Project Jukebox

Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program

Project Jukebox Survey

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

Tom "Kiarcimalria" Wassilie

Tom Wassilie

Tom Kiarcimalria Wassilie is Yup'ik and was born on March 19, 1941 to Helena and John Wassilie in Akiachak, Alaska. Tom's parents passed away while he was young, and he stayed most of the time after that with his father’s mother, Anna Cyril. She was his teacher, who had him go out very early every morning without his shoes to check the weather. Her subsistence camps were at Pugcenar and Taqikarpak on the Elaayiq River. Mike Cyril taught Tom how to hunt, trap, fish, and run a dogteam. Tom married Lucy Nose on September 2, 1965, and together they raised seven children. Tom is an accomplished dog musher who has participated in sled dog races around the Kuskokwim Delta region. In 2005, he had a dog yard with 32 dogs in it and had recently won first place in the Russian Mission sled dog race. Tom Wassilie passed away in 2007 at age 66.

Biography written by Sophie Kasayulie of the Yupiit School District.
Date of Birth:
Mar 19, 1941
Date of Death:
Jun 14, 2007
Tom "Kiarcimalria" Wassilie appears in the following new Jukebox projects:
Interview Title Abstract Archive #: Oral History Project Date of Interview
Tom Kiarcimalria Wassilie

Tom Kiarcimalria Wassilie was interviewed on October 13, 2005 by Louann Rank, Mary Frederick, Frank Chingliak, Sophie Kasayulie and Marla Statscewich at the Yupiit School District's "Blue Building" in Akiachak, Alaska. In this interview, Tom talks about living a traditonal seasonally-based subsistence lifestyle based on hunting, fishing and trapping, and learning traditional skills and values from his grandparents at their camps on the Elaayiq River. He shares experiences with fishing for blackfish and clams, and hunting muskrat and geese. Tom also talks about traveling by dog team, proper care and breeding of dogs, and even racing his dog teams. In addition to his own experiences, Tom also shares some traditional stories.

 2004-07-42 Akiachak - Then and Now Oct 13, 2005