by Cynthia Wentworth

October 2024

We’ve often heard the adage: “Behind every successful man, is a good woman”. Admired male leaders often credit their wives for their support. In Mary Ciuniq Pete’s case, it was her life partner and husband, Hubert Angaiak, who was her support. Over our 30 years of friendship, she made clear to me how important Hubert was to her. Hubert was quieter and not usually in the limelight like Mary. But he strongly agreed with her feminist and subsistence politics and accompanied her at community events.

Mary Ciuniq Pete (April 29, 1957 – November 17, 2018) was a Native educator, anthropologist, and feminist. She advocated for domestic violence and sexual abuse victims. From 1996 to 2005 she was AF&G’s Director of Subsistence, where she implemented subsistence hunting and fishing policies and worked internationally to protect salmon on the Yukon River.

In 2006 she became Director of University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Kuskokwim Campus, and in 2010, President Obama appointed her to the U. S. Arctic Research Commission. In 2019, after her death, she was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame for her work in education, subsistence policies, and for her role in forming a degree program in the Yup’ik language.

At her death, people in Bethel remembered her deep, loving relationship with Hubert. The two of them loved to fish for salmon, and pick berries together. U.S. Representative Mary Peltola said: “They both had such a great sense of humor, and both had such a great admiration for each other”.

Mary was originally from the small village of Stebbins, Tapraq in Yup’ik, on St. Michael Island near the north mouth of the Yukon River. Hubert was from the Nelson Island village of Tununak. Since many of the Stebbins people had emigrated from Nelson Island in the first two decades of the 20th Century, Mary and Hubert had ancestral as well as ethnic ties. Their relationship went back to 1972, when Mary was 15 and Hubert was 20. She graduated from St. Mary’s Catholic Mission School in 1973, at age 16, and they were a couple by the time they both attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).

It was Hubert who first introduced me to Mary, in late summer 1981. He and my then husband Mike (Jake) Jacobson had just spent five weeks near the Bering Sea Coastal village of Shishmaref, where they were counting herring for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). Holed up in a tent much of the time, as the wind blew and the rains beat down, they had plenty of time to talk. They discovered that Mary and I both worked in subsistence – me with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Fairbanks, and Mary in an anthropology program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). They decided we should meet. They planned a dinner at Hubert and Mary’s house off Sheep Creek Road. Mary cooked the dinner and Jake and Hubert showed slides of their Shishmaref adventure.

We became close friends in 1989, when we both found ourselves in Bethel. Mary and Hubert had moved from Fairbanks to Bethel, where she had become a resource specialist for the ADF&G, Division of Subsistence. She was conducting studies on the subsistence use of herring, salmon, caribou, reindeer, and other wildlife. I was doing studies on the subsistence use of migratory birds, for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. Hubert was working in computer science, as an information systems administrator for the Association of Village Council Presidents. In his spare time Hubert played the mandolin and the guitar, performing in a local band.

To Mary, Hubert had qualities that transcended both his job and his hobbies. Coming from a very traditional family in Tununak, Hubert was firmly grounded in Yup’ik language and culture. He did not drink. To hear her tell it, Hubert had better mental health and was more evolved than most men – “kass’aq”(white) or Native.

Mary knew. While a graduate student at UAF, she co-authored the publication Homes in Disruption: Spouse Abuse in Yup’ik Eskimo Society (Shinkwin, Anne D. and Pete, Mary C, 1983) Later, she served on the Tundra Women’s Coalition Board in Bethel, and on the statewide Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

Mary was a strong feminist. She wanted women to be treated equally with men. She was intolerant of men bossing women around, controlling them, acting superior, or treating them unfairly or with a lack of respect. She felt there was value in the traditional Yup’ik system in which men lived in the qasgiq most of the time, separate from the women. She felt the origins of domestic violence were both too much togetherness, and the Catholic rule of “til death do us part”: that Yup’ik women who were Catholic and who found themselves in abusive situations, felt they had no escape. On the other hand, in the traditional Yup’ik system, they could leave if they wanted, or ask the man to leave.

Both Mary and Hubert were raised Catholic. But Mary was never in an abusive situation with Hubert. So she never wanted to leave. One time, Mary and I were talking about our own dysfunctional families. She told me that in contrast, “Hubert comes from a functional family”.

Although Homes in Disruption concerned Yup’ik men, Mary was very sensitive about abuse or lack of respect by any man, Native or non-Native. Though she was quick to point out exceptions, she was especially concerned when older white men married younger, Native women or other women of color. One time I went into a long explanation of a situation I did not like, involving a young Chinese woman and her older, white husband. Mary stopped me: “I get it!” her face said. “You don’t have to explain it more”. She knew immediately what I meant by the inequality and lack of respect.

We also talked about how some men try to hide their relationship status, pretending they are single when they are not. When I gave her an example, she stressed, in her typical righteous anger, that so many men behave this way, not being honest with one woman about another one.

I asked her if Hubert had ever been like this. Suddenly her expression changed completely. It became soft, and she smiled a quiet smile as she shook her head, saying “No, never.” I could see how much she appreciated having a partner like Hubert. She knew she was lucky.

Mary genuinely appreciated the role that men play in the subsistence economy and culture. This included Hubert. In a letter to me on June 22, 1994, she wrote: “Hubert has been at Reno then Albuquerque for computer training since June11 and won’t be back until this coming Sunday. So I’ve had to smoke and store our king salmon strips and blankets by myself”.

In 1996 Governor Tony Knowles tapped Mary to become Director of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Subsistence. She served in this position until 2005, when she became director of the Kuskokwim Campus of University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She was the first woman and first Alaska Native to serve in this position.

During each legislative session, Mary relocated from Bethel to Juneau. During those periods, she missed Hubert. She especially appreciated Hubert’s companionship and support when he came to Juneau from Bethel, for visits. On April 4, 1997, she wrote me about proposed cuts to the Subsistence Division’s budget: “I’ve been stuck to the phone, drumming up support. I find this kind of work humiliating because I don’t like to ask for help, but humbling and gratifying because I hear the importance we hold in the hearts and minds of rural leaders and people. Rural residents certainly don’t have many options or champions. …They see us as one of their most important advocates”. But Hubert had just arrived for a visit: “Hubert is here for the folk festival, so it is fun after work. I don’t have to dwell on these budget cuts”. And in a letter to me of April 21, 1998, she wrote about anti subsistence legislators and the difficulty of passing good subsistence legislation. She continued: “Hubert is here for the folk festival, but I ended up having to work every day but Sunday. He got to play music and visit with friends and I had a great few days to coming home to him”.

After I adopted my daughter Lianzhen from the People’s Republic of China, in July 1995, Mary and Hubert became her informal guardians. Then, after Mary and Hubert adopted their sons Conor in January 2000 (he was a millennium baby) and Chase in 2002, Lili became friends with them. They liked sliding down sandy hills, and playing on rope swings together.

In 2010, Mary was appointed to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission by President Obama; she was reappointed in 2013. She also became Dean of the UAF College of Rural and Community Development. Both positions required a lot of travel. During these times, Hubert was the sole parent, which Mary always appreciated and did not take for granted. They were a team.

Mary and Hubert were a great example of the marriage vow: “In sickness and in health”. In August 2016, Mary discovered she had ovarian cancer. Hubert wrote on his Facebook: “If I could take the pain from her I would take it, no questions asked.” And “We will continue with our dreadful adventure and we hold on with love in our hearts as was bestowed on us by your good wishes and prayers. I hope this never happens to anyone. Thank you for your support!”

A few years before that, Mary was a big support to Hubert when he had a stroke, affecting his ability to work.

In August 2018, three months before Mary died, I visited her at her office on the Kuskokwim Campus. She was still doing well, and we talked up a storm. That never bothered Hubert. He was emotionally secure, and he knew how close we were. Rather, he was at her side, watching the boys, smiling and wearing a T Shirt that said “—- cancer”.

Mary was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame on April 30, 2019, one day after what would have been her 62nd birthday. Hubert gave the induction speech, which is available on U Tube. He highlighted her love for berry picking.

Hubert died on May 1, 2023, perhaps of a broken heart.

After I told my daughter Lili (now 30) that Hubert had died, I asked her what she would remember most about him. Her answer: “He was quiet. But he was present”.