Joseph "Uyaquq" Lomack

Joseph Uyaquq "Joe" Lomack was a Yup'ik elder born on December 27, 1924 to Elizabeth Makcuilnguq (Andrew) and Louis Ilegvak Lomack in Akiachak, Alaska. Joseph grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle, and in his younger days, he remembers reindeer herds in the Akiachak area. Later, he wore many hats in his lifetime. He was one of the health workers in the community before the Community Health Aide Program started in Alaska and formally trained local healthcare workers. Before Joseph began working for the school as a custodian he sold them cords of firewood to heat the school building and classrooms. He worked as a cannery worker and became a foreman for the cannery workers in South Naknek, Alaska. In those days, he traveled by schooner to Bristol Bay to work for the cannery and later he flew in a DC 3 plane to Dillingham to work for the summer. Joseph worked for the engineering firm Morrison Knutson Company when the U.S. Army built an airport across from Bethel, Alaska. He also worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a maintenance worker for many years until he retired.  He later became a board member for the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, where he served as a member for many years, and was Traditional Chief for the Association of Village Council Presidents. Joseph's first wife was Freda (George) Lomack with whom he raised three children. After her death, he married Nastasia (Williams) Lomack. Joseph remembered stories about the history of Akiachak, including one about a small bell that was used for church services in a qasgiq when it was still being used in the village. Later on the church was built, and he served as a church elder and Sunday school superintendent for the Moravian Church for many years in his younger days. Joseph Lomack passed away in 2012 at age 87.

Biography written by Sophie Kasayulie of the Yupiit School District.