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Gladys Jung
Gladys Jung was born in 1917 to Oscar and Annie Hall in St. Michael, Alaska. Her mother was from St. Michael and her father was from West Virginia. Her father worked for the Northern Commercial Company running the village's store, and the family moved to Bethel, Alaska in 1926 when Gladys was eleven years old. She graduated from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks with a teaching degree and returned with her husband to teach in the villages of the Yukon-Kuskokwim region, beginning with the old village of Nunacuaq. Gladys was the first Alaska Native (Yup’ik) school teacher in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. An elementary school in Bethel was named in her honor in 2008. Late in life, Gladys was known as the “Iqmik Lady” for her public service announcements about the hazards of tobacco use. She also was active on the Senior Advisory Board to the Eddie Hoffman Senior Center in Bethel. In 2008, Gladys Jung was named Elder of the Year by the Alaska Federation of Natives. She passed away at age 91 in September 2008.