In 1961 Thom Hess, then a graduate student in linguistics at the University of Washington, began studying Lushootseed with tribal leaders.     Thom's efforts led to the creation of a two Lushootseed dictionaries and three readers and educational materials.    

This video is a thank you to ʔu, dəgʷiʔ siʔab Thom Hess from the Lushootseed language staff at Tulalip.