ALASKA NATIVE EDUCATION
1953 – 1973
A PROFESSIONAL MEMOIR

BY
TOM (THOMAS) R. HOPKINS
© 2008

AFTERWORD

During the time 1953 – 2008, we lived in more than a dozen different houses located in seven different towns or cities. Yet, somehow, I was able to move with us boxes of folders containing the record on which this memoir is based. In one apartment the basement was flooded twice and some documents became water stained. It was only when we got to Albuquerque and have lived in the same house since 1971 that I began to open and sort out the contents of the boxes, many of which were in very poor condition.

Obviously, paper records from 1953 or 1955, i.e., the White House Conference Report, were in various qualities of condition. By this I mean, clear readability, readability or not readable, etc. Those in clearly readable condition were scanned and turned into computer files and a few pages were typed-word processed. Anyone familiar with the scanning process knows that the transfer from a typed page to a computer file is not always perfect. And, from a spirit duplicated page to a computer file always requires close editing. I have edited and proofed the scanned documents several times, yet, I know that some blemishes will get through my efforts. Hopefully, the reader will overlook the blemishes and still find the Memoir informative.

I cannot complete the memoir without special mention of Vinita F. Hopkins, my wife of many decades. While her name is not on the authorship of this Memoir, her contributions were many and significant. For example, while not a full-time employee at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, she worked tirelessly with students in different capacities, including substitute Dormitory Aide. The Principal, Bill Jackson, grew to respect her intelligence and competence and more than once, asked me outright, “What does Vinita think of this?” When we were teachers at Barrow and when she was my Special Assistant at Shungnak, one might say we were both teachers but with different assignments. Interestingly enough she also served as a teacher of Tsimshian Children at the village of Hartley Bay, British Columbia and a Teacher at the Navajo Rock Point Community School in Arizona. She has her BA Degree in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin.

References

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