Wrangell Sentinel -

Marian Paul DeWitt, 94, passed away on April 17, 2016 in Anchorage, Alaska.

She lived and worked tirelessly to raise up her children and some her grandchildren.

Marian was born in Petersburg, Alaska on Nov. 21, 1921 when her parents ran the printing press for the Alaska Fishermen, a newsletter of the ANB/ANS.

She attended Juneau High School and then moved to Sitka and graduated from Sheldon Jackson School. Marian worked in the Navy ship yard in Tacoma, Wash. during WWII and then moved to L.A. and attended college for 3.5 years. Marian married Benjamin Grant in 1945 and in 1950, a widow, she married John DeWitt in Wrangell, Alaska.

Marian was the eldest surviving member of the Kaach.adi Xixch'i Hit, Wrangell Alaska, Daskawah (her Tlingit/Tahltan name). Her last work for the clan was signing to repatriate the Xixch'i Hit Frog hat that is now back home, an important action that helped revitalize the cultural identity of the Wrangell Kaach.'adi clan members.

She served as treasurer for several years in the Wrangell A.N.S. Camp No. 1 as well as other offices. She also served on the Tlingit & Haida Community Council during the formative years of ANCSA.

She was active with the Presbyterian Church as Secretary/Treasurer and elder. She worked at the National Bank of Alaska now Wells Fargo and after semi-retirement she continued working with the elementary children as an elder teacher aide. She loved reading and playing the piano and bingo. Marian lived her remaining 35 years with her daughter Linda.

She was preceded in death by her husband John DeWitt and their sons Miles and Michael DeWitt, her sisters Nana Estus, Gladys Dailey Burkhart, and brothers Louis III and Richard Paul, also her parents Louis Paul and Matilda Jones Paul, her grandparents Charlie Jones and Susie Tahltan Jones and Louis Paul, William Tamaree and Tillie Paul Tamaree.

Marian is survived by her children Peter Grant, Hastings, Minn., Cynthia DeWitt, Juneau, Alaska and Linda DeWitt Anchorage; grandchildren Travis and Ty Grant, Tamaree Kawagely Speaks, Meda DeWitt Schleifman, Jaime Grant Miller, Jamie Kelley-Paul, Shane Paul; great-grandson Derrick Speaks and numerous great grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces.

A service will be held in Anchorage on Sat., May 7 at 3 pm and a potluck to follow at her last residence in the Chickaloon Building Commons, 8901 Peck Ave, Cook Inlet Housing Authority located in Anchorage.

Her ashes will be brought to Wrangell and placed with her husband John DeWitt and her son Michael and her sister Nana Estus at Salmon Bay, on a date yet to be determined.