105-year-old elder dies in Nenana

FAIRBANKS - A Nenana man who celebrated his 105th birthday on Jan. 14 has died.

Benny Albert died Friday morning at his home in Nenana.

Albert was born in an isolated settlement near the confluence of the Bear Paw and Kantishna rivers.

He was orphaned at an early age and raised by his brother and his brother's wife, Abraham and Mary Albert.

Benny Albert was known as a skilled woodsman who lived a subsistence life in the same area for many years, hunting, trapping and fishing into the 1960s.

Albert eventually took seasonal jobs with the Alaska Railroad and helped build the airstrip at Lake Minchumina. He never married.