Helen Abbott Watkins was born in 1939 to Lilly (Klannott, born to James and Mary White, daughter of Anna White/ Woo Tu [sp?]) and John Allen Abbott in Haines Alaska. Mary White’s sibling was Joe White, head of the Thunderbird Clan and a highliner fisherman. Helen spent six years in the Seward Sanitarium with TB, from age nine. Lilly Klannott Abbott raised 10 children; Helen is the ninth child. Helen’s father died two months before she turned five. George Walter Abbott, Clara Katheen Abbott Mattson and Helen are alive of the siblings. The family lived in the area where the Federal Building is now, where stood a ball park. Mattson’s fishing supply was across the street, as was a Presbyterian church, attended by Helen and other native people.

Because of the amount of time she spent in the hospital as a child with TB and Scarlet Fever, Helen received a patchy education. In 1971, she obtained her GED. Here first job at age 16, was for Haines Packing Co., a cannery. Workers received $300.00 for the season without overtime, with an average workday of 14 hours, since all the fish that came in needed to be processed each day. Her mother worked at the cannery also, in charge of the iron chink, two blades that cut the heads off. They salvaged and ate the heads. A van picked up the workers, mostly women. . In summer, they tanned seal skin and preserved fish. In winter, they sewed, making booties, moccasins, and souvenirs from seal and deer for ANAC (Alaska Native Arts Cooperative) cache. They often worked all night $2.35 per pair to make the quota by Friday each week, under what Helen remarks were sweat-shop conditions.

Information for this biographical notes section is from a recorded interview with Helen Abbott Watkins on July 9, 2013 (See folder 2). Other photographs of Lilly Abbott Nigh and “Mrs. Klannot” regarding skin sewing are located in the Don Burrus Photograph Collection (PCA 466). Some may be viewed on Alaska’s Digital Archives. See image numbers: ASL-P466-02-063-1, ASL-P466-02-063-2, and ASL-P466-02-071.