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Obituary

June 15th 5:09 pm | Provided Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Nicolai (Nick) Galaktionoff, Sr. passed away in his home in Unalaska on Monday, May 21. He was a well know linguist and Aleut Elder who had led a free and full life in the Aleutian Islands. He was born in Makushin Village, Unalaska Island, Territory of Alaska on or about December 19, 1925, to Akinfa and Pereskovia (Lekanoff) Galaktionoff, He is preceded in death by his parents and brothers and sisters, including Marina Shapsnikoff, Peter Galaktionoff, Maalaanya (Molly) Lokanin, John Borenin, Aleta, and Eva, and his children, Michael, Marva, and Agnes, and his wife Irene, whom he married in approximately 1949. He is survived by his children Joe and his wife Cynthia of Adak , John and Nick Jr., of Unalaska, Jack and Mary of Petersburg, Alaska. He has several grandchildren, Michael, of Adak, Alaska, Tesha Galaktionoff of Roseburg, Oregon, Shane Saeger, Texas , Ryan, Jack, Dustin, and David Galaktionoff, all of Petersburg, Alaska; and several great grandchildren including, Paige Juliana Dalton of Roseburg, Oregon.

Nick led a remarkable life from his childhood in Makushin Village, to his relocation to Funter Bay in SE Alaska during WWII, where he continued to participate in the seal harvest at St. Paul, and upon return to his village, found nothing remaining after destruction by the American forces, and the forces of nature. He relocated to Biorka Village where he met his future wife, Irena Lokanin, and where their firstborn son was born and died in childbirth. He travelled the Aleutian Islands trapping and fishing, and always brought something home from his travels to his children, whether it was sea lion whiskers, or beach sand, or floating volcano rocks. In his later years, he assisted several educational and historical researchers to know the Unangan people and its language. He was an avid subsistence fisherman, even in his later years, where everyone in Unalaska remembers seeing him on the beach with his boys and the net. His final resting place overlooks Unalaska Bay, his fishing beach, and the town and people he loved. Memory Eternal!

 

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