Mary Breu

A Michigan native, with a B.A. and M.A., Mary Breu taught elementary school for 34 years. She and her husband live in South Carolina with their two children. Etta Jones is Breu's great aunt.

From the author: "Etta Schureman was my great-aunt on my mother’s side of the family. In 1922, when she was 42 years old, Etta and her younger sister traveled from Pennsylvania to Alaska. One year later, Etta married Foster Jones, an Ohio native who had prospected gold and other minerals in Alaska for 20 years. Etta and Foster accepted teaching assignments in Native Alaska villages in Alaska’s Interior (Athabascan), on Prince William Sound (Alutiiq), Kodiak Island (Aleut) and on the Bering Sea (Yup’ik). Their last post was Attu.

When the Japanese invaded the tiny island on June 7, 1942, Etta and Foster witnessed the demise of people who were a unique group of Aleuts. Etta spent the next 39 months in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.

I was born and raised in Muskegon, Michigan, which is located on the shores of Lake Michigan. During my childhood, Etta spent her summers renting an apartment in the nearby lakeshore community of Montague. Even though she had witnessed an historically pivotal event, she was the most humble, unassuming, caring and nurturing adult. While in grade school, during summer vacations, I spent many happy times with her. In junior high, I was a summer student at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, and Etta was one of my strongest supporters. After my graduation from Muskegon High School in 1963, she continued to encourage both my musical interests and my academic pursuits. When Etta died in 1965, my family mourned the loss of a most remarkable woman.

I completed my studies at Michigan State University, and, following Etta’s lead, began an elementary school teaching career. Jerry Breu and I married, had two children, and, at age 34, we abandoned the harsh Michigan winters and moved to South Carolina. I continued to teach and completed the requirements for a Master’s degree at Furman University. Through the years, I always wanted to document Etta’s story, and when I retired in 2002, I finally had the opportunity to do just that.

Etta was a prolific letter writer. Relatives kept all of her correspondence, photos, documents and artifacts, and this private treasure was eventually handed down to me. I did research on the Internet to corroborate events with what Etta had said, what she had written in her extensive letters and what I found in her documents. Most of the information on the Web was either incomplete or inaccurate.

In 2003, the Alaska Humanities Forum awarded me a grant to travel from South Carolina to Alaska where I pored over historical documents and texts. I subsequently made 5 more trips to Alaska to continue to reasearch Etta's incredible story. Word of my project spread and interest grew. I did two interviews on Alaska Public Radio, and my first article was published in the Spring/Fall 2003 issue of Alaska History.

Following my presentation at the Alaska Historical Society’s Conference in Homer, 2007, I submitted my full manuscript to Alaska Northwest Books. Sara Juday immediately recognized the significance of Etta’s story, and Last Letters from Attu: The True Story of Etta Jones, Alaska Pioneer and Japanese POW was published in 2009."

More at: https://www.lastlettersfromattu.com/