I'm still trying to cope with losing my cousin back in 2002. We dont know what happened to him. The only ones who do know, they were all too drunk to have the same story and nothing was ever discovered as to what happened. He went missing on August 18th 2002. The night before he and a bunch of people were going camping already drunk they get on a boat and travel to the camping spot. The stories that I was told were that one...there was a misunderstanding and someone took all the guns away...If you go camping in the particular neck of the woods where they went you dont take the guns away because of being in bear country. Two...he went swimming across to the other side and we couldnt find him he just dissappeared. Three...he was too wasted and passed out so they put him in a boat and pushed him out, when they woke up the boat was missing and he was too. Crazy thing is when I have drank and drank too much they said they woke up at 6am to find him gone no one said anything to anyone until 6pm that night. I'm not sure how many of you drink but if you drink as much as I think they were drinking if you pass out there is no waking up at 6am. Your asleep! When they finally had someone go out to the camp site they cleaned up...it was as if no one was there...I dont know the real story and he wasnt important enough to the FBI or police to look into it. The people who were out with him were not close friends but aquaintances. He was a big name where I am from, he was always willing to help you. Never wanted to have a bad time was always the life of the party. Thats why its so hard for me to believe there was an altercation because he would be the one saying "cant we all just get along?" I thought he would survive through anything...just a few months before this happened he was in a car accident where the drive was unconscience and he had a broken leg and had to crawl to get help...that was the last time I saw him when they medivac'ed him up. He lived in the Village and I live in a bigger village...well its the city but I'm in alaska and there is only one really big city. Thats where I am...but anyway we searched for him for weeks...people kept saying they saw him running and couldnt catch up with him. Said he was scared of being in trouble so he ran. people were searching until it got dark...once the dark fell it was too dark to see anything. They finally found him September 8 of 2002. His body surfaced to the top of the water. His funeral was the biggest turn out for something of this nature people came from all over to pay respects. He will be missed dearly. I grew up with him and during the summers in the village we would be gone all day...playing, bike riding, camping, building forts, playing games...endless fun as a kid. We put him to rest September 15th 2002

One of his sisters whom I was also close with had a really hard time with his passing. She drank but when he passed she drank even more being left in the village with all the stories it consumed her as she consumed alcohol to be numb from the feeling of losing her brother. She was lost in drinking and when she finally wanted to stop and quit she died in her sleep. She passed away December 21st 2006...We all deserved to hear the answer as to why he passed away and it bothers us that this happened. Some of us a little more than others. We are a tight nit family...we might be spread as far north as Barrow to as far South as California...but still have that close connection with each other.

Just this past month my grandmother passed away...this was hard as well because you know its going to happen but when it does it still hurts so very much. She was the glue that held us together. She was the one we called to talk to when we needed someone to listen. My grandfather is still alive and we all are thankful to have him here with us. He is very much hurt and it hurts me to hear him cry.

I will always love you all...May you all...REST IN PEACE