Hannah Anderson

Hannah Anderson was born on December 10, 1924 to Eva Brasil and David Tobuk in Alatna, Alaska, and was raised in Old Bettles (five miles downriver from the current Bettles site). Her father was a sternwheeler operator and her mother raised Hannah and her three siblings. Hannah's mother died young, so Hannah helped raise her younger siblings, and moved into Fairbanks when she was seventeen years old. Hannah moved back to Bettles in 1948 when her husband, pilot James "Andy" Anderson was hired by Wien Airlines to establish and operate the company's Bettles base. In 1950, they opened the Bettles Lodge, which Hannah ran for seventeen years before moving to Fairbanks to finish raising and educating her children. Hannah began her career as a health aide in 1979 after her three children were grown. Her sister, Rhoda, and her friend, Helen McConnell, suggested she apply for the newly created health aide position in Bettles/Evansville. Dr. Walter Johnson, a longtime friend, had a big influence on her deciding to take the position. At first, she worked out of her house for two years without running water. Later, she and the alternate health aide worked out of the clinic and sometimes had to respond to emergencies in surrounding villages. Hannah retired in 2000 and missed the health aide family she developed over the years. For more about Hannah Anderson's career as a community health aide, see the October 2003 issue of "The Council," the newsletter of the Tanana Chiefs Conference.