Old Crow Women
The Old Crow (Gwitchin) women’s name is Mrs. Irene Kendell…She was married to the local methodist minister for years… She was 106 years old at the time (July,August, September 1982)…She died two years later, I think?? I was told that she was the 2nd oldest women in North America…I never confirmed that information. At the time I was on assignment for LIFE magazine working with biologists, camped on the Old Crow River for three months, waiting for and tracking the Porcupine Caribou herd, hoping to put radio collars on 20 of them when they crossed the river. The herd didn’t show up and the river started to freeze and we had to leave mid September .We had an Old Crow man, Charlie Thomas, helping us in camp. Over the summer, I spent a lot of time back and forth from the camp to Old Crow. (which was about 6 hours by boat, and 30 minutes, with our Cessna 206 float airplane. I walked around and met lots of people…I was very interested in the fiddlers who lived there…Charlie’s extended family…lots of them…all played the fiddle….still do… just like they talk Loucheux. They have a musical style all there own.