Elaine Mae Gunderson

The Village Schoolmaster; Two Daughters, Two Cultures Elaine Mae Gunderson

In 1938 our father Herman Larsen takes a position with the Alaska Native Service to teach in a small Athabascan Indian village. Herman, his wife Mae, and their eight-year-old daughter Etola travel from Mandan, North Dakota, for 58 days to get to their new home. In April of 1941 Mae and Etola return to Mandan to wait for the birth of their second daughter Yvonne. On March 3rd of 1942 an Indian woman gives birth to twins who appear to be white. The news of the birth of white twins spreads around the village, but Herman, the only white man in the village, denies any involvement saying the mother's husband is part Russian and the villagers are a bunch of "gossips". The Larsens experience tragedy in March of 1943 when Etola dies of hepatitis. Subsequently they live in three other Alaskan villages, during which time Robert (Bud) and Elaine are born, then leave Alaska forever. Nearly 50 years later, Yvonne returns to Alaska. There a native woman tells her that we have a half-sister.