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Mary Ann Olympic

Mary Ann Olympic was a Yup'ik elder who was born in a reindeer herding camp at Kukaklek Lake in 1931. Her father was a reindeer herder originally from Alagnak who moved to Kukaklek Lake in 1906, and married Mary Ann's mother in 1926. She grew up a subsistence lifestyle, where the family moved around seasonally according to where resources were available. For example, in the springtime her mother would hunt ground squirrels, and in the summer her father hunted brown bear and moose. And she learned about reindeer herding and trapping from her father, who also did some commercial fishing to support his family. Mary was sixteen years old when her parents moved the family into the village of Igiugig, Alaska, and in 1948 she married John Olympic. Mary Ann ran a trapline at Kukaklek Lake and went to fish camp while raising her family and then worked at the school in Igiugig from 1968 to 1994 as a way to earn extra income. In her later years, Mary Ann was highly regarded for her knowledge of traditional activities, beliefs, and of local place names, and she provided inspiration as an elder leader in the community. May Ann Olympic passed away in 2015 at the age of 83 years old.

Date of Death:

Apr 14, 2015

Mary Ann Olympic appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Katmai National Park

Kukaklek Lake Map

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Mary Ann Olympic, Interview 1	Mary Ann Olympic was interviewed on March 8, 1995 by Bill Schneider and Don Callaway at her home in Igiugig, Alaska. In this interview, Mary discusses her strong personal ties to Kukaklek Lake where she grew up and recalls in Yup'ik and English the names of the places around the lake. She talks about growing up in a traditional subsistence lifestyle where the family moved around seasonally to access resources, and where she learned about reindeer herding, trapping, hunting and fishing. She also talks about the importance of sharing and abiding by traditional cultural practices. Mary also describes raising her family, and running a trapline and working at the school to help support them.	95-33-01	Katmai National Park	Mar 8, 1995
Mary Ann Olympic, Interview 2, Part 1	Mary Ann Olympic was interviewed on March 9, 1995 by Bill Schneider and Don Callaway at the school in Igiugig, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Mary talks about fishing, gathering wood, and smoking fish at her fish camp. She also talks about picking salmon berries, collecting grass for making baskets, and other fall and winter seasonal activities. Mary also discusses the important Yup'ik values of sharing and respecting the animals harvested, as well as the puberty rite of passage she went through that is no longer practiced.	95-33-02	Katmai National Park	Mar 9, 1995
Mary Ann Olympic, Interview 2, Part 2	This is the continuation of an interview with Mary Ann Olympic on March 9, 1995 by Bill Schneider and Don Callaway at the school in Igiugig, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Mary talks about the traditional values she was taught about not wasting food and respecting the animals harvested, and about times where there were food shortages and starvation. She also discusses the effect of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV's) on the activity level of children and community members, and remembers reindeer herding days when they used dogteams to get around and had to keep the reindeer separated from caribou.	95-33-03	Katmai National Park	Mar 9, 1995
Mary Ann Olympic, Interview 3	Mary Ann Olympic was interviewed on September 12, 2002 by Don Callaway and Bill Schneider in Igiugig, Alaska. In this interview, Mary talks about the effects of changing transportaton for access to subsistence resources with the increased use of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV's) and snowmachines, observations of climate and environmental changes, and changes in the timing of freeze-up and the coming of winter. She also talks about trapping, hauling wood, and living at Kukaklek Lake. She marks places around Kukaklek Lake on a map and discusses the meaning of the places and placenames. Finally, she shares some old stories about big "monster" pike fish in Battle Lake eating large animals like reindeer.	2002-26-01	Katmai National Park	Sep 12, 2002