KAREN:  Before we start talking about the health aide part of your life, maybe you could just give us a little introduction into when and where you were born and your childhood and your early years. 

LILLIAN:  I was born in Unalakleet and lived there up until I was four years old.  And that was in 1924. 

Probably around '28, I went there and went to my mother who lived in Kaltag then.  She remarried after my biological father died.  And we lived there up to -- let's see, how long was that now -- up until I was 7 years old. 

KAREN:  So 1931? 

LILLIAN:  Uh-hum (affirmative). 

KAREN:  Something like that? 

LILLIAN:  And then I -- our dad moved us to a mink farm between Unalakleet and Kaltag and called Whaleback.  And we lived there with our dad.  Our mother died about that year, I -- when I turned 7.  So he raised us.  And we lived on that farm for six years. 

And that's when I left -- was -- he sent us to Holy Cross, my sister and I, to go to school.  And in the meantime, in I think the year '46, he passed -- passed away, out in Tacoma.  And we -- we were both there -- there until -- I was there until I was 18, which that's when I got married. 

And my sister, I asked them if they could please send her somewhere to work because she was of age to leave. 

And they wanted to have her marry, and I told them, no, I didn't want that.  I was older than she was and I think I had the right to say.  And so they sent her to Fairbanks and she got a job up there at the St. Joseph's Hospital. 

KAREN:  Okay. 

LILLIAN:  And she later on went to Seward, about 10 years after that, I think she married.  Or less than 10 years.  Anyway, it was about that. 

And she lived in Moose Pass for up until her children were old enough for schooling, or they moved to Portland to where he was originally from, and lived there in all their school years, while I lived in Holy Cross and raised my children there. 

KAREN:  And what was your mother's name? 

LILLIAN:  Katherine Bradley. 

KAREN:  And then your --

LILLIAN:  And -- and she -- when she married our dad, he was Fred Labelle. 

KAREN:  Okay.  And he was the one with the mink -- on the mink farm? 

LILLIAN:  Yes. 

KAREN:  Okay.  Okay. 

LILLIAN:  And --

KAREN:  And so when did you get married? 

LILLIAN:  I was 18, got married in '42. 

KAREN:  And what was your husband's name?
 
LILLIAN:  David Walker. 

KAREN:  Okay.  And he was from Holy Cross? 

LILLIAN:  Yes.  Uh-hum.  Yeah.  He was from there.  And then I lived there up until the day or the year he passed away, and I moved over here. 

KAREN:  Which was when? 

LILLIAN:  2001. 

KAREN:  2001.  And how many children do you have? 

LILLIAN:  Six. 

KAREN:  Okay. 

LILLIAN:  I lost one when he was six years old off -- he had an accident and fell off a truck and -- and the truck crushed him, so I lost him when he was that old.  And then all the rest of my children are living.  They are spread here and there. 

KAREN:  So what -- oh, go ahead. 

LILLIAN:  I have two that live in Holy Cross yet still, Kathy Chase and Darrell Walker.  And Rudy is the oldest one.  He lives in Juneau.  I have one in Galena.  And Mary is now in Chevak teaching. 

KAREN:  She's the one who has been living with you here in Anchorage? 

LILLIAN:  Yes.  She went to school for two years, got her masters degree, and went to Job Service here in Anchorage and they offered her a job.  Some people asked if she could come to Chevak and teach there, or be their principal.  So she accepted. 

And Chevak is a large school, about 300 children.  And they have the principal and the superintendent lives there, too.  And it's owned by Chevak and doesn't belong to any of the school districts. 

So there's a total of about 900 people that live there.  And it's a very nice -- from what I heard the principal tell us, former principal, she said that it's just beautiful there.  She loved it. 

KAREN:  Okay. 

LILLIAN:  And then Mary asked me what should she do, accept the job?  And I told her, go for it.  Take it.  And if you don't want to go back next year, you don't have to.  Besides, she said she wants to come back here and go back to school again.