Segundo Llorente, S.J., wrote his own AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YUKON PRIEST, but Henry Hargreaves left his imprint on the native peoples of western Alaska as probably the last of the great missionaries. Henry loves to tell the story of his arrival in Chevak, Alaska in 1949 as a newly minted priest. He walked from the Widgen aircraft to the parish residence where Fr. Paul O’Connor, S.J. greeted him by saying that he had housing meetings in Dillingham, Alaska, and here are the keys. Undaunted, Henry accepted the keys and took the challenge to begin the life of a missionary in the most undeveloped area of Alaska. For 53 years he served in the most remote villages of western Alaska, beginning with Chevak, Hooper Bay, Nelson Island on the coast to the Yukon villages of Nulato, Emmonak on the lower Yukon and Nulato on the upper Yukon. He also served in Alaska’s two major cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks and ended his years in Alaska serving the hub village of the Yukon-Kuskokwim area, Bethel.

Henry moved with the times, and he made use of whatever would help in bringing the gospel to the native peoples, whether it was dog sled or snow-machine, typewriter or computer. Knowing how to adapt was part of his “modus operandi.”

Henry’s simplicity of life did not go unnoticed. After visiting his doctor in Anchorage, Henry received a package of new socks in Bethel. There were other attempts to replace his famous “tundra tuxedo” with a new one, but the manufacturer couldn’t be found, so the old threadbare tuxedo may still be seen today.

One item of his few possessions that traveled with him was a weather-worn violin. A person who entered his quarters unannounced would often hear the trilling strings of some “oldie goldie” that Henry wanted to perform for the public. He loved to compose songs and poems for special occasions and birthdays. In Bethel, he was one of the first talents sought out for the annual Festival of Arts Concert. He became a writer for the Delta Discovery, featuring his humorous and poetic stories of the past in a Jack London fashion. Since 2003 he has been living at the Regis community in Spokane and continues to serve the native communities of the Spokane reservation. When a birthday is celebrated, Henry’s poetic and musical talents are called upon to bring humor and laughter to the assembled brothers.