Heather Purser is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.
SUQUAMISH ― A decade ago her name was in the national news, the face of a trail-blazing decision by her tribal government to recognize same-sex marriage at a time when the federal government, states and other tribal authorities did not.
But Heather Purser learned from the spotlight, one that she tends to shy away from now, and put the lessons of advocacy learned then – when the Suquamish Tribe’s General Council affirmed same-sex marriages after her request in 2012 – to work in different ways today for her family and community. She’s a commercial geoduck diver, a unique profession tied into the tribe’s commercial ventures as well as her own values of sustainability and ecological protection. She’s a voice for change in her community, though now, thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, she is doing so with the experience of her tribal elders. During the past seven months Purser has interviewed 92 Suquamish elders, compiling an oral history project intended to preserve the community’s history, and direct its future by looking back to its roots. “I’ve got 5,000 years of wisdom and knowledge in my head now,” Purser said.
One of those memories is from her own father, who would take Purser fishing as a child. That instilled a love for the Puget Sound, a commitment to protecting its natural resources, and the skills to dive deep underwater holding a metal tube that shoots compressed air into the sandy beds, where she and other divers dig and net geoduck (a giant clam, pronounced “goo-ee duck,” with a neck of up to a foot long that’s prized in Asian food markets). She’s just one of three women employed as divers, following in the steps of her aunt, Randi, a renowned Suquamish artist, and has become a staunch advocate for climate justice, and how protecting the waterways of Western Washington matter to her livelihood, but more importantly her people.
