North Alaska News

When Mary Lou Sours had her first grandson born, she decided to dress him head to toe in traditional regalia. When her first grandson was born, that's when her passion for sewing was born, too.

A traditional seamstress, prominent snowmachine racer and the soul of her Northwest Alaska community, Sours died on Dec. 8 at age 50, after struggling with various health issues for several years, her daughter Alannah Jones said.

"She had a passion for sewing and sharing her knowledge. She knew very well that the tradition that she carried, it's being forgotten nowadays," Jones said. "When you're raised in a community where your traditions are dying, one thing you want to do is try to help preserve those traditions."

"This is a part of who we are: it is the fabric that makes an Inupiaq person Inupiaq. It's everything from the clothes that we wear, to the food that we eat, to the way that we celebrate, and honor a baby being born, or a funeral, the way that we take care of our dead, to the way that we dance and sing and speak. Those are the very things that make us who we are," said Patuk Glenn who has taken Sours' class. "Learning, you know, this one area of making traditional boots - that is part of our culture, that's a part of what can help make us whole."

Original source can be found here.