Lucy McCormick, one of the first 'Lost Alaskans' to finally come home.
"After more than 90 years, she was laid to rest Friday under a tall spruce tree, next to her husband and first daughter."
Content warning for this edition.
The Lost Alaskans Project has been researching through “territorial court records, national and state archives, vital statistics, genealogical and burial records, and interviews” to document the history of the State of Alaska’s relationship with Morningside Hospital and provide information to families looking for loved ones.
“People just disappeared,” said retired Alaska Superior Court Judge Niesje Steinkruger. “And many families had no idea what happened.”
https://www.morningsidehospital.com/2015/11/history-searches-an-asylum-
The US has a long history (that was not that long ago and in ways still manifests today) of criminalizing mental illness. In Alaska, someone could be declared “insane” (a broad and undefined label). Then that person was sent against their will to an asylum, in Alaska's case, Morningside Hospital in Oregon. Where they were likely never seen again.
History searches an asylum for ‘The Lost Alaskans’
By Ellen | November 12, 2015
Steinkruger is uncertain how many people were sent to Morningside during territorial days. The term “insane” covered a broad range of conditions, including mental illness, birth defects, drug abuse and alcoholism.
Families were torn apart.
“The youngest person we found was 6 weeks old, and the oldest was 96,” she said. The youngest were most likely severely developmentally handicapped. Many had Down syndrome or birth defects.
“It was a family trying to cope with a child that had special needs, and you knew that the only way families could care for a child with severe special needs was this horrible option,” she said.
Lucy McCormick was one of the “lost Alaskans,” and she is finally home and buried by her family in Alaska, where she belongs. At 41 years old, she was taken from her family to Morningside, where she died just ten months later from an infection after getting a (likely forced) hysterectomy. She was buried in a (thankfully marked) grave in Oregon until this year when she was finally brought home to Fairbanks. For ninety years, her family went without answers of what happened to their grandmother. Lucy’s story is one of many Alaskans taken from their families over decades.
Here is the story of Lucy’s return to her ancestral lands in Fairbanks:
'Lost Alaskan' Lucy McCormick is buried in Rampart
Grandma Lucy is finally home in her Yukon River village of Rampart.
After more than 90 years, she was laid to rest Friday under a tall spruce tree, next to her husband and first daughter.
“They rest on the highest ground overlooking her people and the mighty Yukon River,” her grandson, Wally Carlo, said.
Four riverboats convoyed to Rampart last week, carrying Lucy McCormick’s remains from Fairbanks. She was transported from a Morningside Hospital cemetery in Portland, Oregon, arriving in Fairbanks on Sept. 21.
In 1930, like so many other Alaskans, she was deemed “insane” and sent to the longtime hospital. Ten months later she died of a post-operative infection after a hysterectomy. Her discovered grave — luckily marked — and subsequent repatriation was the result of many volunteers who continue researching all the Alaskans sent to Morningside Hospital during a 60-70 year period up until the 1960s.
Her disinterment and journey home to Fairbanks were filled with ceremony and deep meaning for her many family members. Her family tree is extensive. Some of them accompanied Lucy on her final journey on the Yukon River, leaving Fairbanks on Sept. 28.
“Everything was perfect,” Carlo said.
The riverboats left Fairbanks Thursday morning and spent the night near the Ray River “with the full moon and northern lights, with reflection off the Yukon River,” Carlo added. “On Friday morning, boats escorted her the 70-mile ride on glass-smooth water under clear blue skies.”
Lucy was well prepared for the journey. Her remains were in a special handmade birch casket made by her great grandson, Brian Cruger. Granddaughter Kathleen Carlo Kendall contributed her artistic talents to Lucy’s final resting place. Letters of her name, on the cross, gleamed with a bright turquoise color. Her exquisitely designed casket was filled with all the necessities of travel for her transition.
“It was beautiful,” Carlo said. “It was a glorious homecoming for Grandma Lucy.”
On Saturday morning, the crew awoke and couldn’t even see across the river, due to fog. They headed home to Fairbanks.
My father is part of the effort to identify and bring the Lost Alaskans home. Recently, he called on the DOI to expand the boarding school investigations to include institutions like Morningside. Read here:
My dad has asked me to assist with his upcoming visit to Oregon. Right now, it is planned for early February. I have set up a GoFundMe for travel expenses to get me there. https://www.gofundme.com/f/bujrb5-travel-expenses?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer
Thank you for your support and for sharing this heavy history.