April 23, 2026, Seward Folly Staff

The Qutekcak Native Tribe has spent the last several years cleaning out the city cemetery’s Jesse Lee Home parcel, a heavily wooded, untended section of the cemetery. On April 13, the Seward City Council moved forward on a resolution to convey this portion of the cemetery to the tribe. It represents about 25% of the city-owned property.

Little was known about this section of the graveyard, but recent work by the tribe and friends has revealed over 40 graves believed to be children from the former Jesse Lee Home.

From 1925 to 1964, the home operated as a boarding school for Native children in Seward. The home, formerly situated off Phoenix Road, was demolished in 2020.

The home also housed children whose parents were in tuberculosis sanitariums in various locations around the state. Most children came from the Aleutian Islands (Aleuts) or the Seward Peninsula (Inupiaqs), but children from all races and regions were represented.

The Jesse Lee Home had many notable students. In the first year after the school opened in 1926, 13-year-old resident Benny Benson won a competition to design the territorial and now state flag. Benson, originally from the village of Chignik and relocated from Unalaska, designed the flag. Fanny Kearns sewed the first Alaskan flag from leftover cloth. In 1927, the new flag was raised for the first time at the Jesse Lee Home. The date is still commemorated as Alaska Flag Day. On July 4, 1928, another Chignik boy, 14-year-old Ephriam Kalmakoff, won Seward’s Mount Marathon Race, a record that stood until 1957. He remains the youngest race champion and will be commemorated in the Alaska Hall of Fame this June. Peter Gordon, a former student, founded Alaska Methodist University in Anchorage, now Alaska Pacific University, in 1960.

“The project started because tribal members reached out to me about family buried there, uncles, children, but nobody knew exactly where,” said Dolly Wiles,  Qutekcak Tribal Administrator, on the origins of the project. “The area was part of the Jesse Lee Home, where children were buried, and during World War II, some children who died at Eklutna were sent back and buried in Seward. The city’s records were minimal, no plot lines, and most of the name tags were missing. When I asked about it, I was told they’d been removed for protection, but nothing was documented.”

Wiles continued, “When I visited, it was heartbreaking. There was only one headstone, a nurse, a non-Native woman, and the rest was neglected. The more I learned, the more I knew we had to do something,”

Qutekcak teamed up with North of Hope, a nonprofit run by Rod Coop and his wife Donna. Rod grew up in Seward and brings teams of volunteers every summer to help with projects. “In 2018, he offered to help, and I decided to share what we’d found.” The first thing they needed was a cleanup. “You couldn’t even tell it was a cemetery, there were beer bottles, syringes, all kinds of debris. That was around 2021, and it took a lot of work just to clear the area.” Wiles remembers of the first efforts at cleaning up the area.

In 2023, they brought in metal detectors to mark where the children were buried. There are pink and white flags now, marking graves they’ve found. “We talked as a group about doing this the Native way, quietly, respectfully, without confrontation, just doing the work.” Wiles said.

Over time, people started to notice and thank them. “It became visible that something important was happening. One of my employees met an Australian nonprofit leader at a meeting in Anchorage, who shared his experience making sacred places for Aboriginal graves. He was so moved by what we were doing that he came to Seward the next day and helped us apply for a grant.” That’s how they got funding for the LIDAR survey, which helped identify more graves.

“We may never know exactly who every child is, or have the resources to mark every grave, but the most important thing is recognizing these were children in our care, and the city’s care, and making things right. We don’t want to blame anyone, just honor them and restore the place,” Wiles emphasized.

The LIDAR surveys confirmed there are many more graves than they knew. Only 14 children were officially listed, but so far they’ve found 41. Records are scarce, and sometimes only a death certificate says “buried at Seward.” The Methodist Church didn’t have records either, but local resident Marie Gage and her family have helped by locating death certificates and conducting research.

The group is planning improvements: a walkway, an archway carved by a Native artist, and a dedication ceremony, probably next June. The design has changed a bit over time, but the goal is a beautiful, respectful entryway and a peaceful place for remembrance.

North of Hope, integral to the project, will still be part of this. “The Qutekcak Tribal members consider this area of the cemetery as sacred ground where ancestors rest, and where stories of survival can be shared,” Rodney Coop wrote in a recent report for the non-profit organization. “When Dolly called and asked if we would meet her over there, because they had just discovered these graves, I knew at that moment that whatever we could do, our default answer to the question was always yes.”

Coop, who graduated from Seward High School in 1976, says it’s been a full circle working throughout Alaska, “Having this project take place in my own hometown is really special.”

Wiles explained her approach to this endeavor: “I never wanted to make a fuss or blame anyone. I just want to make things right, so our people and the wider community can heal,” Wiles continued. “We do ceremonies there, like for MMIW/MMIP (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People) on May 5th, with drummers and flowers.”

The city is considering ceding the forested area, but there are still some steps to go: public hearings, surveys, and making sure there’s proper access.

“Everything we’ve done has been with volunteers and community members, not big grants or federal money. We do it because it matters, these children matter, then and now.” Wiles concludes, “Our goal is to keep the cemetery beautiful, honor those buried there, and create a place where everyone can remember and heal.”