The Observer, July 2006
Chenega Bay celebrates opening of new buildings
By LINDA ROBINSON
Outreach Coordinator
Chenega Bay is an Alutiiq Village on Evans Island in Prince William Sound. It was moved there after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and tsunami destroyed the village and killed a third of its population. Twenty-five years later, it became a center for clean-up operations after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
The current population is approximately 70 people.
On June 1, the community celebrated the opening of three new buildings, and the upgrade of its airstrip, including new lights. Pete Kompkoff, tribal administrator and president as well as a board member of the citizens’ council, hosted the event. It included such dignitaries as Lt. Governor Loren Leman, and Sheri Buretta, president of Chugach Alaska Corp. and a council board member. The ceremony opened with Native dancing performed by Chenega Bay students.
Pete Kompkoff, right, citizens’ council board member and community leader in Chenega Bay, hosted a June 1 celebration of the opening of new facilities including the Nicholas Kompkoff, Sr. Community Clinic, shown here. With Kompkoff is Patrick Anderson, executive director of Chugachmiut. Photo by Linda Robinson.
Chenega Bay’s new buildings include the Nicholas Kompkoff, Sr. Community Clinic, the John M. Totemoff Museum, and the Joseph Alex Kompkoff Subsistence Building. Each building was blessed by Father Peter Chris, a Russian Orthodox priest.
The new community clinic includes examining rooms, an exercise room, and a dormitory-type room for visiting doctors. Chenega Bay is visited once a month by a doctor and once a year by a dentist. Staff at the clinic is trained to handle routine medical problems.
The clinic is named after Nicholas Kompkoff, Sr. Father Kompkoff was a commercial fisherman who received training at St. Michael’s Orthodox Cathedral in Sitka before being ordained in the Russian Orthodox Church. He was the founder and first president of Chenega Corp., and when he and his wife moved back home to Chenega Bay he oversaw the construction of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church where he served the parish for two years.
The Chenega Bay museum is named after John F. Totemoff. “Johnny Tote,” as he was known by his family and friends, was a crab fisherman. He was known locally for his ability to locate crabs, and his willingness to assist anyone in trouble. He died in 2000. The museum will be a repository for artifacts as soon as the climate control equipment has been installed. It already displays several photographs and hand-made artifacts and artwork.
The third new building to be blessed by Father Chris is the subsistence building. This building was named for Joseph Alex Kompkoff, born June 1, 1926. He was a dedicated subsistence fisherman and hunter. He was known as the “Anthony Quinn of the Aleuts.”
Chenega Bay has a Russian Orthodox Church, completed in 1999, and a ferry dock built as a “whistle stop” on the Prince William Sound route. That means the ferry will stop there if someone calls for a ride.