Former Alaska Federation of Natives chairman John Schaeffer dead at 77

John Schaeffer Jr., an Inupiat political and military leader from Kotzebue who helped shape the course of Alaska Native affairs for 50 years died on Aug. 25. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Kotzebue High School prior to burial later that day to be followed by a community potluck.

Schaeffer, whose name in Inupiaq was Qipqina, was born in Kotzebue March 30, 1939. He attended Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka but returned to Kotzebue before graduating to work. He enlisted in the Alaska Territorial Guard, also known as the Eskimo Scouts, part of the Alaska Army National Guard, in 1957 and was quickly identified as officer material.

He graduated from the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1958 and later attended the Army's General Staff College. He qualified for both airborne and Special Forces certification.

He became a full-time staff member for the guard and rose through the ranks. Under Gov. Steve Cowper he was appointed commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, a Cabinet-level position that made him adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard. He was the first Inupiat to achieve the rank of two-star general.

During his tenure as adjutant general, he oversaw the guard's involvement in the state response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the rescue of whales trapped in  ice near Barrow.

Schaeffer became involved with politics in the 1960s. His uncle, Willie Hensley, recruited him to join the push for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act when the effort was just getting started.

"A lot of the work that was done was done in my kitchen," said Schaeffer's wife Mary told Alaska Public Media.

He was instrumental in creating the Northwest Alaska Native Association, and in 1972 became the first president of NANA Regional Corp. He served in that position for 14 years, during which time he was instrumental in negotiating the terms for the construction of the Red Dog lead-zinc mine.

He was credited with persuading mine operators to agree to hire 60 percent of their workforce locally, to work two-week schedules to allow for hunting and fishing, and to avoid creating a new permanent settlement near the mine.

"We're going to be here a lot longer than the mine," he told the Anchorage Daily News at the time. He strongly promoted regional efforts to retain culture and reduce alcoholism and suicide.

In 1985, he announced he would leave his NANA post saying he was "thoroughly tired out" and wanted to spend time at his parents' subsistence camp. But when the Northwest Arctic Borough was formed, a few months later, he jumped back into public service and was elected its first mayor.

He had barely started that job when Cowper asked him to take the post of adjutant general. Schaeffer said he declined the offer initially. He changed his mind after other area leaders urged him to reconsider, stressing how important it would be to have an Alaska Native in the Cabinet.

During the course of his career he was also a member of the University of Alaska Board of Regents, the Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission and was president of the Alaska Federation of Natives.

His tenure at AFN was marked by controversy. In July 1992, officials with Calista Corp. demanded his resignation and threatened to leave AFN in a criticism of the organization's representation of Southwest Alaska Natives.

He was elected to the Northwest borough Assembly and served from 2000-2006.

Recently, on Aug. 9, the guard named its aircraft hangar in Kotzebue after Schaeffer. The ceremony was attended by Gov. Bill Walker and Brig. Gen. Laurie Hummel, who now holds Schaeffer's former post as chief. Former legislator and Northwest Arctic Borough Mayor Reggie Joule spoke for many when he described Schaeffer as "a giant."

But the honoree was unable to speak. He had recently suffered pneumonia and a series of strokes, from which he never recovered.

Survivors include his high school sweetheart and wife of 56 years, Mary, 10 children, eight siblings and scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.