Dreaming Bears: A Gwich'in Indian Storyteller, a Southern Doctor, a Wild Corner of Alaska

Dreaming Bears in the true story of the rare friendship that develops between a young medical student with deep roots in the South and an elderly Indian couple in the wilds of northeast Alaska. In 1961, Mike Holloway, his brother Ted, and a college friend set out from South Carolina to spend the summer hiking in arctic Alaska, intending to live off the land. They end up in the homeland of the Gwich’in – the northernmost Indians in North America. The young men charter a small plane into the isolated village of Venetie, and are directed to the remote cabins of Johnny and Sarah Frank, an elderly Gwich’in couple who lived a thirty-five mile walk from the village. Johnny was a well-known storyteller and former medicine man. Sarah made their home welcoming with warm, calm kindness. Mike’s rich encounters in Gwich’in country deepen his love of wild land and his respect for those who depend upon it for their survival. The experience alters his life. He becomes the adopted grandson of Johnny and Sarah, returning to Alaska as a doctor and an advocate for the land and its people.