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In memory of

Fannie Kuutuuq Akpik-Piquk

Utqiagvik, AK, USA

December 8, 1951 - May 14, 2021

Dec 8, 1951 - May 14, 2021

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It is with our deepest sympathy to announce that on May 14, 2021, Fannie Kuutuuq Akpik-Piquk succumbed to her brave battle with cancer. Kuutuuq was born on December 8, 1951, to Lloyd and Marjorie Pikok.

She is the sister of Tommy Pikok, Elsie Crow, Danny Pikok, Maggie Segevan, Edith Tagarook, Lottie Pikok, McDonald Pikok, Mabel Pikok, Lillian Pikok, Grace Ann Rotzler, Billy Pikok, and Sigwein Kingosak.

She is survived by her two children Samuel Akpik Sr. and Marjorie Akpik, her grandchildren Robyn Burke & Merlin Johnson, Stacy Burke, Chelsie Overby & Nestor Martinez, Samuel Akpik Jr. & Samantha Turner, and Madison Fannie Akpik-Reams. She is the amau of Dontae Kessner, Sophie Marie Burke-Itta, Jaxson Reece Fishel, Caleb Charles Tunik Rexford, Rowan Kash Burke Johnson, and Maevyn Nicole Burke Johnson.

Kuutuuq started working for the North Slope Borough School District as a school teacher at Meade River School in 1977, spent 7 years teaching at Ipalook Elementary School and her final year teaching at Barrow High School. She was an Associate Professor for Iñupiaq Studies at the Iḷisaġvik College starting in 1996 and worked there off and on for 20 years. She later worked for the North Slope Borough School District again in 2012 as Iñupiaq Education Coordinator where she eventually retired in 2019. She also served as an IHLC Commisioner from 1990-2016 and contributed to the North Slope Borough’s Language Revitalization Taskforce.

She was a language warrior; loved to sing, dance, and hear the beat of the drum. She was a natural educator and loved teaching, telling stories, and speaking Iñupiaq, camping and hunting. She was a very outgoing, strong-willed woman and enjoyed life to the fullest. Her contributions to the revitalization and life of the Iñupiaq language will never go unnoticed or forgotten.

We will greatly miss our beloved aaka, mother, amau, relative and friend more than words can describe, but her memory will live on with us forever.

The family will be gathering at 2546 Okpik Street. Grave digging will start on Monday, May 17 at 10am at the Old Cemetery. The service for Kuutuuq will be held on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, at the Utqiaġvik Presbyterian Church at 1pm with visitation at 12pm.

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