Upper Skagit tribal elder Vi taqʷsəblu Hilbert (1918-2008) received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1994, taught language classes at the University of Washington, and cowrote the Lushootseed Dictionary. Thom Hess (1936-2009) was a professor of linguistics at the University of Victoria. Jill tsisqʷux̌ʷal La Pointe is director of Lushootseed Research and granddaughter of Vi taqʷsəblu Hilbert.