Former Y-K Delta state representative Tony Vaska was 73 years old when he died from cancer on Sept. 29. Vaska had dedicated his life to improving the lives of people in his community, whether that was by inspiring people to get an education or by fighting to protect the subsistence lifestyle in the state house.
He was born in Kalskag in 1948 as Anthony “Tony” Vaska, but his whole family had called him "Funny Boy" since he was a young child.
“I had asked my mother why she called him that, and she said that he was a very silly young man when he was small. So she named him Funny Boy, and that stuck with him all his life,” said his younger sister Celine “Francine” Bolewicz.
Vaska was serious about his education, though. From an early age, Bolewicz said that her older brother threw himself into his studies.
“And we rarely saw him because he spent most of his time in school,” Bolewicz said.
Vaska moved from Kalskag to the Lower Yukon to attend the St. Mary’s Mission boarding school. One of Vaska’s first cousins, Linda Joule, was there with him.
“Back then, he was a senior during my first year there as a freshman and I looked up to him,” Joule said. “He was a lot of fun to be around. He was very friendly. He had a very calming presence.”
Unlike some boarding schools for Alaska Native children, Joule and other graduates of St. Mary’s Mission spoke fondly of their schooling. She said that teachers encouraged students to continue their education beyond high school, which Vaska took to heart.
“We were taught to learn all we can to go back home to our own communities and help our own people. And I believe that was one of the strengths of the St. Mary's Mission. But it also became his strength and inspiration for others,” Joule said.
After Vaska left St. Mary’s to attend college, Joule said that he would often come back, encouraging younger students to stay in school.
“He became a role model to many of us aspiring to go to college,” Joule said.
Vaska reached the upper echelons of academia. Not only did he finish his undergrad and graduate studies, but he also obtained a PhD in Anthropology from Stanford University. Joule said that for a moment that made her want to study anthropology as well, to follow in his footsteps.
“I remember him saying that you can study your own people and their own culture and figure out the commonalities among people in the world,” Joule said.
Vaska taught anthropology and served as the director of the Yup’ik Language Center at the Kuskokwim Community College, which later became the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Kuskokwim Campus. Vaska later turned his focus to politics. To know why, Joule said that you have to look back earlier in his life.
In 1961, when Vaska was 12 years old, there was a historic protest in Utqiagvik over subsistence rights called the Barrow Duck-In. Barrow was the name of Utqiagvik at the time. After a difficult whaling season, an Utqiagvik man and a local state politician were arrested for bird hunting out of season. In an act of civil disobedience, 138 Iñupiat people then brought ducks to the authorities demanding to be arrested. The charges were later dropped, and the laws prohibiting a spring bird hunt were changed.
The event was a turning point for 12-year-old Vaska, Joule said. That’s because Vaska’s grandfather flew from Kalskag to Utqiagvik to represent the Kuskokwim region in the protest for Alaska Native rights.
“That was, I think that was the inspiration for him,” Joule said.
Vaska served two terms in the Alaska House of Representatives, from 1981 to 1984. While representing the Y-K Delta, subsistence became his signature issue. Jim Duncan was Speaker of the House when Vaska entered office. Duncan said that Vaska was always educating other representatives from urban areas about how important the subsistence lifestyle was to people in rural Alaska.
“There wasn't a day gone by that Tony wasn't making some statement, either at a committee hearing, or on the floor, or to me personally about the importance of the subsistence priority,” Duncan said. “Because he believed in it, and he lived and breathed it.”
In a KYUK TV debate for his 1984 re-election campaign, Vaska spoke about his dedication to subsistence issues.
“I understand the subsistence way of life and the subsistence laws. One, because I grew up in the subsistence way of life. Two, because I helped write the subsistence law,” Vaska said.
During Vaska’s term in office, the state of Alaska enacted a regulation giving hunting and fishing priority to subsistence users. Vaska talked about how he fought to protect subsistence users’ rights.
“What we tried to do with a subsistence law is to allow people in the rural areas the opportunity to be able to continue what they're doing without outside interference,” Vaska said.
Vaska ultimately lost his 1984 re-election campaign. But while he was in office, Duncan said that Vaska fought as hard as he could for rural Alaska, and he did so with character. He said that Vaska was never someone who would cut a deal behind your back.
“I think that's what you look for in a legislator is someone who you could trust completely. Someone that you knew was a man of high principle, and then when he gave his word, you could take it to the bank. And that was Tony,” Duncan said.
Vaska served his community in enough ways to fill multiple lifetimes. During the Vietnam War, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain. He also worked for the U.S. Census Bureau, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Democratic Party of Alaska awarded Vaska a lifetime achievement award in 2012.
More recently, he was teaching Yup’ik to his wife Viola Vaska whom he met at a potluck at the University of Alaska Anchorage. They were together for 14 years. She spoke about what she would miss the most about her husband.
“Probably his love. He loved talking to people, and he always had a smile for everybody. He was always so positive and would remind people you can’t just stop. You have to keep going,” said Viola.
He passed away in his wife’s arms on the evening of Sept. 29 in a Mat-Su Borough hospital. On Oct. 11, the state of Alaska flew its flags at half-mast to honor him. Anthony “Tony” “Funny Boy” Vaska will leave behind a legacy of fighting for rural Alaskans and Alaska Natives’ rights, making his community better, and inspiring others to do the same.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Anthony "Tony" Vaska died in an assisted living facility in Wasilla. He actually passed away in a Mat-Su Borough hospital.
