 Her family moved a few years later to Coupeville, Washington, on Whidbey Island, where she attended local schools.She enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle beginning in 1919, transferring for financial reasons to what is now Western Washington University in Bellingham, where she became certified as a teacher.She started a position in the 1920s teaching Tsimshian children in Metlakatla, Alaska, on Annette Island.