August 1999 - Page 08

The CIRI Board of Directors and staff extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the following shareholders who have passed away:

Ruth E. Sellers, 77

Ruth E. Sellers of Anchorage, Alaska died June 27, 1999 at Elmendorf Hospital. Mrs. Sellers was born June 6, 1922 at Cape Darby, Alaska. She is survived by her husband Charles Sellers; sons, Gerald Beltz, Thomas L. Beltz Jr. and Robert Sellers; daughters, Pauline Hooten, Ruth Chambliss and Kathy McCune; 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

CONDOLENCES

Muriel Amy Toms Slayton, 59, Wasilla, AK

Obituary Guidelines

Obituaries are published for CIRI shareholders, spouses and descendants. Submitted obituaries must contain person's full name; age; date and city of death; date and city of birth; and name and phone number of shareholder or relative submitting the obituary. Maximum word length is 250 words and may be edited if necessary. Please type or print. Obituaries should be sent to CIRI Shareholder Relations.

award winners

Darren Woodhead, Sabrina Smith

CIRI Descendants Receive Prestigious President's Award

Darren Woodhead, 12 year-old son of CIRI shareholder Robert Woodhead and his wife Kathy, and Sabrina Smith, 12 year-old daughter of CIRI shareholder Anna Smith, were both honored in a ceremony held in Anchorage on June 3 at Rogers Park Elementary School. Woodhead and Smith are recipients of the President's Award for Educational Excellence, which recognizes outstanding academic achievement. Along with the awards, they both received a personal letter and a pin from President Bill Clinton. In his letter, President Clinton shared the following advice with Woodhead and Smith, "We are living in a time of great promise and exciting possibilities, and education is the key that will open the doors of opportunity to you. In earning this award, you have shown your commitment to learning and to making the most of your education."

Both Woodhead and Smith have attended Rogers Park Elementary School since kindergarten and will be entering the seventh grade at Wendler Middle School in the fall.

Welcome Baby Jayson

Jayson Wyatt McGuire was born May 23 in Anchorage to CIRI shareholder Anita Evans and Jason McGuire. Baby Jayson weighed eight pounds and nine ounces. He joins big brother Jefferson and big sister Zoe. Jayson's grandparents are Roy Evans Sr. and Teresa Wilson and Dr. David McGuire and Cheri McGuire, all of Anchorage.

Baby

Jayson Wyatt McGuire

CIRI Shareholder Wins Writing Contest

CIRI shareholder Anna Smith won the Explorations Alaska Native Writers Award for Literature with her short story, "Fire." Smith, who is of Tlingit descent, said, "I'm honored to receive this award. I didn't have much time to revise my story because I had to meet the Explorations postmark deadline. I'm glad everything turned out so well. The story came from a play I wrote last year. During revision of the play, I decided to turn the play into a book of short stories which I'm still working on."

Smith is working on both a master of arts degree in English and a master of fine arts in

creative writing from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She'll complete both of her degrees in the spring of 2000. After that, she wants to go to an Outside university to pursue an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in literature, film and Native American studies. She'd like to teach at the university level and continue writing.

On the craft of creative writing, she has this to say, "I've had to work very hard at my writing and at understanding the elements of the craft and getting past my own fears when it came to self-expression. Mostly, it's been a long, uphill kind of trek. But, it's been worth it and I've learned to appreciate 'the process' of writing and to see it as a never-ending kind of transcendent and, yet, very pragmatic journey. At this point, I feel like I've only explored part of the mysterious landscape of writing and that there is much more terrain for me to discover. The more I reveal, the more I understand about words and about myself.

Anna Smith