Dorothy Johnson Kändhäda (1934 – 2020)
Dorothy Johnson was born in her parents’ winter cabin at Salmon Patch on the Kluane River. Her parents were Jessie Allen and Sam Johnson Sr. Dorothy was the oldest of ten children. The Johnsons moved to Burwash Landing in the 1940s and Dorothy attended the Catholic day school taught by Father Morisset. When she was 16, she spent one year at the residential school at Lower Post. When she returned to Burwash she met Arnold Allinger of Chico, California who was visiting his brother Leland. Leland Allinger owned the Burwash Lodge and Dorothy worked there as a chambermaid and dishwasher. She and Arnold lived in a little house above the gas station for many years. After ten years, Arnold moved back to California and Dorothy moved into the village to raise her four children in the old house overlooking the lake. She lived there until the early 1990s. Dorothy was a very spiritual person, first attending the Catholic church and then, in the 1970s, joining the Yukon Bible Fellowship Church. She and others from the village attended meetings all over the Yukon and in Alaska. She was an avid collector of traditional songs and stories and recorded them when she attended potlatches in Northway, Alaska. Her former home became the first Burwash Museum in the early 1970s and she worked there for several years. In 1973, a larger building was constructed for the Kluane Museum of Natural History and Dorothy worked there seasonally for over twenty years, until her retirement in 1995. She was a founding member of the Yukon Historical and Museums Association in 1977, and attended meetings and participated in heritage training workshops for many years to learn more about the care of museum artifacts. Dorothy was well known for her sewing, beadwork and jewellery which she sold at the museum. She used distinctive Burwash designs and her unique eagle motif. Dorothy enjoyed attended general assemblies and cultural gatherings and generously contributed her knowledge. In 2016, Dorothy suffered a bad fall and went to live at the Thompson Centre in Whitehorse.1)