations.
With just a handful of native speakers of the Yurok language left, the
work will continue.
It seems ultimately appropriate that the language would escort the
esteemed elder to her next journey.
"She just sang songs and went to sleep," Sundberg-Maulson said.
"She died singing Indian songs."
A wake will be held at the Westhaven Fire Department, 446 6th Ave. in
Westhaven from 7 tonight to 7 a.m. Saturday. All singers and drummers
are invited to honor her. Funeral Services will be held on Saturday at
the McKinleyville High School main gym at 1300 Murray Road, at 11 a.m.
followed by a Reception at Trinidad Town Hall and Trinidad Elementary
both on Trinity Street in Trinidad.
On the Web: Yurok elder Aileen Figueroa lent her voice to UC Berkeley's
Yurok Language Project, which is working to preserve the Yurok language.
Visit http://linguistics. berkeley. edu/~yurok/
<http://linguistics. berkeley. edu/~yurok/> .
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