Father Lafortune

Because the residents of Little Diomede were animists, missionaries of different faiths  were attracted to it as a place to spread their beliefs and save the souls of the natives. The first church was built by the Lutherans, then Father Lafortune laid the plans for the first Catholic church in 1935. Father Lafortune was the first Catholic missionary to arrive in 1913.  My grandmother knew Father Lafortune and always spoke well of him. He once helped her with an infection on her foot, which may sound like a minor favor but on the island at the time, there was no hospital, or doctor.