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is is the true story of the rare friendship that develops between a young medical student
with deep roots in the South and an elderly Indian couple in the wilds of northeast Alaska. In
1961, Mike Holloway, his brother Ted, and a college friend set out from South Carolina to
spend the summer hiking in arctic Alaska, intending to live o the land. ey end up in the
homeland of the Gwich'in - the northernmost Indians in North America.
e young men charter a small plane into the isolated village of Venetie, and are directed to
the remote cabins of Johnny and Sarah Frank, an elderly Gwich'in couple who lived a thirty-
ve mile walk from the village. Johnny was a well-known storyteller and former medicine man.
Sarah made their home welcoming with warm, calm kindness.
Mike's rich encounters in Gwich'in country deepen his love of wild land and his respect
for those who depend upon it for their survival. experience alters his life. He becomes the
adopted grandson of Johnny and Sarah, returning to Alaska as a doctor and an advocate for
the land and its people.
About the author
Born in Greenwood, South Carolina, Mike Holloway studied medicine in South Carolina and Virginia. He became a Peace Corps doctor and worked for the regional native hospital in southwest Alaska, before moving to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage in 1973. Mike also worked as a subsistence advocate and village liaison for the Alaska Rural Community Action Program before returning to the medical center as chief of orthopedics. After retiring, Mike taught orthopedics in Uganda, Cameroon, Bhutan, and Nicaragua. He is married to Margie Gibson and lives near Indian, Alaska.
