Betty White rocks

You are welcome but this is not her show’s site. Is Betty White’s new show an April Fool’s Day prank? Judging by the European version, it wouldn’t be very complimentary but ageist.

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Bethel the Kodiak bear one of the oldest

I’m not sure what human decade she is. I noticed in the video that she has teeth. Too bad she only gets salmon once a year, but the Kuskokwim River is rather far away (and at the opposite time of year).

Bethel the Kodiak brown bear, celebrating birthday in Australia

Not grizzly at all… Bethel the kodiak bear lounges in her enclosure at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. (ABC news)

Australia’s oldest bear has celebrated its 32nd birthday.

Bethel the kodiak [sic] bear also has the distinction of being one of the oldest of its species in the world.

It’s become a birthday ritual that never fails to delight the grand old dame of Taronga Zoo.

“She was bashing at the door as soon as she could smell that salmon coming in,” said zookeeper Deb Olsen.

“She knows that it’s a special day when she sees the big salmon there.”

I noticed while reading up on Bethel’s birthday bash that the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) has a tag or category for news feeds called aged-care. Click on the ink below to add it to your news reader.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/tag/aged-care/rss.xml

Supercentenarians January 2009

Ms Baines is featured in the LATimes article, Gertrude Baines may be 114, but she’s not counting

http://www.latimes.com/news/local January 11, 2009 Oldest on Earth
1. Gertrude Baines, 114, Los Angeles; born April 6, 1894
2. Beatrice Farve, 113, Georgia; April 30, 1895
3. Kama Chinen, 113, Japan; May 10, 1895
4. Mary Josephine Ray, 113, New Hampshire; May 17, 1895
5. Olivia Patricia Thomas, 113, New York; June 29, 1895
6. Neva Morris, 113, Iowa; Aug. 3, 1895
7. Chiyo Shiraishi, 113, Japan; Aug. 6, 1895
8. Tomoji Tanabe, 113, Japan; Sept. 18, 1895 9. Maggie Renfro, 113, Louisiana; Nov. 14, 1895 10. Yoshino Ide, 113, Japan; Jan. 1, 1896
Source: Inglewood-based Gerontology Research Group

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Walter Soboleff, Tlingit linguist 1908-2011

2011-05-22
“Tlingit Elder Walter Soboleff Dies at 102″ http://www.ktuu.com/ktuu-walter-soboleff-obituary-052211,0,4639306.story

Noted Tlingit elder Walter Soboleff dies from the Juneau Empire.

http://aprn.org/2011/05/23/tlingit-leader-walter-soboleff-passes-away/

2009-11-14 Celebrating 101 years Juneau Empire – Juneau,AK,USA
In the summer, he’d return to Alaska and work on the seine boats out of Sitka or the cold storage. The price of salmon then included humpies selling for 4 …
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/111309/loc_516060703.shtml

2008-11-14 nonagenarian centenarian Tlingit linguist

Dr Soboleff was a main speaker at the Elders and Youth Conference and at AFN in Anchorage this year. Elders and Youth is the convention which precedes the statewide Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention. Soboleff is important in anthropological linguistics but better known for his contributions to Alaska as reverend, teacher, organizer, archivist.

• Native leader’s rise against all odds inspires hope COMPASS: Other points of view By HAROLD NAPOLEON Published: October 22nd, 2008 10:01 PM Last Modified: October 22nd, 2008 11:30 PM

1908 was the year that the 88 million Americans living at the time heard about a “ball” dropping in New York’s Time Square to celebrate the coming of a New Year; it was the first year that Americans would honor their mothers (Mother’s Day). Teddy Roosevelt was president, a postage stamp cost 2 cents, and Henry Ford was developing the Model T, which would sell for $850.
….
Kajakti, “One Slain in Battle,” was born November 14, 1908, to Alexander Ivan Soboleff, the son of a Russian Orthodox priest, and his wife, Anna Hunter of Killisnoo, Alaska. Kajakti (also spelled Kha’jaq’tii) was born into a world where his mother’s Tlingit culture was being forever changed by his father’s European one. He was named after an Angoon Clan leader to whom he was related.

As a 7 year old, Kajakti was taken to an Iicht (shaman) by his mother and was treated for reasons he never understood. He also experienced being sent to the “Russian school” in Sitka as an 8-year-old, only to be sent home again because it closed due to the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, its benefactor (1917). A year later, the 10-year-old served as an interpreter for a doctor who visited Killisnoo during the 1918 flu epidemic that brought many Alaska Native tribes to the edge of extinction.

• Tlingit elder’s historical documents now accessible online SOBOLEFF: Struggle over land and culture recorded for seven decades. The Associated Press Published: February 11th, 2008 12:47 AM

JUNEAU — More than 1,000 papers documenting Alaska Native history by Tlingit elder Walter Soboleff have been posted on the Internet by Sealaska Heritage Institute in what officials are calling a unique and priceless collection.

Running from 1929 to 1995, the documents provide insight into the Native land claims struggle and the Alaska Native Brotherhood, institute president Rosita Worl said. … “He begins at a real pivotal time in our history,” she said.

from APRN.org
Web Extra: Dr. Soboleff at 100 (extended version)

Tue, October 21, 2008 At the Elders and Youth gathering that precedes the AFN convention, First Alaskans Institute trustee Byron Mallot spoke about the incredible legacy of Tlingit elder Dr. Walter Soboleff. Soboleff will turn 100 years old in November and Mallot said introducing him was humbling. Here is an extended interview with Dr. Soboleff.

• Download Audio (MP3)

[revised 2008-11-14] The Anchorage Daily Newsreader provides additional links to his birthday celebration.

CELEBRATING A CENTURY-OLD NATIVE LEADER: The tributes continue for Walter Soboleff of Juneau – a Tlingit scholar and Presbyterian pastor – who turns 100 years old today, reports the Juneau Empire. In a speech Thursday at the Southeast Alaska Native Summit, Soboleff said that as white culture overtook Alaska, he “tried to take the best of both worlds.”

His son Ross Soboleff, 57, said that pluralist attitude was novel in his father’s time. “It certainly was presented to us, and to his generation, ‘The Native ways are old. We’ve got to put those aside and take on the new life.’ He was someone who pioneered the idea that, well, no, you don’t have to put those aside, those things are part of who you are. … I can make it in this greater society we live in, but I’m still a Native. Things that are part of our way of life have validity and value. Someone had to come up with that idea. This guy was one of the first to see that it’s possible – not just see that it was possible, but to actually do it.”

The article includes photos from Soboleff’s life. Soboleff gave a dramatic keynote speech at the Elders and Youth Conference last month in Anchorage. You can hear it at the Alaska Public Radio Network site. More than 1,000 papers by Soboleff documenting Alaska Native history are being archived by the Sealaska Heritage Institute. Many can be seen here.

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Esther Martinez, nonagenarian Tewa linguist, 2008 honor

For more on the remarkable Ms Martinez see the earlier post

• Nonagenarian American Indian linguist

  http://theelderlies.wordpress.com/2006/09/18/american-indian-linguist/

Esther Martinez: ‘A way to honor her spirit’ Historical roadside marker celebrates Tewa linguist and renowned storyteller
11/8/2008 – 11/9/08
OHKAY OWINGEH — New Mexico honored Ohkay Owingeh storyteller and Tewa linguist Esther Martinez Blue Water (P’oe Tsáwä) on Saturday by unveiling a new roadside marker at the pueblo north of Española.

…

“It is an honor to have a marker that recognizes her contributions to her pueblo and to others,” said Martinez, speaking to the large crowd gathered at the site along N.M. 68. “She was a person steadfast to the end.”

The wooden marker is the second of 55 that will be installed around the state in recognition of influential New Mexico women. .. The marker program was conceived by three women — Pat French, Beverly Duran and Alexis Girard. They created the New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative and lobbied the Legislature to fund the project.

“As we drove around the state, we realized all the historic markers up and down the road were all for men,” French said Saturday as she waited for the cutting of a silver ribbon around Martinez’s marker. “This is to create a better balance.”

…

Martinez, born in 1912, was known as an exceptional storyteller. Her family said she could use almost anything as the source of a good yarn, even everyday events. “My mother’s stories had such life and character,” daughter Josephine Binford said with a chuckle. “You could see what she described. When she spoke, it was like she cast a spell.”

… Martinez received many national honors for her work in preserving the language and stories of her people. She taught Tewa in the Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo) schools for years and created a Tewa dictionary. She traveled widely to share stories with non-Pueblo people. She received the Teacher of the Year award from the National Council of American Indians in 1997 and a year later was given the Governor’s Award for Excellence.

In 2006, Martinez was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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