Vi Herbert

From NativeWiki

Vi Hilbert (née Anderson, born July 24, 1918) is a Native American tribal elder of the Upper Skagit, a tribe of the greater Puget Salish in Washington State, whose ancestors occupied the banks along the Skagit River, and is a conservationist of the Lushootseed language and culture. She was named a Washington State Living Treasure in 1989, and received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, presented by President Bill Clinton, in 1994. She has co-written Lushootseed grammars and dictionaries, and published books of stories, teachings, and place names related to her native region, the Puget Sound (also known as Whulge in anglicized Lushootseed).

[edit] Childhood

Vi was born to Charlie and Louise Anderson on July 24, 1918 near Lyman, Washingto, on the Upper Skagit River. Her father was a fisherman, a logger, and a canoe maker, whose canoe the Question Mark is housed in the Smithsonian Museum Archive.