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Virgil Naylor, Sr.

Virgil Naylor, Sr. is an Iñupiaq elder in Kotzebue, Alaska. He was born in 1936 in Noatak, Alaska, and grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle. He attended Mt. Edgecumbe school in Sitka, Alaska, and after graduation traveled around the state working as an electronic technician repairing the Air Force’s White Alice communication system. In 1965, he married his wife, Elsie, originally from Shishmaref, and they moved to Kotzebue. He continued to work for the White Alice station in Kotzebue and then as a carpenter/maintenance man for the school district until he retired in 2005. From a young age, Virgil learned to hunt and travel on the sea ice from his father and older male relatives and became a successful seal and beluga whale hunter. Although he no longer does much winter hunting, Virgil still hunts bearded seal from a boat in the broken ice of late spring, and, despite their age, he and his wife continue to be active fishermen, going out on the Kobuk Lake ice as often as possible in the springtime.

Virgil Naylor, Sr. appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Virgil Naylor, Sr., Interview 1, Part 1	Virgil Naylor, Sr. was interviewed on March 30, 2016 by Karen Brewster, Andy Mahoney, and Rebecca Rolph in his home in Kotzebue, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Virgil talks about growing up in Noatak and learning to hunt and navigate on the sea ice. He talks about changes he has observed in ice conditions in Kotzebue Sound, including thinning ice, changes in the timing of freeze-up and break-up, the effect of freshwater and tides, and the effect of wind and current. He also talks about seal and beluga whale hunting, ice fishing, change in the sun's location, the importance of understanding the weather, and the subsistence seasonal round.	2013-25-33_PT.1	Sea Ice in Northern Alaska	Mar 30, 2016
Virgil Naylor, Sr., Interview 1, Part 2	This is the continuation of an interview with Virgil Naylor, Sr. on March 30, 2016 by Karen Brewster, Andy Mahoney, and Rebecca Rolph at his home in Kotzebue, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Virgil talks about changes in the beluga whales in Kotzebue Sounds, changes in the landfast ice, ice safety, freeze-up, and importance of understanding the weather. He also talks about stories of hunters drifting out on the ice, adapting to meet environmental change, and how science can help understand changing ice conditions.	2013-25-33_PT.2	Sea Ice in Northern Alaska	Mar 30, 2016
Virgil Naylor, Sr., Interview 2	Virgil Naylor, Sr. was interviewed on March 31, 2016 by Karen Brewster at his home in Kotzebue, Alaska. His wife, Elsie, was listening in from the adjoining room. In this interview, Virgil talks about working for the White Alice Communiciations System at the Cape Lisburne and Kotzebue stations. He discusses getting hired and trained in the Lower 48 by RCA, the company who had the contract to maintain the communication systems, his duties as a technician, and being Native amongst a mostly non-Native workforce. He also talks about the connections between the Air Force and White Alice employees and facilities and the local community, and the impact of having these military sites in Kotzebue.	2014-18-13	Cold War in Alaska	Mar 31, 2016