Thomas L. Jackson's Photo Collection

Ruth Sandvik was born in Kotzebue, Alaska to Walter and Nellie Flood Blankenship on September 25, 1928. Although born in Kotzebue, she does not consider herself a Qikiktagrugmiut (Iñupiaq name for the people of Kotzebue). Ruth and her sister Ida grew up in Candle, Quartz and Bear Creek (near Candle), Elephant Point, Kewalik, Selawik, and finally Kiana. Their mother, Nellie, was raised at Oksiq between Kiana and Noorvik. Ruth's grandmother, Kitty Kapathuk Flood, grew up in Kiana and Oksiq. When her parents were first married, they operated a store at Okok Point for a Kotzebue trader. They moved the store to its present location in Kiana in 1929. In the past, her cousin Robinson Blankenship and she operated the store, and eventually Ruth took over to manage the store all by herself. Ruth earned a degree in biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1951, and that is where she met her husband Pete Sandvik, who was a geological engineering student originally from the Matanuska Valley. They were married for 42 years and had seven children. Ruth was a write-in candidate during one City Council election and has since served in that capacity for a number of years. She was also a member of the City's Utility and Planning Commissions. Ruth Sandvik passed away on April 29, 2014 at the age of 85. For more about Ruth Sandvik, see her obituary in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner newspaper.