TAHOLAH — The Quinault Tribe’s longest living member died peacefully in his sleep recently.
Clifford “Soup” Corwin, 100, died Feb. 10, the tribe said in a press release.
“He is a highly-esteemed elder who has many stories to tell, and whose wisdom is legendary,” Fawn Sharp, Quinault Indian Nation president, said in the release. “Our entire Tribe has great respect for him.”
Born in Bay Center, Corwin spent most of his life on the coast. As a young man, he learned to hunt, fish and trap from his grandfather, Alfred Pickernell, the release stated.
He started working at the age of 16 picking oysters and clam digging. Chasing his love of fishing, he traveled as far north as the Canadian border and throughout the Oregon coast to the south.
Corwin and his wife moved to Taholah in the 1960s where he fished commercially on the Quinault River for nearly 50 years.
Born Oct. 17, 1917, to Maude Pickernell and Ben Corwin, he is preceded in death by his wife, Ethel “Ishky” Bastian, who died in 2002.
He is survived by his son Clifford “Spud” Corwin (Laurie), eight grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
Visitation was held last Thursday while a graveside service and celebration of life were held last Friday.
