Ruth Roessel, a member of the Navajo Nation, died on Friday. She was 77.

Roessel was born and raised on the reservation. Her experience at a Bureau of Indian Affairs led her to develop Navajo-centric education programs when she became a teacher.

“Ruth was just an extraordinary individual who cared so much, not only for her own family but for her extended family and all the students she ever knew,” former Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah said. “She is a fine example of what being a Navajo woman is all about, and what Navajo women should be. And she exhibited those kinds of skills of what a mother and grandmother should be.”

Ruth Roessel and her late husband, Robert Roessel, helped found the the Rough Rock Demonstration School in 1966 and Navajo Community College, now Diné College, in 1968.

“In the early 50s, she and Bob promoted a different kind of education, where they put the dual system of Diné education with western education,” Arizona Sen. Jack Jackson Sr. said. “It was strong with Navajo language, culture and history. They believed in that and that’s what they practiced.”

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Prominent Navajo educator Ruth Roessel dies (AP 4/16)