Marie Smith Jones (May 14, 1918 – January 21, 2008) was an American national who was the last surviving speaker of the Eyak language of Southcentral Alaska.
[2] In a 2005 interview, Smith Jones explained that her name in Eyak is 'udAch' k'uqAXA'a'ch' (/ʔutət͡ʃ’ k’uqəχəʔaˀt͡ʃ’/)which, she said, translates as "a sound that calls people from afar".
So that a record of the Eyak language would survive, she worked with linguist Michael E. Krauss, who compiled a dictionary and grammar of it.
Afterwards, Jones became politically active, and on two occasions she spoke at the United Nations on the issues of peace and indigenous languages.
[2][5] Jones suffered from alcoholism earlier in her life, but gave up drinking while in her early 50s;[2] she remained a heavy smoker until her death.