Hazel Sampson, the oldest member of the three Klallam tribes in Washington, died on Tuesday. She was 101.

Sampson was fluent in Klallam and helped develop a dictionary in the language. She was the last of her generation to have grown up speaking the language first instead of English.

“She was the last one,” Jamie Valadez, a Klallam language teacher, told The Peninsula Daily News. “[Her death] changes the dynamics of everything."

Sampson was a member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe but was closely involved with the other two Klallam tribes in Washington.

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Eldest member among Klallam tribes, last native speaker of language dies in Port Angeles at 103 (The Peninsula Daily News 2/6)