Kathryn "Bessie" Bremner of Yakutat, Alaska passed away on May 16, 2012 at Bellingham, Washington. She was born on March 11, 1929 at Yakutat. She attended Pius X Mission School in Skagway and Sheldon Jackson High School at Sitka. She was active in the Yakutat Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) Chapter 13 for many years as secretary and as a treasurer and loved her association with her ANS Sisters. She was also a member of the St. Elias Dancers, a lively cultural dancing team from as early as the 1950's – blending her voice with those of her mother, aunts, cousins and uncles. They performed for Governor Egan, Gubernatorial events, the Yakutat Moose Barbeque and in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Sitka. The St. Elias Dancers have been a favorite of performers because of the bright and happy singing and the aggressive moves of their dances.As a young worker, she worked at the Bellingham Canning Company in the Dungeness Crab shaking line and along with women of Yakutat had hands like hammers from long hours of extracting crab meat by pounding the hand/wrist on large rubber posts. With her husband she became a successful fisher at the Lost River in Yakutat.She married Harry A. Bremner Jr. and had celebrated their 50th anniversary when she lost her husband in 2002. Bessie moved to Yakutat and remained there for 10 years as an independent apartment dweller. This was a phenomenal feat as she was totally blind and was hearing challenged. She depended on hearing aids to communicate and maintain contact with her world. She chose to be in a home at Bellingham, Washington to be near her brother and family.She was preceded in death by her husband Harry A. "Skinka" Bremner, Jr., her mother Mary K. Thomas, father William Thomas, numerous aunts and uncles. She is a descendent from Chief Jim Kardeetoo and Jennie Kardeetoo.She is survived by her brother Jim Thomas (Judy Thomas) of Lummi Island, Washington, nieces: Tracy Aalvik of Kelso, Wa; Stacey Thomas of Hermosa Beach, CA; Kathryn Koehman of Holland, Michigan and Nephews Ben Thomas of Bellingham, WA and Kayak Thomas of Seattle, WA; Cousin/Brother Lowell Petersen of Yakutat and numerous nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews and many loving cousin-sisters and brothers. Many of her family traveled with her from Seattle to Yakutat.Chapter 13 of the ANS held a memorial service for her at Yakutat on Saturday May 19, 2012 and she buried at the Yakutat Cemetery on May 20, 2012. Memories and cards may be sent to Jim Thomas, P.O. Box 76, Lummi Island, WA 98262.