From spearheading language-revitalization efforts to helping establish a family subsistence fishery, original CIRI enrollee Clare Swan (Athabascan) has spent a lifetime advocating for her people. Her extensive list of service, honors and commendations includes chairing the Kenaitze Indian Tribe (KIT), serving on the CIRI Board of Directors and chairing the Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) board of directors, receiving the Alaska Federation of Natives Elder of the Year award and being inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame and recognized as CIRI’s Shareholder of the Year. In 2017, Clare was honored by CITC with the naming of the Clare Swan Early Learning Center. She also gave the keynote address at that year’s AFN annual Convention.
For a lifetime of accomplishments, Clare received a standing ovation at this year’s CIRI Annual Meeting, held June 1 in Kenai, Alaska.
“Clare has made such a major impact in my life and has helped CITC establish a vision of truly serving and advancing our people,” CITC President and CEO Gloria O’Neill (Yup’ik) said. “We thank her for her leadership and friendship, for scolding us when we need to be scolded and for growing us up. We honor Clare and our Elders because they keep us moving forward and remind us of who we are.”
Born in 1939 in Kenai, Clare grew up the eldest of nine siblings. Her mother’s family was Athabascan, her father’s Filipino. Though multiple languages were spoken in her home, she remembers being reprimanded by a teacher for speaking Dena’ina at school. (Years later, the teacher apologized.)
In 1950, Clare married her husband, Van, and together they raised four children. The family was living in Seward, Alaska, when the 1964 Good Friday earthquake hit and destroyed their home, so they relocated to the Lower 48 to be near Van’s family.
Once her own children were raised, Clare enrolled in Loyola College (now Loyola University New Orleans) in Louisiana and earned a degree in business. She and her husband moved back to Alaska in 1973, shortly after passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and just as incorporation was occurring for KIT.
Clare chaired KIT for 15 years and led the effort to secure its Traditional Educational Fishery. She was instrumental in helping establish KIT’s Dena’ina Health Clinic as well as youth programs and a community agricultural program. As a certified substance abuse counselor, a volunteer with the court system and an active participant in the effort to revitalize the Dena’ina language, including relearning the language herself, Clare has helped countless Alaska Native people.
“Clare’s life—her commitment, foresight and passion—is an example to us all,” CIRI President Sarah Lukin (Alutiiq) said. “It is an honor to recognize Clare on behalf of CIRI and all our Shareholders and Descendants.”
Now in her 90s, Clare still resides in the Kenai area and is active with her Tribe. The Kenaitze and Salamatof Educational Fishery she helped establish in the late 1980s continues to serve as a center of learning and tradition, bringing families and community members together.
“When you get something in your heart that says ‘go,’ you go—it’s that simple, and it’s that hard,” Clare said. “It’s like Peter Kalifornsky used to say: ‘When you look back, look at your footprints. See how far you’ve come. Climb up the hill, sit down, smile and say, ‘thank you.’ Enjoy yourself, and then get up and start again.’”
