On Valentine's Day, 1937, George Virgil Wilson Sr., was born to Clarence and Sassa Wilson in Levelock, Alaska.  He is the second youngest of eight children. George grew up in Levelock and lived there until he married Judy Fischer in 1959 and subsequently moved to Naknek. Together they had four daughters: Nola, Pammy, Julie, and Carla. After a divorce to Ms. Fisher in 1964, George married Annie Apokedak from Levelock in 1966.  In 1976 they moved to Igiugig with their children.  Annie and George are still happily married with three children, Annette, George Jr., and Georgette.  In May, 1997 they had their marriage blessed in church.  Together they have one granddaughter, Spirit, and a grandson.  George has a total of 14 grandchildren.

As a child George liked making tin and wooden boats with which to play.   He would use old tin cans and 5-gallon gasoline cans to make a variety of boats.  George would collect discarded pieces of wood and use them to build toy scows.  George liked to play many different outdoor games, a few he especially enjoyed were, Kick-The-Can, Hide-and-go-Seek, Manachee, Tag, and the native game, Gouchak. Mr. Wilson taught himself how to play the harmonica when he was 12 years old.  He first started playing because his older brother played the harmonica well.  George would steal his brother's harmonica and secretly try to play.  He also was a pencil artist as a child and would draw animals and sometimes complete a drawing by brightening it with watercolors.  After high school George quit drawing and has not done it since.  Georgie, as the residents of Igiugig know him, also enjoyed picking the family subsistence net daily with his mother and sisters.  His daily chores consisted of pumping water for the house, hauling wood, and packing fresh water from the spring.

Mr. Wilson's first job was as a painter for a barge company in Levelock.  He was 14 and got paid $90.00 for two days of painting signs.  George started commercial fishing when he was 12 with his dad in Bristol Bay.  He bought his own boat in 1959 and retired from fishing in 1999.  Besides painting and fishing George has also been trapping since he was 12.  He started off trapping small game like fox, beaver, mink, muskrat, and otter.  He gradually trapped larger animals and still traps wolves and wolverine today. 

Every fall, usually in October, George would haul his camping gear and a two month supply of groceries to Branch River by boat.  There he would spend two weeks chopping wood to last the duration of his trip.   While at Branch River George enjoyed trapping mink.  Once a week he would walk to the nearest cabin, some 20 miles, to visit Eau Andrew and take a steam bath.  While visiting Eau he liked listening to stories about hunting and trapping.  During the fur season, George would catch between 40-50 mink.  George would return every Christmas to Levelock via foot, approximately 115 miles, while carrying all his furs, food, and sleeping bag on his back.  He would sleep in cabins that were along the river.  Once he reached Eau's he would use the side-band radio to call home and tell his family to be expecting him. 

Now that George is done fishing and trapping for a living he enjoys ice fishing, sitting and shooting the bull, and trapping and hunting for pleasure.  George plans on living in Igiugig for the rest of his life.

George (right) and his brother Charlie in 1967.

George and his children, Annette and George Jr. on the Kvichak River.

George and his wife Annie in 1981.

George successfully downs another brown bear.