Another language is gone with its last speaker

From today's Boston Globe:

Marie Smith Jones, who worked to preserve her heritage as the last full-blooded member of Alaska's Eyak Indians and the last fluent speaker of their native language, has died. She was 89.
Ms. Jones died in her sleep Monday at her home in Anchorage. She was found by a friend, said daughter Bernice Galloway, who lives in Albuquerque.
"To the best of our knowledge she was the last full-blooded Eyak alive," Galloway said. "She was a woman who faced incredible adversity in her life and overcame it. She was about as tenacious as you can get."
As the last fluent speaker, she worked to preserve the Eyak language, a branch of the Athabaskan Indian family of languages, said Michael Krauss, a linguist and professor emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who collaborated with her.

Who can forget the Eyak's courageous battle against the Empire? Cute little guys.