Arizona’s Oldest Living Veteran, Sophie Yazzie, Has Passed Away In Tucson

Arizona’s longest living veteran has died in Tucson. The Navajo Nation says 105-year-old Sophie Yazzie passed away Saturday. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez says Yazzie was a “matriarch for her family and a warrior for the Navajo people who served our country with great honor and dignity.” She was born in 1914 in Canyon de Celly and enrolled in the U.S. Army Air Corps at age 28 and served in World War Two and served until she was honorably discharged. She returned home to work at the Wingate Boarding School while raising her kids. Yazzie didn’t retire until she was 70. Governor Doug Ducey says “Arizona is forever grateful for her service. Our prayers are with her loved ones.”