Lewis Kalloch & Frank Ellis

Lewis with wife Lucy Manook

Gina Kalloch in Alaska shared this interesting story about her "grandpa Louie Kalloch".  She said that, Lewis Kalloch was born May 22, 1877 in Maine and journeyed out to Alaska to look for gold.  By 1930 he had found enough to afford a wife, so he married Gina's grandmother and adopted her father.  Louie stayed in Alaska for the rest of his life, except for a couple years during the depression when he took the family back to Montana where he owned property.  Lewis passed away in 1970 and is buried in Tanana, Alaska (an Indian village on the Yukon river).  Gina's family is Athabascan Indian.  Her father died in 1990 and was the only child of his adoptive parents, so that leaves only 7 people in Alaska with the Kalloch name, Gina, her mother, sister, brother, and her brother's three children.  Gina is an artist specializing in bead-work and has a shop in Fairbanks called "The Glass Bead Game."  (Information from Gina Kalloch 1/17/02)

Sister Abigail's page, Brother Joseph's page

---

Lee Kalloch
1922 - 1990
Adopted son of Lewis & Lucy

 

Gina Lucy Kalloch
Daughter of Lee Kalloch & Marcia Flot

Gina Kalloch was born to a father from the far north and a mother from the deep south.  Her father, a Koyukon Athabascan Indian, was raised in Tanana  and Rampart - Alaska Native villages along the Yukon  River.  Her mother is French Creole from rural,  Southern Louisiana.  Gina was raised primarily in Interior Alaska, immersed in the Athabascan culture.  Ms. Kalloch creates beadwork that reflects both traditional style and contemporary innovation.  She  has been working with beads for over 20 years and is renowned for her work with the tiniest antique beads.  Although self-taught, she has studied with Native elders and contemporaries in a traditional sharing of skills.  Gina sees her work as she sees her unique heritage - grounded in Alaska Native tradition and flavored with the southern spiciness passed down by her mother.  (Photo & text are from Gina's website: http://www.ravenstrick.com/page3.htm).