Verdena Leona Parker (née Chase) is the last fluent speaker of the Hupa language, an Athabaskan language spoken by the Hoopa Valley Tribe, indigenous to northern California. While other children of her generation were sent to boarding schools, isolating them from their families, Parker was raised by her grandmother, who spoke Hupa with her. Through adulthood, Parker continued to speak Hupa with her mother daily, maintaining a high level of fluency despite language loss in the rest of the Hupa community. Beginning in 2008 and continuing through the present, Parker has regularly worked with researchers at UC Berkeley and Stanford to provide recordings of spoken Hupa for the documentation of the Hupa language. She is also active in language revitalization projects. References External links Survey of California and Other Indian Languages - Mission Survey of California and Other Indian Languages - Projects 1936 births Living people Last known speakers of a Native American language Hupa Native American people from Oregon 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans