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Mattie "Qavviayaaq" Tunik

Mattie Tunik

Mattie Tunik (Qavviayaaq) was born in 1924 to Nina and Teddy Nayukok. She recalls growing up at Imaġruaq fishing with her grandfather, Amaġuaq. When she was a teenager, Mattie's family camped at Akiqpak, and Mattie hiked into the nearby hills to visit Charlie Edwardsen, Sr., Arnold Brower, Sr., and the other herders who were watching the reindeer in that area. When she was older, Mattie worked for Tom Brower, Sr. at Half Moon Three or Alaqtaq. In 1940, she married Clayborne Tunik, who had been a reindeer herder. In 1947, Nina and Teddy moved back to the Meade River where Teddy worked for the coal mine at Tikiġluk, and Mattie and Clayborne eventually settled nearby in the village of Atqasuk.

(Biographical section from Quliaqtuat Iñupiat Nunaŋiññiñ - The Report of the Chipp-Ikpikpuk River and Upper Meade River Oral History Project. W. Arundale and W. Schneider, 1987.)

Mattie "Qavviayaaq" Tunik appears in the following new Jukebox projects: