Life-long Klukwan resident Rachel Hotch was remembered Dec. 4 for her kindness, sense of humor and her support of others. Hotch, 87, died in her sleep Dec. 1.

At her memorial service held in the Alaska Native Sisterhood Hall, Lani Hotch noted in the funeral program she was, “one of those behind-the-scenes supporters that we all knew we could rely on for help.”

Hotch was a staunch supporter and lifetime member of the Klukwan ANS and the Klukwan Church, and she supported the ministry of her niece, Johanna Hotch.

She contracted Alzheimer’s about seven years ago but had occasional lucid times when she was able to communicate with her grown children and dear friend and neighbor Evelyn Hotch.

Rachel Edna Johnson Hotch was born in Klukwan to William and Martha Johnson on April 5,1930. She married Jones “Foxy” Hotch Sr. on Sept. 25, 1950 and they raised five children together-Jones, Nan, Genevieve, Les, and Beverly. Although primarily a housewife and mother, Hotch also worked at the Letnikof Cove cannery for more than 10 years, butchering and sliming salmon, and she fished with her husband on the F/V Dragon Lady.

Hotch was renowned for her home-baked pies and for years hosted a family lunch following the Sunday services at the village church. She loved her grandchildren immensely and other children of the community who knew her as “Grandma Foxy.” Hotch served as a nanny for Klukwan School teacher, Teresa Hura, who needed a babysitter nearby. “Rachel was very caring and I trusted her completely with my brand new babies. Our family is so grateful to have had her in our lives,” she said, adding Hotch loved to share a laugh or a joke with friends and family. “She had that twinkle in her eyes. A good sense of humor is a distinct virtue and a necessity when you live in a small community like Klukwan. Rachel’s sense of humor injected pleasure into our daily lives and made her dear to all of us,” Lani Hotch said.

Hotch lived a traditional Tlingit lifestyle and enjoyed working on fish and picking berries. She was very fit physically and maintained her subsistence activities through her 70s and into her 80s.

Hotch is survived by children Jones Hotch Jr., Eleanor Jones Hotch, Genevieve Stevens, Leslie Hotch, and Beverly Klanott; and grandchildren Jenni Hotch-Hill, Katrina Cain, Joshua Hotch, Donald Jones, Maria Jones, Lisa, Anna, Henry & Andre Stevens, and Daniel and Jeffery Klanott; nine great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. She was buried at the east end graveyard in Klukwan.