Sadie Brower Neakok, considered the "mother" of the Inupiaq village of Barrow, died Sunday. She was 88.

Neakok was known as an educator, foster parent, subsitence rights advocate and traditional seamstress. She was the first Alaska Native to serve as a state magistrate.

Neakok attended a Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary school and was sent to San Francisco for high school. She was admitted to Stanford University but returned home to study education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

A memorial service is being held in Barrow today.

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Famed elder in Barrow dies (The Anchorage Daily News 6/17)