RIP Duane Pasco (Chinook Jargon in the news)
With thanks to Jeffrey Kopp for making me aware of this sad event.
Duane Pasco, who among his many accomplishments spearheaded the revival of Northern Chinook Jargon, has passed away.
Image credit: Wikipedia
I’ll direct you to a published obituary of his fascinating life, at the Kitsap Sun.
Do you have personal anecdotes of Duane? Please honor him by leaving them in a Comment, below.
I have three of my own stories of Duane.
- First, about 20 years ago, Duane was kind enough to mail me a large packet of his pioneering Chinook Jargon newspaper/magazine, “Tenas Wawa“, as well as a dictionary and cassette he’d made.
- Second, about a year ago, Duane was a completely fascinating guest in one of our weekly Zoom sessions. He had so many neat stories of how Chinuk Wawa played a role in his life, and who he learned it from and spoke it with.
- Third, just this summer, Duane kindly granted me permission to use his brilliant original Chinook song, “Klootzman Kopa Wayhut“, as the theme music for the “Teach Yourself Northern Chinook Jargon” podcasts I’ve been developing.
I know for a fact that several of you have also been enriched by your acquaintance with Duane Pasco. I hope you’ll share some stories about this good man.
I only heard Duane Pasco speak live on Zoom once, as part of our Chinuk Wawa sessions, and I recall that at the end of our session (which went much too quickly), he said jokingly that he would like to adopt us all and give us “Indian names.” I think this was when he was in his late 80s. I often hoped he could come back on to contribute to our conversations. Other than that, I remember him speaking about carving art, and carving an entire canoe, something he was very passionate about.
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A great loss. I spoke to him about 20 years ago and he was very generous to send me a box of his impressive literature. He gave me a lot of encouragement and I do look at him as playing a critical role in turning attention onto this fascinating language. Thank you for passing on this sad information.
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