Virginia Beavert

Virginia R. Beavert (November 30, 1921 – February 8, 2024) was a Native American linguist of the Ichishkíin language at the University of Oregon. In the 1940s, Beavert served in the Women’s Army Corps in New Mexico during World War II for three years. As a result of her distance from Native speakers of Ichishkíin, she discovered it was a struggle to communicate as fluently during a phone call to her mother.

Her parents, Ellen Saluskin, and stepfather Alex Saluskin worked alongside linguist and anthropologist Bruce Rigsby from the University of Oregon. Their work to develop the Ichishkíin alphabet eventually transformed into the first Ichishkíin dictionary in 1975, which Beavert participated in with her stepfather and Dr. Bruce Rigsby.

When her stepfather Alexander Saluskin (also known as Chief Wi-ya-wikt) became ill in the 1970s, she set out to get a college education in anthropology and language studies. Her stepfather motivated and encouraged her to pursue her education and teach Ichishkíin, to anyone interested in learning.

Personal life Beavert was born in a cave of the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon during a blizzard, on November 30, 1921. After teaching at Heritage College on the Yakama Reservation, Beavert decided to return to school to fine-tune her methods for teaching language.

In 2000, Beavert graduated with a master's in bilingual and bicultural education from the University of Arizona.

At the age of 90, she earned her doctorate in linguistics from the University of Oregon and is the school's oldest graduate in history.

Selected publications

A Song to the Creator: Weaving Arts of Native Women of the Plateau [first publication: 1996]

The Gift of Knowledge: Ttnúwit Átawish Nchʼinchʼimamí: Reflections on Sahaptin Ways [first publication: 2017]

Honors and awards Beavert received the Washington Governor's Heritage Award in 2006. In 2007 the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas awarded her with the Ken Hale prize. In 2008 she received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Oregon, and in 2009 she received an honorary degree from the University of Washington.