Don't expect a direct answer if you ask Elaine Abraham her age. More important, after all, is what she's done with her years.
"I feel like I've lived several lives," she said, while coyly suggesting she's in her 70s. "When I was younger in Yakutat, we lived according to the seasons, and that was such a fun time. In the spring we went with our parents and hunted seal."
She became the first Tlingit nurse decades ago, and she's still working tirelessly, chairing the Alaska Native Science Commission, a group that seeks to educate Western scientists about the value of traditional knowledge.
But when she was young, she earned her nursing credentials at an Arizona nursing school before flying into Bethel in the dead of winter to become a traveling Bureau of Indian Affairs nurse.
Completely out of her element -- she'd never been north of her Southeast Alaska hometown – Abraham landed on a frozen river in the middle of winter wearing high heels and a suit. The temperature was stuck well below zero, and she wasn't looking forward to the hike into town.
"A pilot finally got brave, picked me up and carried me across the river," she said.
In Southwest Alaska's Yup'ik villages, she fought whooping cough, tuberculosis and other contagious diseases.
"I loved what I did," she said. "I was healing. I was delivering babies. I was giving shots. We were pretty much on our own, and that was so much fun."
Later in life, she co-founded the Alaska Native Language Center and served as Vice President for Rural Education Affairs at the University of Alaska.
Though standing less than five feet tall, neither her modest height nor advancing age has made her any less than a commanding presence. At a Tlingit language workshop during the Elders and Youth Conference, she sat in the audience with teens and young adults, listening to the instructor. But Abraham was the default teacher, telling kids how to introduce themselves in the traditional way -- name, clan, house and so on.
"Tell them your name and say it loud," she said, punching the air after one kid mumbled an introduction.
The Tlingit instructor, Ralph Wolfe, told others in the room to talk like her.
"Look at her, she is a small, tiny lady and she can fill up this room," he said.
She urged the young men and women at this week's Elders and Youth Conference to revive the use of Native names, and take pride in that name. Why? Connections to individuals' name link them to the land and people, providing pride that lasts a lifetime. A common thread among the state's diverse Native cultures is that young children are given the names of a person who recently died in an effort to keep the spirit of that person alive.
People need to bring back naming ceremonies, she said in her elder's keynote conference speech.
Abraham's Tlingit and Eyak name is a perfect example. Chooshaa means "Ancient Grandma Returns."
Valuing her name helps Abraham understand where she comes from while providing strength throughout life. It's helped her achieve many things, and she said she's not slowing down.
As chair of the Alaska Native Science Commission, she seeks to educate Western scientists about the value of traditional knowledge.
As a hobby, she's learning about plants and natural healing while working toward earning her doctorate in natural health. Earlier this year, she was named to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.
Nobody expects this "ancient grandma" to slow down any time soon.
Contact Alex DeMarban at alex(at)alaskadispatch.com