Closed Captions Audio Described

Mary Jane Souther, a Nez Perce elder from Kamiah, Idaho, reflects on growing up in a matriarchal family shaped by Christian values and traditional teachings. She discusses the role of elders in storytelling, her grandmother's guidance, family separation caused by missionary influence, and the achievements of Nez Perce women across generations—from her relatives' military service to tribal leadership roles.

Transcript

0:05 Is part of a traveling exhibit that has been following the Lewis and Clark trail since January of 2003, started in Monticello. The place of Jefferson's dream for a Western journey, went across the eastern states then to Saint Louis from Saint Louis to the Mandan villages in North Dakota. And then last year from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean.
0:26 And this year, we're on the return journey just as Lewis and Clark were 200 years ago. So just to let you know, 200 years ago, they were up at Weippe Prairie talking about how beautiful the camas bloom was. So if you get a chance stop by on the other side of our sandwich board there, and we have this day in history, what happened and while you're here,
0:46 be sure and see all of our other exhibits here on our site and also across the street, many other things coming and new things coming in every day. We do have program schedules in the back. So feel free to avail yourself of one of those note, there are many changes and our most up to date changes are made on our front desk schedule. So stop by there and see if the program you're looking at is one that you really want to see.
1:09 And if it's really the one that's on the schedule, because we have had some changes here in the tent of many voices. We invite people in from different backgrounds and different walks of life to tell their side of the story. And the stories that we tell here in this tent are local history and culture stories. Native American history, and culture stories, and Lewis and Clark stories. So
1:32 with that wide variety, we have a wide latitude in the programs that we give here. So at this time, I would like to introduce our speaker, Mary Jane Souther and her topic is visit with an elder, but often in the Native American communities, you may have heard about how the stories are shared and
1:54 they're shared with the from the elders down generation to generation. So she's going to be talking about some of these elders and the ability to listen to those elders as the stories are told. So let's please make welcome Mary Jane Souther.
2:14 OK. Oh, thank you. And uh welcome to the tent of many voices. Uh I was really thrilled when they asked me if I would come and do a presentation and uh I guess some of the other elders uh declined. And so I'm very happy to be able to share um a story
2:38 and the story is of sharing and listening. And traditionally all our tribal meetings, our presentations are always opened with a prayer. And this morning, I was to have a young lady uh who is
3:02 serving as a princess for one of the powwows and she was unable to come down. She was a relative of mine and also a descendant of Chief Looking Glass. And so at this time, I'd like to offer a prayer. And uh before we get started,
3:22 gracious Father, we just thank you for this day, this day that we are committed to sharing with our friends. And we ask that you will help us to come together and to bond in our communities.
3:44 We thank you for the creation that you have made of each of one of each one of us and we need to come back together in harmony. We thank you for the earth, for mother earth, for the sun and the moon, the stars and the rain. Dear Lord, we just know that you are providing
4:08 all these things to make us aware of you. So now be with us as we, as we continue to this speech, this we asked in your precious name. Amen. OK.
4:28 Thank you. To begin with. I kind of would like to let you know who I am. I, my name is Mary Jane Souther and I'm an elder. I just turned 70 years old May 29. And it's everybody says, well, you know, how do you feel? You know, and
4:51 I'm definitely not feeling anything. I'm feeling like, like me, you know, and I guess when we look back in times, elders used to be in moccasins and scarves on their hair around their head and um
5:13 always working, you know, and I haven't come to that yet of wearing moccasins and putting a scarf on my hair. But that was our definition of elders because I come in that era when this is the way you looked at your elders.
5:35 But my name Indian name is [speaks Nimipuutímt] which means little duck. And I was born and raised in Kamiah, Idaho. And I have four brothers and three sisters. And we uh lived, oh, I guess I said we lived in Kamiah and was
5:59 brought up by our parents Lynus and Isabelle Walker and it was always traditional almost to get a nickname. And when I was born, my dad gave me the nickname of Tootsie. And so I give you permission to call me Tootsie.
6:21 It whenever they call up when I worked with the tribe, they call, they would call for Mary Jane Souther, you know, and said Mary Jane Souther, you know, who's that? You know, and then they'd say Tootsie and then everybody knew who I was. But I have done that at many levels at this county level, the state level, national level
6:46 as a social worker. And it, it works, you know, I can also, you know, I'm identified as Tootsie so I really feel comfortable with that and I feel very loved when somebody calls me that because it's very endearing. I have
7:10 I come from a very matriarchal family as most native families are and my matriarchal family was, was all in Kamiah. We were part of that family that
7:33 was taken with the missionaries. We were separated, our tribe was separated. The centralization of the coming of the missionaries wasn't Spalding. And they, you know, the missionaries uh never really
7:58 knew, you know, weren't tuned in to what Indians were, what Indians beliefs were, but they come with their word. And so there was a separation of us, a separation of where we were taken to the Kamiah area of my people, my family.
8:22 And although we have relatives here in, in Lapwai, well, then we had some real negative things about being the Christian Indians and the lower Indians were known as the heathens. And that was so wrong. And to this day,
8:46 I really, you know, kind of get frustrated at it, you know, back then, but today I think that our, we've come to a harmony where we all know each other and we come, you know, there's Kamiah, Lapwai, and Orofino that
9:11 represents where our people live and Lapwai way being the centralization of our services such as our BIA are used to be our Indian Health Service, which is Nimiipuu Health now. And uh the BIA
9:31 and so we have to come to down here to Lapwai to you know, for any kind of assistance, any kind of negotiations like at BIA uh about our land. And long ago there was a
9:53 and allotments were given out to the land to the people. And my people—my family had allotments up in the Kamiah area, I guess it was according to where you were living that you were given an allotment. At that time, we had a very large reservation and it got dwindled down.
10:15 I couldn't find a map that I would wanted to show for this presentation. But back to my family, everything in our family was done matriarchal, you know,
10:36 I always thought of my grandmother and my mother as being the first feminist and they, they were, you know, like we're all known as gatherers. It was my mother and my grandmother that would do went out Huckleberry picking root gathering. And as we grew older,
11:00 my mother would bring us down here to go cherry picking and we also went down to get raspberries. So, thank you. So we were, you know, our, our guider—guidance was given by the women in our family. We were also brought in up in a very Christian home,
11:22 Christian home where back then and I wish, you know, sometimes that we could revert, especially the growing up of my grandchildren, my,
11:37 other relatives, the yough ones because we were brought up in a very Christian home where there was no television, no computers, there was nothing that would distract us from Sunday Sunday. We all went to church and, my grandmother, great grandmother,
11:58 made the rules. She told us that there would be no sewing on Sunday. There would be no cooking on Sunday. All the wood had to be chopped because we cooked on a wood stove. And so everything was done accordingly. And if you,
12:19 I guess in my young mind at that time when, when we would, do something like sew a button on, I thought, oh, I'm going to go to hell, you know, because of, of the teachings I had and, and the strictness of it. But my great grandmother was a woman of
12:43 many things. She had so much wisdom and she never spoke a word of English She used to try, you know, and I think when they'd laugh at her she would, you know, she become kind of intimidated. But we, my brother and I out of our eight children were taught
13:07 to speak our language. And uh my brother and I, Jerry,
13:14 excuse me at the time, we come from that era where when you, when the first born granddaughter was brought, if it was a granddaughter, you were given to your grandmother to raise and nurture you.
13:36 And this didn't happen to me until I was about nine or ten. And my grandmother, my dad, we had a farm and I had, uh, two cute little sisters that were born, you know, a few years after me. And at the time I was the apple of my dad's eye and my brother was the apple of my dad's eye because he was teaching them all about farming.
14:01 And all of a sudden mom said let's get your clothes together. And I thought, oh, good, we're all going somewhere, you know, the whole family
14:17 Wrong. She, her and my dad gave me a ride down to my grandmother's and we got down there and took my things off the car. And as we went in the house, my grandmother come up to me and grabbed my hand and she said, your bedrooms up on the right upstairs. And I thought
14:41 what is happening, you know, in your young mind, you know, you don't know what is going on. You know, you don't know that this was a tradition. Being carried and I was really hurt. I was really hurt in my own little mind. I was thinking, you know, my dad hates me and,
15:06 and how dare the, my little sisters be born? So cute. You know, and it was, it was a rivalry that I was, I was building up and, but as I got older and was explained to me and I had to go to mental health for this. They told, uh they said,
15:28 when did you first become angry in your life? And I reported, I said, I, I'll have to come back on my next session and let you know where my angry, where my anger was. Well, I did come and I finally said it was when I got dumped, you know,
15:51 and, and not knowing our traditional ways because, you know, we, we carried some traditions but we were not, you know, we did not, weren't allowed to go to powwows. We weren't allowed to go watch the games or anything like that because the missionaries had stripped us of all,
16:16 all kind of interactions with our cultural ways. And in fact, that wasn't even told that was our cultural ways. But finally I got myself straightened. And then when I was young, I come to the time when my mother, you know,
16:38 like I said, we were gatherers and it was up to my mother, you know, to make sure we had she provided the food for us and everything and she come down here to apple picking and we had a bunch of families that would come together and it was wonderful because we were interacting with our people that lived in Lapwai.
17:02 And this was the only time that we were ever going to get to know relatives and branded it was hard because we were fighting all the time. I don't know how many times I get hit with an apple or my face smashed with strawberries. And all of a sudden, you know, and we love to share, we love to put our, our
17:24 meals together. And at that time, we used to sit on the ground and we would make our table in the middle and everybody would sit there and eat well. Then one night after we'd all finished working, My grandmother and the mother of a young man decided that I was going to become his wife when I grew up
17:48 and he was the one that was the most onerous And I thought there's no way I'll marry him because by then I'm already 12, 13, you know, and it was, you know, it was when, you know, and I think about now, when were they going to include me in in the planning of my life,
18:12 you know, as, as kids do now why they got their plans projected? And we're, and back then we weren't I guess, allowed to think or we were guided. But I was really happy that I was brought up in that, at that time because I did a lot of, I did a lot of things that my kids don't do now,
18:37 but my kids never did and I always wish that they would have had the chance to be a part of that, to be out there to milk the cow, to go out and feed the chickens, which was and clean out the brooder room and it just, you know, having all those fun things to do because today, you know,
19:00 our life is so fast and the interaction of families isn't as it should be. But we, there are still some Indian families, you know, that keep their family together that keep a structure and, uh, with the coming of alcohol and drugs, it's, it's a hard thing. It's really a hard thing.
19:23 And, it affected, I think it affects most families. It affected our family and, it was something that we all had to, I think, I think because of the effect it had on our family, we have come together as a family and, have used that those deaths as a
19:48 lesson that we give to our children and let them know how much, how much we're susceptible to becoming an alcoholic. And it isn't, you know, it's a disease, you know, and, it was, a real terrible thing to go through. It's a terrible thing today
20:11 that we go through, with alcohol and drugs While working with the Nez Perce tribe I served as a child advocate and as a coordinator for domestic violence. That was a hard one. That was, you know, we didn't have a system set up
20:36 but we were pushing it so fast that we never did really become effective in having those services there because we had all your systems have to come together, you know, to work in doing something for the victim and doing something for the perpetrator. And
20:59 it, we tried everything, we went to churches, we went to counties. I mean, this was a sharing. This is what I'm about is sharing. And I have gone to all the commissioners around here and all the mayors in trying to enlist their help in providing this service
21:22 and doing something with the perpetrators and to ensure the family, you know, that our main goal is family unity but with, with a different direction and it was a very challenging job that I had in my life. And it just
21:42 you know, I'm unemployed right now. I will say I'm semi-retired, but I don't think I am because I still have people that count on me and getting someone to the hospital or someone to a domestic violence shelter or someone with a child abuse. And it's, you know, we're all in denial that these things are happening.
22:07 We're in denial that child sexual abuse is happening. I know all our programs are under our Nez Perce tribal executive committee and they're you know, they're the ones that have to you know, that are there to ensure that we get all the needs met on the reservation.
22:28 And when I brought up transsexual abuse incest, they were in denial that it's out there until it hits your family. And I, I would do everything to, you know, to convince them I took some films in, I went out into the community, you know, and
22:52 there for a while I oh toostie, you know, she thinks, you know, she thinks that we're all bad, you know, that everybody's doing this and it isn't that, you know, you're trying to educate same way with our elders in our tribe where our tribe, you know, like I was telling you, I said I used to respect, you know, the fact that they wear their moccasins and their hats. And
23:16 when they'd go to church, they'd have their shawls. It was a beautiful, beautiful elders. And we're not that kind of elders anymore, you know. And but because we're growing with the world, you know, and I'm, I'm certainly happy that I was able to have met
23:37 all the elders. Everybody, every elder was everybody's grandmother. And it was so wonderful because they also guided you in your growing up years and back then, family extension was there. The aunts and the uncles were there and it just, you know, and you were guided by the church
24:00 and I'm only speaking, you know, to my, to my story and I'm, you know, I'm really proud that and happy that I have been brought up, you know, in that way. Well, maybe before I go on, let me, I've got to show, I need to show you my matriarchal
24:24 parts. The first one that's Hattie Axtell Gould.
24:32 She was my great grandmother and she was my [speaks Nimipuutímt]. She was the one that did all the, the dedication of us and the guidance of us in our Christian life. You know, when we were young, we, you know, of course, you know, growing up, you're not aware, but we knew that
24:58 there was a Jesus and that there was you know, what would happen to us? We were never given that story about what is it? Hell and heaven. We were taught. We weren't told in a scary way. And I remember this lady,
25:20 she would get into the church. She's very emotional lady. She would get up in the church and give her testimonies. So, it would just so honest and she would start crying and it was, you know, when my [speaks Nimipuutímt] cried, I cried, you know,
25:43 because I was brought up by her and sometimes, you know, she was very particular about who, got to sleep with her. And she had this old feather mattress bed and I always wanted to, you know, I, when I get in there and say [speaks Nimipuutímt] I'm scared and she's ok, get in.
26:06 So I get in and sleep with her and I remember her smell so well, she used Mentholatum for everything. [Crowd laughter] Mentholatum for the head, the ears, the knees, the feet, you know, and it was, you know, it was a good smell. It was. And today I think about how
26:32 at comfort I was because she was so loving, you know, and I just think today that, oh how, I wish we had more [speaks Nimipuutímt] you know, and knowing that I'm a [speaks Nimipuutímt] I have one great and it's, and I'm sorry, I can't give him the life that
26:56 my [speaks Nimipuutímt] gave me. She was so she was so caring and so lovable. And they have this back then the elders, they were in competition in our Kamiah area and when the federal, when the federal agents first start handling, you know,
27:18 the BIA we had agents for everything and they started this extension program and they gave all our women seeds. And so my [speaks Nimipuutímt] didn't hear about it until later on after it was announced who won and all that time she'd been doing her own garden
27:43 and they were giving money away for it, you know. So she entered it one year and wouldn't let any of us help because this was her project and going to be her winnings. But you could see her and I can still see her today. You know, when, when the wind would come after her beans were, were ready to be separated here. She'd just be
28:08 letting the wind take the shaft off of the beans, you know, and it was, and gathering the corn and drying the corn, you know, to make Indian corn. And there were so many wonderful things. And did we ever have watermelon? She loved watermelon. She crossbred some watermelons one time and just by chance
28:33 it took, and we had the most beautiful yellow watermelons ever. They taste like a peach and cantaloupe and a melon and it was, you know, and that year she did win. So I was so, you know, I just,
28:54 you know, she was already up in the age and she was still doing this and, I used to be so proud of her, you know, she's gonna win and we take it to school and tell all our cousins or whatever, you know. And they said, well, my grandma won it last year, you know. So we also put us in the competition. But my [speaks Nimipuutímt] died when in
29:19 1954 and I graduated in 1955 and all I know she wanted to, she so wanted to see me graduate. She was so worried about me because when I started going out with boys, she'd say you're related,
29:42 you know, and then I get the history of who I was related to. [crowd laughter] And then this one time I went out with a white boy and I told her, I said [Nimipu] this is so and so, and she turned around and went in her bedroom and I thought, oh, no, you know, she's, she's disapproving already. Well, anyway
30:07 she also reminded me she had a favorite granddaughter. Her name was Lily Moody. And Lily died of tuberculosis. And it was at that era of where the tuberculosis was very prevalent around our reservation. And so she kind of picked me up, you know, and I got back then, you know,
30:32 a penny was a lot more than it is today. And so I always had money, you know, and I always had all the goodies. And when I asked for something, I, I knew I had it. And so this one time in my junior year I was, I got to go to a prom and my [speaks Nimipuutímt] said, are you going with the [speaks Nimipuutímt]
30:57 And that's what in our language means white boy, white man. And I said, yes, I said, you tell me I'm related to everybody. You know. [crowd laughter]
31:09 and so I was really defeating myself because she told me at that time, she said, if you're going to continue to go with white boys, I plan to disinherit you. And, you know, at that time, land didn't mean nothing to me getting an inheritance, mean nothing to me.
31:31 You know, I was pretty safe and in comfort at a comfort zone while I was growing up. And I, so I told her that I wanted to go to my junior prom. So she says, well, let's go to Lisbon. And so this boyfriend of mine had a real hopped up a car and here we come from Kamaih,
31:53 we get down here to Lewiston and she hands me some money and she said, I'm just going to stay in the car and she loved to eat at Majestic Cafe down here. And anyway I got this gown, a beautiful gown, one that I thought I wouldn't even dare think of. I had to think of something that was going to be proper,
32:17 you know, covering my shoulders. And I thought, no, I dare, I'm gonna dare. So I got this
32:27 gown but it had a little cape. And so you know, we all had kind of real strict rules at our house and so we were coming to the night of the prom. Oh, first before we you know, Lewiston used to be a two way street on main street and my [speaks Nimipuutímt] you know. I drove very cautiously in on this. I,
32:52 we'd get to a place, you know, where there's a lot of pedestrians and my [speaks Nimipuutímt] would tell me an Indian, go ahead and run them over. They're just [speaks Nimipuutímt] [crowd laughter] There's a lot of them.
33:08 And I said [speaks Nimipuutímt] and then I get picked up, you know, but she was also very humorous. She had a lot of, I mean, she was fun but she was strict one time. So then when I got home and I got ready, was getting ready for the prom and I kept waiting for her,
33:29 then we didn't have bathrooms in the house and our water was outside. And so I had warmed up a bunch of water on the wood stove. So I've already taken a semi bath and I thought, how am I gonna, you know, how am I gonna shave under my arms?
33:49 Because, you know, I know that my [speaks Nimipuutímt] would not allow me to shave under my arms. And, and we kind of, you know, grew up knowing what were the do's and don'ts, and I knew that wasn't gonna pass. So I thought she went to bed and so, boy, I jumped in there where my granddad, did his shaving.
34:11 And I got all, all my water and just as I was lifting my arm up, she comes walking in and, oh, I got it and she said, Okay, I want to see your dress. And I thought, oh, no, you know, she's going to, so I come down with my dress on and I thought, well, put that cape on, but it was a see-through cape.
34:35 And I thought, well, I put a sweater on, you know, and by then she was already halfway up the stairway. And I have, I've got to show her, you know, so when I showed her she would just tell me, you know, you're, you know, you're setting yourself up for trouble because look, some man can just go and reach in front of you
34:56 or reach down behind you because it was a strapless gown. And I thought about that and it made me kind of embarrassed. I was wearing it because she had told me that. So she was kind of also our conscience and really did a lot of, you know,
35:17 you set rules that were set, you sit in a chair and you sit with your legs crossed. You never allow your, your legs not to be crossed. You didn't laugh with men. You didn't put makeup on, you didn't wear fingernail polish and you didn't, you know, do all these things that have already been, you know,
35:42 embedded in your mind by watching, you know what the rest of the family was doing, especially the females in the family. And, you know, I guess now I think of all the impressions, you know, that she made every morning we had a morning worship. If we were up, we sat with it.
36:05 We'd have a bible reading and a scripture read. And then we would have at lunchtime, we had our, prayer, everything was with prayer. In the evening, we would have service. My granddad used to play piano and that was probably the
36:29 most entertainment we ever had in the house at that time. And he loved to play. So we all learned to sing you know, and I think of then had I paid attention, you know, our translated hymns were sung without a book at church.
36:53 And now we have to have a book, you know, that we're singing our church songs. But it was, you know, it was a good upbringing then. And she really, you know, impressed upon me and I've tried to impress
37:13 along with our family by telling the stories, about what our [speaks Nimipuutímt] meant and everything was [speaking Nimipu] that was. Are you listening to me? Did you hear me? Because that was a command. You know, did you hear me? And when it was real serious it used to be, did you hear me Tootsie or did you hear me?
37:37 Mary Jane? And that was also with all the grandmothers that I had down in Lapwai When we'd go sweating down there, they were always saying [speaking Nimipu] you know, Mary Jane, you know, I thought how come they're picking on me, you know, but then now I think about it, it was because they love me and it was because they cared
38:00 how I was being brought up. The next one.
38:06 Next picture I have is my mother. My mother was Isabelle Moody Walker and she was the mother of four boys and four girls. She was a wonderful caring mother that I think I learned all my caretaking skills from
38:29 all the matriarchs in my family. Mom was one that would bring in if somebody would tell her there's a child out there that is running around and has nobody taking care of them. Well, we got them, you know, and I always thought we lived in this very huge house.
38:51 Well, they tore that house down about, oh about 10 years ago that we lived in. I couldn't believe how we all fit in there. You know, it was a lean two bedroom, two of them, a kitchen and a living room. And, but my mom always said that was the happiest
39:15 times of her life when she lived in the village and everything centered around our church. Mom headed up the quilt making, she headed up the women's society. It was just a wonderful leadership that they were showing. And when, when they would all come together,
39:38 all the kids come together with their parents, with their grandma, their moms and, then we would have our dinners there, then we'd be able to go out and play. And I just, you know, I am just so thankful that you know, my mother taught us how to cook and I know to this day when I make a cake, they said, oh,
40:01 you're making a mom Walker cake, you know, and it's, and it, you know, at the time when they say that and then later on, I think about it, you know, that was something that was, you know, they made a good
40:18 they had a good impression of my mom's cooking, you know, and my mom was when there was a lot of humor in our family as, as well as um other families. You know, you can go to a lot of the Indian family homes and you're hearing a lot of laughter and it's just amongst themselves, you know, so that interaction
40:42 and that communication with humor, laughter also expresses how much love there is in that family. And I am so impressed that our family is that way. I myself have five Children and
41:02 15 great grand or grandchildren and 1 grandson. And this is my [gestures to person off stage] stand up Chantelle, this is one of my granddaughters Chantelle. And as you see I married a white man [crowd laughter]
41:22 so I was going to be so I did get disinherited. And at the time, you know, even after I after I start thinking about land, you know, I thought man, I would have had it, you know, but I was related to all the males on our reservation.
41:45 And anyway, my husband, when our, when our Children were growing up, you know, he said our Children are going to be Indian, you know. But what stopped them to continue any of the culture of our tribe was, they were not allowed at powwows. I was never allowed to a powwow. I never seen a powwow
42:10 till I was 17 years old and I got reprimanded for it by my [speaks Nimipuutímt]. And so I wanted my children to be Indian. I wanted, I had a redhead, I had my son was a towhead and it was, you know,
42:32 Indian community is not going to accept them, you know, but they made it, you know, they're grown, they have children and it's you know, I have I have a lot of fun with them, I guess. I'm getting down,
42:53 also the other part of my matriarchal family. Well, he's my grandmother's husband. He's my [speaks Nimipuutímt] and he's in a way, grandma was so strict matriarchal, but we did not eat until he ate. We did not go anywhere until he was ready.
43:17 So, the next one is my grandmother that was my grandfather and my grandmother, my grandmother attended the Carlisle Indian school when the Presbytery had sent a lot of our students off the reservation to acculturate them. And my [speaks Nimipuutímt]
43:43 they told her she would get her back in six months. That wasn't happening. So this lady that didn't know how to speak English got on a train. And to this day, I don't know whether she had a federal agent that took her there. But she went clear to Carlisle Pennsylvania to get her daughter and she was shocked
44:06 here was my grandma in these great big, beautiful fluffy blouses and a skirt and shoes. You know, that was, that was a no, no. And, but she changed back when she come back and had to get back acculturated into the tribe, you know, as a tribal member. My next one,
44:28 I want to tell you about all the women in our tribe that are, that have excelled to positions where they were
44:43 known women. This is my sister, Connie. [gestures offstage] Connie, would you stand up? This is my sister, Connie Evans. And um this is a picture of her. She served in the Vietnam War as a nurse. And we're very proud of her. I think these are two other pictures, I guess, you know, who's my favorite veteran.
45:07 And we were so proud of her, you know, that here she is, you know, over there fighting for America and she has one son and two grandchildren, adorable grandchildren and adorable husband. Doctor Steven Evans.
45:31 And would you stand up, Steve? And Steve's retired here from LCSC. Ok. We need to get moving so here is my aunt. This is the aunt that I took place with my [speaks Nimipuutímt] she was an army
45:51 corps cadet and she just recently has been acknowledged as part of the armed forces. Ok. This is an aunt of mine, my dad's sister, she is staff sergeant in the US Air Force. And I always wanted to be like her.
46:13 I wanted to be that big secretary and do all the secretarial duties she did. And the next one is Bernice Carter Lawrence who is deceased now and she's, she served in the US Army
46:30 and this is private Elizabeth Allen Redwing Williams and she also is deceased
46:40 and this is petty Officer Delphine Allen Rose and she's also deceased probably three years ago. And this is Gladys Allen who they have identified as the first woman on our Nez Perce Tribal executive committee.
47:03 And she lives in Lapwai this is a [speaks Nimipuutímt] and she is, was a resident up at Clear Creek in Kooskia and she had many skills and she did a lot of beating and brain tanning hides and was a good horsewoman and she was just the little lady
47:28 and she made tepees OK, this, the woman on the right is my dad's mother. I, I didn't have a picture, you know, by itself, but that she was my [speaks Nimipuutímt] that would be grandmother on the paternal side and she was a good baseball player.
47:53 They said she could run faster than anybody, you know. And I, and then after I look at her, you know, in her older age, I thought, oh, how did she run? You know? [crowd laughter] Ok.
48:05 And this is Tolo I think many of you heard about Tolo, you know, she was a heroine. and
48:15 in the history and I didn't really get a whole bunch about her that only, she had went 20 she ran 26 miles, rode horseback 26 miles to warn people of the coming of the, of the army. And that there was going to be an 1877 war. And this is
48:39 a tuberculosis hospital as, you know a lot of our tribal members were, affected by tuberculosis. Today is diabetes.
48:52 A lot of heart problems, obesity. There's so many, you know, different things that affect us. And this is Hattie Kauffman. I think a lot of you have seen her on TV. She's our first woman, that native woman that has been nationally known as a news correspondent
49:17 and she's going to, I think she's going to be here. Yeah. Friday. Ok. This is our first, we have a, a camp meeting. She's our first woman president. My dad was the last one and I'm kind of in a rush here. This is very, makes me very proud. She's our first Nez Perce
49:42 tribal executive chairman and she is into her second year of being chairman and, and this is my [speaks Nimipuutímt] [crowd laughter] and I'm [Nimipu] and he's the one that's gonna carry on our heritage. Ok. Thank you.
50:06 [applause] You ready for the next one? [Offscreen] I'm just going to annouce you. Just once again this is Mary Jane Souther just so you guys know. And thank you so much for sharing. all your stories. [Mary Jane speaking] Pass those out. I have some, I have some door prizes. Ok. [Speaker in the hat] She's got door prizes [Mary Jane] If you sign your name to this and then we'll take
50:31 a real quick
50:33 I didn't even touch it.