Two Kodiak Women Inducted to Alaska Women Hall of Fame

Erik Wander/KMXT

Two women with strong Kodiak connections are among 50 people inducted as members of the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame sponsored by the University of Alaska Anchorage.

KMXT’s Erik Wander has more.

Lydia Black, who spent the last six years of her life in Kodiak before passing away here in 2007, was an educator, scholar and author. Sven Haakenson of the Alutiiq Museum was a personal friend and admirer of Black’s. He said nobody could be more deserving of being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

— (Haakenson 1 29 sec. "From her last book she wrote … was quite phenominal.")

Haakenson said the honor is a fitting tribute to a woman who contributed greatly to education, history and art in Alaska.

— (Haakenson 2 20 sec. "It is really an honor … an amazing woman.")

Also among inductees will be Natalya Shelikof, a Russian Colonist and Educator in Kodiak in the late 18th Century. Dawn Black of Kodiak has been working on co-authoring a book about Shelikof based on documents and letters for about the past 10 years. She feels Shelikof is deserving of the honor.

— (Himes 2 24 sec. "It’s have space for all that stuff … space for everything.")

The mission of the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame is to honor women whose contributions have influenced the direction of Alaska in fields including the arts, athletics, business, education, government, health, the humanities, Native affairs, philanthropy, community service, conservation, adventure, theology and science. The Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame inducted its first group of honorees at the BP Energy Center in Anchorage on Friday.

I’m Erik Wander.

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