Tlingit Elder, Dr. Walter Soboleff, Dies at 102

May 22, 2011|Rhonda McBride

A revered Tlingit Elder died early this morning at his home in Juneau. Dr. Walter Soboleff was 102.

He was born in the village of Killisnoo near Wrangell on November 14, 1908.

Soboleff lived through a period of great change for Alaska Natives.

He earned a scholarship to go to college in Iowa, and when he finished his schooling he returned to Juneau in 1940.

Soboleff soon became a Presbyterian pastor, at a time when church services were segregated. But Soboleff convinced church leaders to open them up to everyone.

Sen. Al Kookesh, (D) Angoon, said he spoke to Soboleff last week and asked him if he thought about death.

“I preached about heaven all my life,” Soboleff told him, “so I don’t know why I’d be afraid to go there.”

Kookesh says Soboleff died at 3:00 a.m. The family has not yet had time to begin making funeral arrangements.

Kookesh says his family is related to the Soboleffs, and that all his life he called him "uncle." Kookesh says when he graduated from law school Soboleff paid for his gown, because he couldn't afford it. "That's the kind of person he was."

Kookesh says Soboleff saw some of the worst of racism in Alaska, but it never made him bitter. He says Soboleff once told him about a time when a Juneau landlord refused to rent to him because he was an Alaska Native. Kookesh says Soboleff told him that it was important to him to not respond in anger -- that the only thing he said to the landlord was, “I’m sorry to have bothered you. I hope you have a nice day.”

Sobeloff was known for trying to make the best of worlds. In his later years, he occasionally preached at the Northern Light United Church in his trademark gentle and quiet tone.

“When someone great dies, the Tlingit have a saying, says Kookesh. “A great tree has fallen in the forest, and that’s exactly what has happened.”

|

|

|