My Grandfather Peter

The people pictured here with my grandfather are only a small fraction of our family...

My grandfather is a very quiet man whose eyesight nowadays reminds me of Mr. Magoo. Once he realizes who he is seeing his memory oftentimes astounds me. He has been sharing information with us for as long as I can remember about the places and people of our region. When his health started declining he told me how his mom died when he was around two due to the flu epidemic. He would look down and put his hand in a sweeping motion in front of him and say, "I can still see it when they put her in the mud. My auntie Qiatguq- the first Qiatguq behind me, and behind her my other three aunties." He said that his aunt that took him in died shortly after his mom, then he was adopted by the couple he calls his parents - Peter and Nastasia Nick. I once asked him what was his mom's name, he did not recall only knowing her as mom. His biological father was not in the picture, being a Caucasian miner by the name of George Fredricks who later moved to Sleetmute. By the time he was a teenager both his adoptive parents died and he lived with his uncle and cousins. One of my dreams is to have some kind of documentary of his stories. I have some written notes and had one video but they are only a small peek into the treasure of stories he can tell us.