Oneida, WI) - Maria Anastasia (Christjohn) Hinton, 103 of Oneida, WI passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family on Sunday, July 28, 2013. Maria's Oneida name was Yakeyale (Ya-gay-yah-lay), which translates into English as "She Remembers." Maria was a Faith keeper of the Oneida longhouse and one of the first state certified Oneida language teachers in the country. Born into the Oneida language, Maria spoke fluent Oneida her entire life. It wasn't until she began attending the local Government Boarding School as a young child that she began to learned English. In her lifetime, Maria attended several boarding schools in Oneida, the Ho-chunk community, then later in Mt. Pleasant, MI, and at Haskell Institute. She finished her High School education in Kansas City, Missouri, then returned home to Oneida. Maria later lived in Milwaukee and Chicago, then relocated to Los Angeles where her first grandchild Kelly was born. She worked many jobs in her career doing what she had to do to survive and provide for her family during the Great Depression and forward. In the early 1970s, Maria relocated to Green Bay and Milwaukee, where she continued to work to provide for her family. It was in Milwaukee where she began her college and teaching career. Maria enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, alongside other fluent speaking elders from all Wisconsin tribes, as a part of a now historic language preservation project. It was there where she acquired her state certification to teach. With the encouragement of both her family and the Oneida community, Maria returned home to assist in the revitalization of the Oneida language. Upon her return, she taught at the Soaring Eagle Community School is considered one of the founders the Oneida Nation School System. In 1979, Maria graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors Degree in Linguistics at the University of WI-Green Bay. She was passionate about teaching and preserving the Oneida Language. She worked for over 20 years with her brother Amos Christjohn, Dr. Clifford Abbott, and others to preserve the language in an Oneida dictionary. She and Dr. Abbott would later adapt it into an online version, for which she spent nearly two years recording her voice. They completed the online dictionary in 2008. With her passing, Oneida has come to the end of an era. There are few Oneidas still alive who were born speaking Oneida as a first language. Maria lived through an era where government and poverty forced Indian families to send their children to boarding schools for years at a time to learn English and be educated into the mainstream of American society. While this era was not looked upon favorably in history, Maria made the best of it. As an educator, Maria encouraged Indian Country to look forward and keep building upon the quality of education we see today. "The past is behind us, let's look to the future through the eyes of our children," said Maria. The entire Oneida community mourns the passing of a truly gifted and loving grandmother that embraced everyone who sought her help in learning their language. During the second half of her life, for 50 years, she passed on her knowledge of the language and created thousands of recordings and books as critical learning tools for the Oneida language. She taught three generations of Oneida students during her career at the Oneida Nation Elementary School until she retired at the age of 92, after which she continued to teach in her home. She worked every Monday for nearly two years before finishing her community teaching at the age of 98. Maria Christjohn Hinton was an amazing woman who has left the Oneida Nation with a legacy of honorable work and undying love of the history, culture and language of the Oneida people. Her work will live on forever as a teacher and a linguist. She lived an amazing, full and meaningful life and will always be remembered as dignified. Maria was well known and loved dearly by the entire Oneida Nation, addressed by family and community members alike by "Aksot," which in Oneida means "grandma." She was preceded in death by her father Moses Christjohn, mother Lucy Christohn, siblings Anna John, Rosetta Huntington, Eva Cornelius, Elizabeth Ridgeway, Frances Christjohn, Vernon Christjohn, John Christjohn, Amos Christjohn, loving daughter in law Patricia Stevens and grandson Coleman Stevens. She is survived by her sibling Mae (Christjohn) Baxter, and her son Ernest Lloyd Stevens Sr. Also survived are 8 grandchildren; Kelly (Shelly) Stevens, Ernest (Cheryl) Jr., Toni (Doug) House, Apache (Dewain) Danforth, Mike (Tommy) Stevens, Pam (Lester) Harms, David Stevens, Jennifer Stevens, and special lifelong friend Marj Stevens. Maria also had 26 great grandchildren and 18 great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, as well as countless students and other community members who looked at her as their grandma. The wake will be held on Wednesday, July 31 at RYAN FUNERAL HOME 305 N. Tenth Street De Pere, visitation will begin at 5 pm, service at 7 pm. A traditional Oneida longhouse wake will take place on Thursday, August 1 at the Oneida longhouse; visitation will begin at 5 pm. The funeral will be held at 10 am Friday, August 2, at the Oneida longhouse. Please go to www.ryanfh.com to send online condolences to the family. It is the tradition of the Oneida people to begin a fire to honor and offer prayers for an individual who has passed on, that fire will be located at her original homestead located at 4204 W. Mason St (HWY 54) in Oneida. Friends and family may come to the fire to offer their condolences and donations to the family.