I was born in Barrow in 1949 and raised at Iviksuk in my earliest years. We lived in a small sod house there and were frequently cared for by our elderly neighbors while my father and his brother Arnold Brower Sr. tended to their trap lines.

We walked to Barrow sometime around 1954 and I have lived here since.

As a child disabled by rheumatic fever, I listened and learned many Iñupiaq myths, legends, history and stories from Elders that frequented my parents home. I would also be invited by Elders to listen and learn my peoples history and life experiences so I may be useful to our community in my adult years. How correct they were in choosing my life path!

I was taught ivory carving and oil painting by my father at 12 years of age. I like to carve from memory about myths and legends and paint portraits of Iñupiaq Elders.

My schooling was through BIA schools in Barrow, the Wrangle Institute, and Mt. Edgecumbe High School where I graduated in '68. I attended college at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, the Iñupiat University of the Arctic and at the University of Sorbonne in Paris, France where I studied art and anthropology.

Before college in 1971, I was appointed by-then Senator Eben Hopson to serve on the North Slope Borough Home Rule Charter Commission. I was the first Chairman of the Commission. I have served on the NSB Iñupiat History, Language and Culture Commission for 14 years and was Chairman for 8 years. During that time I got involved in our village corporation, UIC, and served on the Board for 21 years and as President for 81/2 years. I also served on the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) as Vice President, and 4 years as President of ICC-Alaska for 2 years.

I currently work for Ilisagvik College as the Director of the Iñupiat Heritage Center.

Elsewhere on Alaskool by Ronald Brower, Sr.:
Cultural Uses of Alaska Marine Animals - Part I, August 1978
Cultural Uses of Alaska Marine Mammals - Part II, December 2001