Widmark, Emma Georgenia (1940-2008) | Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives

Emma Georgenia Widmark, a Tlingit Native American Indian, was born April 14, 1940 in Ketchikan, Alaska to Dr. Alfred Widmark, Sr. and Carmel Demmert Widmark. Widmark was a Tlingit Indian, her father of the Kaagwaantaan Clan and her mother of the L’eeneidi Clan. Widmark’s Tlingit name was Kinle.

During her youth Widmark grew up in Klawock and Ketchikan, but later moved to Juneau in 1967, where she lived for the remainder of her life. After graduating from high school, Widmark enrolled in Pepperdine University, but transferred to Oregon State University from where she obtained a B.S. Degree in Home Economics. She later earned a Masters of Education from Harvard University.

Throughout Widmark’s life she remained a dedicated educator. She worked for the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension as a home economist, and frequently traveled through rural Alaska for her work.

Widmark was also very active in the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS), serving in various ANS ranking positions and as Grand President. Widmark also created the ANS Executive Committee newsletters, Executive Echoes, from the late 1990s to mid 2000s. She remained active in ANS and in her efforts to encourage education until her death on July 7, 2008.

Source: Kimberly Metcalfe, In Sisterhood: The History of Camp 2 of the Alaska Native Sisterhood (Juneau: Hazy Island Books, 2008).