Siletz news /, December 01, 2007, Page 16, Image 16

TRIBAL MEMBER NEWS
Clayton Awaits Publishing of First Book
by Diane Rodriquez
“My writing is a gifting. I have
such joy in doing this, to make some­
one laugh or smile,” says Eva Clayton.
Someday soon, she'll make plenty
of us smile with her new book, Busy
Body Bee (When Animals Could Talk),
set to be published by Trafford Pub­
lishing in the next few weeks.
Following the Native tradition of
storytelling, Eva’s books (four more
children's books are in the works) con­
tain what she calls “creative lessons. I don't
hit people over the head with things.”
In a description of Busy Body Bee,
we see that he “learns that a prattling
insensitive stinging tongue has its con­
sequences when he is approached by
the eldest elder in the cedar plank house
community. He learns to be more mind­
ful of a wagging tongue.”
Eva relied on the expertise of
Shirley Mae Henderson to fill the book
with full-page illustrations.
“We giggled and laughed through
this and formed a wonderful bond,"
Eva says, adding that she wanted color
and depth in the illustrations. She
wanted the cedar plank houses to seem
so real that “when you run your hand down
the page, I want you to get a sticker.”
She got just that with Shirley's
illustrations.
The book will be S inches by 10
inches with a soft cover.
“I wanted to keep it affordable so
the average person could afford it - and
they'll get their money’s worth because
of the beautiful illustrations in it,” Eva says.
On Writing ... and Family
Although this is Eva’s first book to
be published, this is not the first thing
she’s written.
“I’ve spent a lifetime writing,” she
says. “Writing for me is my release of
excess energy, stress and strain.”
With a family that includes nine
brothers and sisters (she's the third old­
est and the oldest girl), she’s had a life­
time of experiences on which to base
stories. She’s also learned the stories
of her grandmothers (Lucy Dick,
Amelia VanPelt, and May VanPelt Jor­
dan), Grandfather Tyee (Cint-cont-ne),
and her mother, Jeannette Giddings.
Eva in turn has passed these sto­
ries down to her daughters and their
husbands - Karen and Paul Chapin,
and Sheila and Nestor Carillo.
And for the next generation, Eva
has dedicated Busy Body Bee to her
grandchildren - James Paul Chapin,
Nestor Clayton Carillo, Brandy Elaine
Chapin, and Neil Warren Carillo.
Once the book is published, cus­
tomers all over the world will be able
to order copies of it through Internet
retailers and the special order desk of
most bookstores.
“It’s a book about the people from
here (Siletz)” says Eva, describing the
necklaces with dentalium and the bas­
kets and basket caps in the illustrations.
“I want them to have a warm fuzzy
feeling when they read this book.”
Public Health
Service Appoints
Arnett
from your co-workers and friends at
the Chemawa Health Center
Congratulations, Lt. Commander
Ann Arnett, on your appointment as a
commissioned corps officer in the U.S.
Public Health Service. We are proud
of you, Lt. Arnett.
Go, Ducks!
Let There be Light!
by Rich Forster
Neither wind, rain nor fear from
falling hundreds of feet deters Marvyn
Logan, owner and operator of the Busy
Bee Tree Service in Otis, Ore., from fin­
ishing his appointed tasks of remov­
ing menacing fir trees that threaten to
fall and damage Siletz Elders apart­
ments located at Tolowa Court in Siletz.
Contacted by Mike Kennedy. Tribal
Natural Resources manager, to take out
every tree that could hit a house, Marvyn
began on Oct. 15 to clear at least a third
of the trees bordering the south side ot
the apartments and the Siletz River.
Some of the trees were 12 to 20
inches in diameter and as they fell.
Marvyn's helpers. Brent Adams (of Otis)
and Tristen John (of Siletz, photo above)
would chainsaw the logs into bolts for
hand-splitting. The split bolts were then
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loaded into a truck and pickup, and de­
livered to the tribe’s Toledo Mill prop­
erty for tribal elders’ winter wood.
Questions arose from some of the
Tolowa Court tenants of the marketabil­
ity of some of the larger logs. The prob­
lem of getting into the site and enabling
a log-loader and truck to haul the logs,
however, would be formidable.
Most of the critical cutting was done
the first week and the remainder will fol­
low as weather allows. The result, as
most tenants voiced, was “now, more
light and less branches and needles to
fall on rooftops during storms.”
Another benefit came from Tolowa
tenant Arlen Kentta, who volunteered
to carve animals on some of the stand­
ing tree stumps. More news will come
on this possibility.
December 2007
Spruce Stump Holds Memories for
Siletz Family
Peter Downey and Marty Lockhart
(above) sit on the stump of a 102-year-
old spruce tree located next to the newly
built Christian Church in Siletz, Ore.
In this same location, their grandfather,
John Adams, preached jargon sermons
at the formerly named Methodist Church
that burned down some years ago.
John Adams was appointed by the
U.S. government to minister to the
Native American people.
Peter Downey (right) holds a picture
of John and Martha Adams and the Rev.
Pierce and his wife, photo circa 1925.