Vivienne Youngblood died on May 30. She was 94.

Born on April 20, 1915, in Tulalip, she was the oldest member of the Suquamish tribe.

When she was young, she spent her summers with her grandmother, Carry Loughrey, at Indianola Beach where she learned to swim and became a long-distance swimmer. She often swam from Indianola to Suquamish and back, generally to the trading post of William DeShaw, her grandmother’s father. Youngblood’s grandmother was also an oldest elder and was given the honor of unveiling the statue of Chief Seattle first in 1917 and then at the rededication in 1972. Youngblood’s parents were employed by the Indian Service for most of their working lives, so she moved from place to place as a youngster.

She married Alfred Youngblood in 1939. Her husband worked as a construction electrician and later an air traffic controller. The family lived as far east as Kentucky, but spent 20 years in Bellingham and after the children were grown, Alfred and Vivienne spent 30 years at Lincoln Beach, Ore. For the last 10 years she had lived with her daughter in Des Moines, Wash.

She is survived by her daughter Mary Ann, her son Bill and her daughter-in-law Peggy. She was married to Alfred Youngblood for 60 years until his death in 1999.

A celebration of her life was scheduled for June 10.