Project Jukebox Survey

Help us redesign the Project Jukebox website by taking a very short survey!

Hazel Apok

Hazel Apok was born to Melba Woods on January 1, 1951 in Noatak, Alaska. In March 1951 or 1952, she was adopted by Johnnie and Martha Smith and traveled to Kiana by dog team. She spent the first five years of her life away from the village with her parents in designated spring and summer camps. During portions of the winter months, they traveled far and away by dog team in search of caribou and other game. Because Hazel needed to attend school, Johnnie and Martha settled down in Kiana where she spent the next nine years attending elementary school. She has one brother, Don and a sister, Lulu with Johnnie and Martha's family. Hazel was blessed with a large family consisting of eleven brothers and sisters from her biological father, Henry Bailey and seven brothers and sisters from her biological mother, Melba Woods Collins. She is proud to be the maternal granddaughter of Nellie Sheldon Woods and Jonas Ward and paternal granddaughter of Charlie and Grace Niglik Bailey, all of whom are from Noatak. She has one daughter, Cheryl and one son, Richard from her first marriage. With her second husband, she has four stepchildren. Hazel left Kiana at the age of 14 to attend high school. Her freshman year was spent at Mt. Edgecumbe in Sitka, sophomore year at Victory High School near Palmer, junior year at Lathrop High in Fairbanks, and graduated from Kailua High School in Kailua, Hawaii. She attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado for one semester and left for Kotzebue where her mother lived at the time. With her first husband, she attended Alaska Rural Training Corps with Noorvik as the field site with some study occurring on campus at the Alaska Pacific University and University of Alaska-Fairbanks. In 1981, Hazel left Kotzebue and moved to Barrow and spent the next nine years in the area. In 1990, she met her current husband and after five months in Barrow, moved to Anchorage. With her husband's job, she had the opportunity to move back to the area in 1994. Due to lack of adequate housing, Hazel took a job with the Native Village of Kiana and spent three years in Kotzebue. The opportunity arose to move back to Kiana in 1998. More recently, Hazel has lived in Kotzebue and worked as the Environmental Program Manager for Maniilaq Association.

Date of Birth:

Jan 1, 1951

Hazel Apok appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Kiana Village History Project

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Hazel Apok	Hazel Apok was interviewed on April 3, 2002 by Bill Burke in Fairbanks, Alaska while she was in town working with the Project Jukebox team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on the Kiana Village History Project Jukebox. In this interview, Hazel talks about growing up in Kiana, getting an education, and learning to live a traditional subsistence lifestyle. She discusses changes she has seen in the environment and with the animal populations, as well as how the community of Kiana has changed through time and he younger generations are faced with new challenges. She also talks about hunting, trapping, and traditional Native food.	2002-09-13	Kiana Village History Project	Apr 3, 2002

As Interviewer

Interview Title	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Abstract
Roger Atoruk	2002-09-07	Kiana Village History Project	Roger Atoruk was interviewed on February 27, 2002 by Bill Schneider, Hazel Apok, and Eileen Devinney in Kiana, Alaska. In this interview, Roger talks about his family background and growing up in Kiana, and about when there was a lot of gold mining at Klery Creek Mine. He also identifies and talks about photographs in his personal collection, and discusses the history of the village of Kiana and environmental change he has observed.
Walter Cook, Sr.	2002-09-05	Kiana Village History Project	Walter Cook Sr. was interviewed on February 27, 2002 by Bill Schneider, Hazel Apok, and Eileen Devinney in Kiana, Alaska. In this interview, Walter talks about growing up in the village, his father working in the mining industry and growing a garden, and how things have changed during his lifetime. He also discusses historic photographs and talks about trapping mudsharks.
Henry Jackson, Sr.	2002-09-01	Kiana Village History Project	Henry Jackson Sr. was interviewed on February 27, 2002 by Bill Schneider, Hazel Apok, and Eileen Devinney in Kiana, Alaska. In this interview, Henry talks about growing up around Kiana and traveling by dog team, caring for and feeding a dog team, and the region's dog team mail carriers. He also provides some history of the Squirrel River area and of Kiana, and shares his observations about changes he has seen in the environment and with animals. Henry also discusses living a traditional subsistence lifestyle, as well as working for a living, including in mining, longshoring, and as a heavy equipment operator.
Leo Jackson	2002-09-09	Kiana Village History Project	Leo Jackson was interviewed on February 28, 2002 by Bill Schneider, Hazel Apok, and Eileen Devinney in Kiana, Alaska. In this interview, Leo talks about his family background, his childhood in the old village of Kiana, and using dog teams for transportation. He also discusses working in the mining industry, changes he has seen in the environment and the community, and what he thinks the younger generation should know about Kiana, living a traditional subsistence lifestyle, and abiding by Iñupiaq values.