12 People Tell Their Stories of Culture
How did you learn Siletz Culture? Did you experience Elders speaking a traditional language?
“My parents. My dad told me stories
about the Tribe. How we came to our res-
toration. I’ve always been around the Siletz
Tribe. I grew up in Siletz. I always attended
classes that were provided and culture
classes. A little bit (hearing Elders speak a
traditional language) as a youth.” –Allison
Simmons (interviewed by Talani Butler).
“Elders. Asking lots of questions.
Yes (I experienced Elders speaking a tra-
ditional language).” Frank Aspria-Depoe
(interviewed by Ayla Ben)
“Interacting with other Siletz people,
my own family, Elders over a lifetime.
Yes (I experienced Elders speaking a tra-
ditional language), my dad, uncle, Nellie
Orton, Harry Fuller, Eddie Collins, Ed
Ben, lots of folks, Archie Ben. There were
lots of speakers when I was younger.”
–Bud Lane (interviewed by Ayla Ben)
“When I was growing, we had these
same things like here at Culture Camp,
a Title VII program. We also had Paul
Whitehead. When I was growing up, we
learned to dance. Ann Goddard taught us
beading. Marlene Stuart taught us bas-
ketry and beading. I still have my original
medallion she taught me. I was also in a
Happy Trex program. Its like Head Start,
but it was all cultural activities. Yes (I
experienced Elders speaking a traditional
language). My aunt, Vicki Ben. She would
speak when we were at her house doing
eels. We would do eels and smoke them
at her house. Gladys Muschamp when
she would pick blueberries and doing
baskets.” –Melissa Butler (interviewed
by Talani Butler).
“In the last 25 years. Part of it was due
to my sister. I grew up in Portland, Ore.
The only time we were really connected
with the Tribe was through family funer-
als and marriages. We would come up to
Siletz. The Tribe back then didn’t have
many gatherings, pow-wows or office. You
didn’t really grow in or with our culture.
They opened an office in Portland. My
sister started working for the Tribe. She
started doing a lot of activities with youth
and Elders. I started to get involved then.
Later on I started working for the Tribe.
Working with the Tribe, I really started
learning more about my culture. Feeling
comfortable with growing up, I was teased
about an urban Indian. Back then people
looked down on you as being Indian. I
didn’t have other people that were Indian to
befriend me. The only real experience with
that (speaking a traditional language) was
with my grandpa and my mom. It would
be words here and there that they would
say and then they would laugh.” –Katie
Holland (interviewed by Tiffany Stuart)
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Siletz News
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“I remember us getting eels, crawdads
and salmon. Going out picking blackber-
ries. That was our staples for the winter. We
picked a lot of huckleberries and blackber-
ries. My mom canned them and my sisters.
Ate a lot of eel, crawdads and fish. We
didn’t know we were poor. We were just all
together and one big happy family. I didn’t
know what poor was until white people
said, ‘Hey, you’re poor.’” –Daniel Brown
(interviewed by Tiffany Stuart)
“Family. We would go eeling this time
of year at Rock Creek. (I heard) my mother,
grandmother, aunts and uncles (speak tra-
ditional languages).” –Woody Mushchamp
(interviewed by Tiffany Stuart)
“From my dad, Archie Ben. He taught
us how to Indian dance. I learned how to
make baskets from Gladys Muschamp and
Kary Streets. Learned double beadwork
by Delores Edenfield. Dad taught Indian
language.” –Vicki Nelson (interviewed by
Tiffany Stuart)
“I learned growing up from my grand-
parents, Archie and Victoria Ben; Vicki
Nelson; Gladys Muschamp; Kary Streets;
my mom, Maxine Rilatos; my dad, Rob-
ert Rilatos; my grandma, Pearl Simmons
Rilatos. We danced when we first started
walking. We did all the parades in the state
of Oregon. We walked the Albany parade,
it’s four miles long. We always did New-
port Parade-Loyalty Days. Grandpa Ben
speaking to us and telling us stories. His
brothers, Patrick and Harrison Ben, would
tell us about the forced march in Califor-
nia. Now we do the Run to the Rogue.
We would go out with my dad. We would
go eeling at nighttime. We would put the
eels in the gunny sacks. We would learn
how to make poles and hooks. We would
take it to Grandpa and Grandma Ben’s
house. Grandma Ben showed us how to
cut the eel and put it on stakes. We were
taught how to build a fire in the pit and
use the smoke house.” –Marlene Stuart
(interviewed by Tyson Rilatos)
August 2013
“From my family. My father (Archie
Ben) spoke four languages in addition
to the Chetco language. He spoke one
of the languages from the Warm Springs
Tribe. They thought it was a lost language.
Years ago when people came to Siletz to
visit, we didn’t have motels. Everyone
statyed in each other’s homes. That one
weekend, there were a bunch of Warm
Springs people staying at our house. I
always stayed in the kitchen with mom.
Dad stayed in the living room and visited
with all the people that came. There was a
lady in there was crying. I thought dad did
something to hurt her feelings. So I went
and got mom. I said ‘There is something
wrong. The lady from Warm Springs is
crying.’ Mom went in there. She talked
to dad in his language. Because they
spoke back and forth like that. He told
her ‘no.’ He spoke to that woman in her
language. She hadn’t heard it for so many
years. It made her really sad. Dad spoke
many languages and taught at Oregon
State (University).” –Shirley Ben Walker
(interviewed by Alya Ben).
“Grew up learning it as a kid from
culture classes. My grandma (Elenor
Logan) spoke (Native language), she was
a member of the Yurok Tribe. She spoke
her Native language.” –Reggie Butler Jr.
(interviewed by Paige Lane)
“Through my family. Yes. My grand-
father, my dad, my uncles, my grand-
mother.” –Kay Steel (interviewed by
Chantel Lacewell)