Glenn Moore Sr., a distinguished Yurok leader crossed over to the spirit world on the morning of December 9, 2008.  Glenn was born on August 23, 1919 at Srey-Pech near the village of Srey-gon located along the Klamath river. He was the son of Ed Moore and Nettie Johnson. 

Glenn attended the Sherman Indian School in Riverside, California where he excelled athletically, particularly as a championship contender at the World Fair in wrestling. In 1941 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a Staff Sgt. attached to the 83rd Mobile Air Corps unit stationed in France during World War II. Glenn was a decorated soldier honorably discharged in 1945.  Upon returning home from the War, Glenn with his late wife, Dorothy, daughters, Carla and Glenna, and late son, Kenneth, raised cattle and award-winning registered Appaloosa horses. 

Glenn owned and operated his own logging company, Glenn Moore Logging, for more than 35 years.  Glenn was recognized for his successful business ventures when he was awarded the “Businessman of the Year” from United Indian Development Association (UIDA) in 1986. 

He was a role model for many in every possible way. Glenn was a devoted cultural leader with tremendous knowledge and unique gifts. He was deeply committed to preserving the history, language, craftsmanship, and religious practices through ceremonies.  Glenn’s understanding of tribal intellectual and cultural property rights were effectively applied when he helped shape the policy and guide programmatic development of the Yurok Tribe as a longstanding chairperson of the Yurok Tribe’s Cultural Committee.  In this capacity, Glenn served as an exemplary Yurok “Ambassador” on the national repatriation organization, “Keepers of the Treasure,” where he represented the Tribe and the State of California.  He was also one of the leading figures in the creation of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO).  

Glenn used his skill as a fluent Yurok speaker to teach and share with his people. He was instrumental in building language curricula, was a language mentor, and was the Vice Chairperson of the Yurok Language Program.

Raised in an era where there were limited trails and no roads, the river was, not only, the means of transportation but also the lifeline for the Yurok People, Glenn grew up paddling canoes and fishing along the Klamath River. Coming from a long line of canoe builders, he became a master craftsman of traditional redwood dugout canoes, having learned this special skill from his brother Haynes years before. Glenn’s dream and accomplishments were to teach this art so that there would be traditional canoes and canoe builders. His honored relationship with the community and his outstanding character helped revive the White Deerskin Dance in Weitchpec, a world renewal ceremony that had not taken place for nearly 80 years. Gracing his people with songs, Glenn will be well-remembered for the rich melodies that resonated during traditional ceremonies for healing and World Renewal. During a century of such great change to the environment, tribes, cultures, and relationship issues, Glenn’s contributions, over his life time, are historic and will affect generations to come. He leaves his people a great legacy.

'Aa-wokw Archie Thompson was the last living native speaker of the Yurok language. He was a part of about twenty elders who helped revitalize the Yurok language during the early 2000s. He made recordings of the language archived by UC Berkeley linguists and the Tribe, spent hours helping to teach the Yurok language in the community and schools, and welcomed apprentice speakers to learn from his knowledge. Known for his beaming smile, he said farewell to most visitors with a "You be good now." 

Thompson was born May 26, 1919, in a smokehouse in Woh-tekw Village, on the Heyhl-keek 'we-roy (Klamath River.) At age five, he was sent to a government-run boarding school in Hoopa where he was discouraged from speaking Yurok or engaging in cultural practices. He returned home at age eight, and after his mother attempted to put him up for adoption, his grandmother, ‘aa-wokw Rosie Jack Hoppell, took him in. Hoppell spoke only Yurok and Thompson lived a traditional life with her and an uncle, hooking key'-ween (eels), harvesting chey-gel' (seaweed) and clams, catching candlefish and ney-puy (salmon), and hunting mey-weehl (elk.) Before school, he would rise early to trap ducks, catching enough for his grandmother to fill feather mattresses.  

In 1939 Thompson graduated from Del Norte High School, where he earned varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was the first Native American to have his name on the Coach's Cup, an annual award for excellence in multiple sports, and was recently inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame. He learned welding at another Indian boarding school, Riverside's Sherman Institute, and served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II. In 1959, he moved to Crescent City with his wife, Alta McCash, a member of the neighboring Karuk tribe. The couple had eight children before she died in 1968. After he was pinned between two redwood trees while logging in 1966, Thompson was told he would never walk again. He recovered and not only did he walk again, but every year on his birthday he played in a baseball game against a family from the town of Klamath until well into his 70s.

Thompson died on March 26, 2013, at the hospital in Crescent City, California. Leaving behind a language legacy, and a large loving family.  

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