Ruthie Tatqavin Sampson, a well-known teacher of the Inupiaq language, died on Sunday. She was 54.

As a teen, Sampson began translating Bible verses into Inupiaq. She dedicated the rest of her life to ensuring the language stays alive.

"She seemed to realize that if we don't do anything, we are going to lose our language," Marie Greene, president of Nana Regional Corp., told The Anchorage Daily News.

Friends and family said Sampson used Inupiaq as much as possible. "She'd e-mail me in Eskimo," sister-in-law Elsie Sampson Vaden said.

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Sampson kept voice of Alaska Inupiats alive (The Anchorage Daily News 11/20)