[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 109 (Thursday, June 22, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S2220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO REVEREND ANNA FRANK

 Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I rise to join the other Members 
of Alaska's Federal delegation--Senator Lisa Murkowski and 
Representative Mary Peltola--in honoring our dear friend Dr. Reverend 
Anna Frank. For decades, Reverend Frank has been a force for good in 
Interior Alaska and across our State. As the first female Alaska Native 
Episcopalian priest, she has given thousands of sermons and has 
officiated over countless weddings, funerals, and baptisms. She has 
served as a counselor for those in need, has been at the bedside for 
those souls passing on to heaven, and has provided much needed solace 
to those here on earth.
  Reverend Frank was born in 1939 in Old Minto, 1 of 14 children. 
Growing up in a village of less than 200 people, all living a 
subsistence lifestyle, everyone in the village had to play their part 
to survive and thrive. Her mother taught her how to trap muskrats and 
set fish traps. She also had many other women in her life--her aunties, 
who mentored her, as she has since mentored hundreds of other young 
women.
  After moving to Fairbanks, she married Richard Frank, a World War II 
veteran and respected Athabaskan leader who was also from Minto--and 
with whom she enjoyed a 57-year-long marriage. Together, Anna and 
Richard Frank raised four children. During this time, Reverend Frank 
earned her high school diploma. Her ability to persevere through 
adverse conditions instilled in her the idea that, ``You have to do 
things for yourself: don't live off people.''
  Reverend Frank became a health aide and midwife in Minto--her 
grandmother and aunt were midwives who had passed their knowledge on to 
her--and again, she demonstrated her strength, compassion, and skill. 
She was hired by Tanana Chiefs Conference to create their first health 
education department in 1975.
  Reverend Frank's job was to travel to the villages in the Interior 
and to talk to Alaska Natives about modern health and medicine. It was 
in this environment where Reverend Frank's experiences--the lessons she 
had learned from her elders and knowledge that she had gained from her 
western education--all came together. She found a way to reach out and 
get the help they needed, in a way that worked for them. Soon after, 
she was recruited to be a counselor, a position at which she excelled.
  In preparation for Easter one year, Reverend Frank decided that 
instead of giving something up for Lent, she would volunteer at the 
village church. After that, she became a deacon. Nearly 10 years later, 
she was ordained as an Episcopalian priest, the first Alaska Native 
woman to be ordained. She worked for the diocese for over 12 years and 
traveled internationally on behalf of the church. For her work, Dr. 
Reverend Anna Frank was awarded an honorary doctorate of law by the 
University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2019.
  Reverend Franks spent the majority of her life doing what needed to 
be done. The countless problems she encountered, she tackled head on. 
Reverend Frank traveled around Alaska, to numerous Native villages, and 
held church services for anybody of any faith, who wanted to be 
ministered to.
  ``I understood two roads: our Native ways and the other world,'' she 
once said. She was, and still is, a bridge between the old and the new. 
She has served on numerous boards, including the Denakkanaaga Elders 
group, the Alaska Commission on Aging, as well as the Fairbanks Native 
Association. She continues her journey in ensuring that Alaska Natives 
are seen and heard. She prays with them and for them. Reverend Frank 
has given her all to enrich and enliven the lives of those around her.
  She spoke to a reporter a few years ago about her lifelong journey. 
``As long as you're breathing it's never too late,'' she said. ``So 
that's what I did in my life, I changed me, and I grew, and I tried to 
help others. From where I came from, I have moved mountains.''
  We thank her for the mountains she has moved, her faith, her tireless 
service to our State and to her community and for all the many 
blessings she has bestowed on so many. ``Ana Baasee','' Reverend 
Anna.

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