Unalakleet - Church of the Holy Angels Catholic Church
The Inupiat Eskimo village of Unalakleet is located on Norton Sound at the mouth of the Unalakleet River, 148 miles southeast of Nome. Unalakleet means "place where the east wind blows." It is an ancient settlement, lying at the salt-water end of the important trade route, the Unalakleet-Kaltag portage. While the village population is predominantly Eskimo, some of its inhabitants are also Athapaskan Indian. The town was established around 1901.
Church records indicate that early Catholic presence in Unalakleet has "always been a minor one" and no Catholic priest has ever established residency with the singular exception mentioned below. However, one notation records that in 1910, Fr. Anthony Keyes, S.J., briefly visited the village while he was stationed at Saint Michael. Unalakleet has been a stronghold of the Swedish Evangelical Church.
In 1949 Catholic life in Unalakleet became more obvious when Fr. Jules Convert, S.J., made frequent visits from St. Michael where he was stationed. He built a small cabin-church in 1952. Thanks to the efforts of Fr. George Endal, S.J., who lived in the village from 1982 until 1987, Fr. James Falsey, a Diocesan priest, built a new church between 1994 and 1995 so that a growing Catholic population could be accommodated. Fr. Endal generously chose to spend his first retirement years as mentioned earlier, building up the Parish community with evident success.
Visiting priests who served Holy Angels parish ever since Fr. Keyes' first appearance are too numerous to mention here. Most of them came to Unalakleet from Nome, Kaltag or Saint Michael.