30 Facts About Adeline Smith

Adeline Smith was an American elder, lexicographer, activist, and cultural preservationist.

Adeline Smith was a member of one of four indigenous Klallam communities of the Pacific Northwest.

Adeline Smith created the first Klallam alphabet with Timothy Montler, a professor of linguistics at the University of North Texas.

Adeline Smith was the largest contributor, offering 12,000 words and phrases to the dictionary.

Adeline Smith championed the preservation of Tse-whit-zen, a historic Lower Elwha village which is approximately 2,700 years old, rediscovered during a construction project on the waterfront in Port Angeles, and the restoration of the Elwha River.

Adeline Smith was raised on a family homestead on the Elwha River, just outside Port Angeles, Washington.

Adeline Smith's family spoke only Klallam at home and Smith did not have an English language name until she first enrolled in public school when she was seven years old.

Adeline Smith's great-grandparents passed down the family's unwritten, oral history with events from the late 18th century.

Adeline Smith was forced to leave Chemawa Indian School, a boarding school in Salem, Oregon, shortly before her graduation due to the death of her mother and needs of her family.

Adeline Smith worked a series of jobs, finding employment as a waitress and an employee of Goodwill Industries.

Adeline Smith was working a job in Neah Bay, Washington, as a salal picker when she decided to move back permanently to the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation outside Port Angeles.

Adeline Smith had worked outside the reservation for more than forty years by that time.

Adeline Smith co-created the first Klallam alphabet with Timothy Montler, a professor of linguistics at the University of North Texas.

Adeline Smith worked with Montler throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and early 2010s to create the first Klallam-language dictionary.

Adeline Smith contributed 12,000 words to the dictionary, making her the largest single contributor to the new lexicon.

Adeline Smith held her first copy of the dictionary in January 2013.

Adeline Smith trained new teachers in the Klallam language and culture.

Adeline Smith was the subject of a documentary, The Life of a Klallam Girl Growing up on the Elwha River.

Adeline Smith continued to create written accounts of the Klallam's oral history and stories until shortly before her death in 2013.

Adeline Smith appeared in US federal court in cases on behalf of her Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

Adeline Smith's efforts are credited with helping to win the 1974 Boldt court decision, which upheld the rights of the Lower Elwha and other tribes under past treaties to half the catch of a salmon run.

In 1992, Adeline Smith lobbied the United States Congress in the run-up to a vote to tear down dams along the Elwha River.

Adeline Smith lived to see the removal of the dams, including the Elwha Dam, from the river beginning in September 2011, and the return of the first salmon to the river.

Adeline Smith is featured in the film "Unconquering the Last Frontier" by Robert Lundahl, narrated by actor, Gary Farmer, and seen on Public Television.

Adeline Smith championed the preservation of Tse-whit-zen, a historic Lower Elwha village located at the base of Ediz Hook, which dates back to approximately 2,700 years.

Adeline Smith campaigned against the construction of a drydock on the Port Angeles waterfront.

Adeline Smith died from heart failure in Puyallup, Washington, on March 19,2013, just four days after her 95th birthday.

Adeline Smith was predeceased by her first husband Roosevelt Suppah, their son Mark Suppah; and by her second husband Roy Smith, and their children Roy Smith Jr.

Adeline Smith was the last Klallam native speaker to teach her language on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

Adeline Smith had planned to make audio recordings of additional Klallam stories in the Spring of 2013.