Vi Hilbert facts for kids
Vi Hilbert (born July 24, 1918 – died December 19, 2008) was a very important Native American elder from the Upper Skagit people. Her Lushootseed name was taqʷšəblu. Her ancestors lived along the Skagit River in Washington state.
Vi Hilbert worked hard to protect the Lushootseed culture and its language. She was the last person who spoke Lushootseed fluently from birth. She taught Lushootseed at the University of Washington for 17 years, from 1971 to 1988. There, she also copied and translated old Lushootseed recordings from the 1950s. This important work is kept safe in the University's audio library.
In 1989, she was named a Washington Living Treasure. In 1994, she received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. President Bill Clinton gave her this award. She also helped write Lushootseed grammar books and dictionaries, working with a language expert named Thom Hess. She published books of stories, teachings, and place names from her home area, the Puget Sound.
Her Early Life
Vi Hilbert was born on July 24, 1918. Her parents, Charlie and Louise Anderson, lived near Lyman, Washington, by the Upper Skagit River. She was the only one of their eight children who lived to be an adult.
Her parents and their friends often spoke Lushootseed. This helped young Vi start to learn the language. Her father was a fisherman, a logger, and he made canoes. One of his canoes, called the "Question Mark," is now in the Smithsonian Museum.
Her family moved often to find work. Because of this, Vi went to 15 different schools. She attended a boarding school at Tulalip for a while. Later, she went to the Chemawa Indian Boarding School near Salem, Oregon. To get the best education, she then moved to Franklin High School in Portland. She worked as a house helper to pay for her schooling.
During World War II
Vi Hilbert once shared that she was almost affected by a US policy. This policy was the internment of Japanese Americans. This meant that people of Japanese heritage were put into special camps. However, Vi was able to show that she was Native American, so she was not interned.
Her Family Life
Vi Hilbert was married three times. Her first marriage was to Percy Woodcock in 1936. They lived in Taholah, Washington. They had two children: a son named Denny, born in 1937, and a daughter named Lois, born in 1938. Denny sadly passed away in 1940. After this, Vi and Percy separated. She then moved to Nooksack, near Bellingham, Washington, to live with her parents.
Her second marriage was to Bob Coy in 1942 at Tulalip, near Marysville, Washington. They had a son named Ron in 1943.
Her third and last marriage was in 1945 to Henry Donald "Donny" Hilbert. Donny was a brave soldier in World War II. He survived the attack on Pearl Harbor while on the ship USS West Virginia. Donny later adopted Vi's children from her earlier marriages. They built a house in south Seattle and lived there until 2003. Then they moved to Bow, Washington. Donny passed away before Vi did.
Her Passing
Vi Hilbert passed away at her home in La Conner on the morning of December 19, 2008. Her family was with her when she died.
To honor her, the taqʷšəblu Vi Hilbert Ethnobotanical Garden and Vi Hilbert Hall at Seattle University are named after her.
