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Mary Ann Attatayuk

1943-2012

4/23/12
From the Fairbanks News-Miner

Mary Ann (Frank) Attatayuk 68, of Minto, left us unexpectedly on April 14, 2012.

She was born on June 9, 1943, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Fairbanks, to the late Ellen and Arthur Frank.

She grew up in seasonal subsistence camps where she helped raise her brothers and sisters until she left for Wrangell and Mount Edgecumbe. After she finished her schooling, she came back and babysat for her Uncle Richard and Aunt Anna. While working at the Fairbanks Hotel she met George Attatayuk and later moved to Barrow and married. While living in Barrow, she was employed as a custodian at the Barrow Hospital.

Her travels brought her to different cities from top of the world Barrow, to Gallup, N.M., but most of her life she lived in Minto where she loved camping, sewing beads, cutting hair and singing. Her main passions were cooking and Elvis Presley.

One year she was sitting at home on a warm spring day, with the snow melting outside, slush everywhere, and she wanted to have a dog race. She went from house to house and invited everyone. That was the start of the annual Mary Ann Invitational Dog Race.

Mary Ann was an avid volunteer for the Minto Dog Mushing Association. She enjoyed visiting with her cousins by the dozens, especially Dee Dee Jimmie, Donny Evans, and she recently spent time in Nenana with Darlene Jenson. Mary Ann always had everyone laughing with her comical personality.
Mary Ann had numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren who she loved with all her heart. She'd often sit on her porch and watch the little ones playing around her yard and running wild in her house. MaryAnn and her cousin, Arthur "Chubby," were the only two grandchildren old enough to be spoiled by their grandpa Justin.

Mary Ann was preceded in death by her parents, Ellen and Arthur Frank; daughter, Miranda; son, Harlen; siblings, Vernon, Douglas, Leona, Joseph, Arnold, and Patricia; grandparents, Justin and Lucy Frank, and John and Susan Reese; aunts, Lorraine (Rainie), Hazel, Mary, Ena, and Nora; uncles, Alfred, Jeffrey, Mike, Zack, and John.

She is survived by her daughter, Carla (Pat) Smith; son, Jerry (Faith) Attatayuk; companion, Wayne Charlie; grandchildren, Samantha (Gregory), Simmik(Mary), and Keifer Kanayurak, Smitty, Miranda, and Jennafer Smith, Juliette and Harlen Attatayuk, Jordan, Gareth (Lynessa), Christian, and Clayton Baker, Susan and Mercedes Frank; great-grandchildren, Gregory Jr. and Savannah Overbay, Emma Kanayurak, Brielle and Tayla Baker; siblings, Carlos (Emma), Lenni, Geneway (Elecia), Lee (Lorraine), Elizabeth, Diane, Richard, Jeff, Joyce (Lloyd), Gary, and Valerie, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends throughout Alaska.

Funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 21, 2012, at the Minto Community Hall, followed by a traditional potlatch.

Arrangements were entrusted to Chapel of Chimes.

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