Katherine Grant, "In Memory of Butch"

Katherine Johnson Grant

Lifelong Hoonah resident Katherine Johnson Grant, whose Tlingit name was Kaa.tut.wu.oo, died June 14, 2009. She was 89.

Katherine Grant was born Aug. 25, 1919, in Hoonah, to Margaret "Maggie" Obert Johnson and Willie Johnson Sr., she was T'akdeintaan K'eikw.shaa, G’aanaxaa Hít (Seagull House), child of Kaagwaantaan, grandchild of Chookaneidi. She married Kaagwaantaan leader Robert Grant Sr., and they had six children: Robert Grant Jr., George Grant, Kenneth Grant, Willie Grant, Alice Haldane and Ruth Johnson.

She worked at the Hoonah crab and salmon canneries and spent many years as a cook on her husband's fishing vessel, the Alberta, and was also employed at the Governor's Mansion and Juneau hotels.

She loved to sew and was very active in the Presbyterian Church, where she served as a deacon and sang in the choir, and was a member of the missionary society. She also was a dancer with Mount Fairweather Dance Group and enjoyed dancing for her brother's children and tribal dads and aunties.

As a lifelong member of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, she trained many junior members in proper Native protocol and to become tribal leaders. Above all, she loved her family, they said.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; son, Robert Grant Sr.; aunts, Marie, Susie, Ellie, Jessie and Ella; niece, Ida Beierly; uncles, Marion McKinley, Renner McKinley, Walter Obert, George Obert Sr., and James Obert Sr.; and grandchild. George Grant Sr.

She was survived by her sons, George Grant and wife, Gerda, Kenneth Grant and wife, Sharon, and Willie Grant; daughters, Alice Haldane and husband, Stan, and Ruth Johnson and husband, Arthur; cousins, Violet James and Everett Glover; nieces, Lillian Hillman, Genevieve Cook, Hazel Hope, Ida Rabbit, Priscilla Mooney, Stuie Jacobs and Rita Marvin; nephews, Alfred McKinley, Leroy McKinley and James McKinley Jr.; and grandchildren, James, Sandra and Karen Haldane, Kami Barros, Faith, Wayne and Sean Grant, Natalie Elias, Lisa, Roberta, Neal and Werner Grant, Robert Johnson, Josephine Armstrong and family, and Robert Beierly and family.

She was a shareholder of Goldbelt, Inc., Sealaska Corp., and Huna Totem Corp. and an enrolled member of Hoonah Indian Association and Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and a lifetime member of the Alaska Native Sisterhood.

A viewing was held at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Alaskan Memorial Park and Mortuary. A memorial service followed at 6 p.m. at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall. Hoonah services took place at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall: A memorial service was held at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 20, and funeral service at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 21.

The above is from the Juneau Empire, June 17, 2009