by Peter Twitchell
When I think back to Bethel when I was a boy in the 1950s, you had to be educated – a craftsman mechanic who knows something about electrical engineering and how machines worked, or manager educated – otherwise making a living would be very hard.
It was hard for the local folks. They had all the fish they wanted, all the berries, wild game but money was hard to come by unless you were a commercial fisherman at Bristol Bay, or had some business smarts and had a Trading Post or store like a mom and pop, or were a teacher or law-enforcement pilot.
These are the people that could make a good living in the 50s in Bethel. They were natives who went to Bristol Bay and fished in the summer commercially back before hydraulic equipment where we had to row all day, set your net by hand, pull your fishing by hand all summer.
I remember there was a lot of gambling in Bethel where people played three-card rummy for money and almost every house on the riverfront or across the slough had some kind of a card game going like three-card or rummy.
My Dad had a Mom and Pop store and I believe my grandpa Adam Twitchell had something to do with the business sense that he put into his sons and daughters, even as far back as the 1930s.
A Japanese man immigrated to the Kuskokwim from Wakayama, Japan and had a movie hall he later started, a freighting service using barges and scows to unload the ships that were coming from Seattle to bring petroleum, and food items. People made a good living providing services that were needed.
If you were a young man during the War years, you would be more than likely drafted into the service. Outsiders saw the opportunities that were available in Village Alaska all across the state.
When I was a boy I lost my dad when he had an accident by running his boat motor into a submerged log floating down the Kuskokwim River. He was ejected out of the boat and somehow injured his head and drowned as a result of the rough river.
Dad had a Mom and Pop store 3 miles upstream from Bethel southside where the Air Force, Army, and the Civil Aeronautics Administration built the old airfield. Perhaps the first one that officially could be called an airfield with lights in the form of a big plus sign going north and south, east and west.
All of a sudden, there was no money coming into the home from the fishing money from Bristol Bay, or from the furs that my dad and his friend Oscar Larson from the village of Napakiak would trap down at their cabin in Baird Inlet.
Life was difficult, but we managed – Mom and I and my brother Tony with the relatives pitching in to help with fish and wood to heat the stove.
Life was never easy for the natives, but they survived through hard, work, sober minds, and providing for their families. The teachings of the ancients and our elders were followed to the letter, and people helped each other where support and help was needed.
People in the village were never left alone to take care of themselves or their families. Our tribes were strong because they followed the teachings of our elders, and grandma and grandpa who had a real place in society. We didn’t look at them just as old people and ignored them, because they gave our tribe strength, good health, good life and longevity by their teachings, which the people followed and practiced.
Today in the modern day 2024 our people are well-educated, determined, and work hard for a living to support their children, wives and families. We must carry this tradition forward and listen to mom and dad, grandparents, elders in the village and people who teach us right from wrong. We can be a healthy tribe again and I’m proud of our young people today who go to school, graduate, go to higher education, and become a contributing member of the tribe, our society and the world.
Our children need guidance today more than ever and we need strong minds and leaders for tomorrow.
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