SILETZ NEWS
Delores Pigsley,
Tribal Chairman
Brenda Bremner,
General Manager
and Editor-in-Chief
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Vol. 43, No. 10
Presorted
First-Class
Mail
U.S. Postage
Paid - Permit
No. 178
Salem, OR
Siletz News
Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
October 2015
Run to the Rogue
Sept. 11-13, 2015
Siletz to Agness, Oregon
From the first mile (right) to the
last (below), Siletz Tribal
members and friends trace the
route of the ancestors
Photo by Diane Rodriquez
Lily Whitehead, Nevaeh Whitehead
and Kahryee Holmes-Chavarria join
Tony Whitehead (carrying eagle
staff) and Kevin Goodell in leading
walkers during the first mile as they
pass by students from Siletz Valley
School.
Photo by Ann Goddard
John Roe Jr. (yellow vest), Ed Ben
(carrying eagle staff), Junior Miss
Siletz Felisha Howell and Stan
Werth lead the group as it traverses
the last mile.
A $7,000 Tribal benefit … Do you know what it is? Will your loved one benefit from it?
Obviously, none of us wants to think
about passing away and our funeral.
Inevitably, though, it will happen – to
all of us.
We should do our best to make
sure we have arranged what we can.
One simple thing you can do is submit
your Designation of Death Benefit
Beneficiary form to the Enrollment
Department.
The Siletz Tribe carries death
benefit insurance on all enrolled Tribal
members, including children, for funeral
and burial costs. As of Sept. 9, 2015,
there are 1,314 Tribal members who
have no beneficiary listed for this
benefit. Are you, a family member or
your children one of them?
A mail out was done in April 2015
to people with no beneficiary on file
and the response was about a 10 percent
return. Please check with your family
members to see if they have submit-
ted their paperwork for this important
benefit.
If it has already been submitted,
when was it last updated for contact
information for the beneficiary? Do you
know whom you have listed as your ben-
eficiary?
Things you need to know:
Tribal members need to fill out and
keep an updated Designation of Death
Benefit Beneficiary form. It can then
be updated at any time to name a
different beneficiary or to update
the contact information for your
beneficiary. It is extremely important
to update your Designation of Death
Benefit Beneficiary form anytime you
marry, divorce or if your designated
person is deceased.
The designated beneficiary needs to
be age 18 or older as they might be
the one responsible for making your
funeral arrangements.
Are your children over age 18 now?
They need to update their beneficiary.
You now can update your beneficiary
to include them.
The Enrollment Department keeps
the original form on file with the
Tribal member’s enrollment file. In
the event of your passing, the most
recent form submitted is what will
be used to determine the beneficiary
for this benefit.
The beneficiary can be anyone, a Tribal
member or a non-Tribal member.
They can be a family member or not.
The most common beneficiary is a
parent, spouse, adult child or someone
trusted who will be in charge of
funeral arrangements.
The current death benefit amount is
$6,000 and is for burial and funeral
expenses. Most funeral homes are
willing to work with the Tribe so
families do not have to pay out-of-
pocket costs up to the benefit amount.
Some funeral homes are not, so please
be aware of this.
If funeral expenses are less than
$6,000, the unused balance of the
death benefit goes directly to the
beneficiary.
If funeral expenses are more than
$6,000, the balance of the expenses
is the responsibility of the person
making the funeral arrangements.
The current insurance amount is
$1,000 and will be paid directly to
the beneficiary.
If no beneficiary is listed, the
funeral and burial expenses still are
paid and Enrollment will work with
the family and the funeral home.
However, any unused balance of the
death benefit and the $1,000 will go
unpaid to anyone.
The Tribe has caskets with a
Pendleton blanket liner that can be
purchased with death benefits or
directly.
If you have specific wishes for
your burial, please let your family
members know of them. You also
might want to research costs for
plots and fees if you wish to be
buried someplace other than at the
Siletz cemetery.
If you have questions about death
benefits, Tribal caskets or complet-
ing the form, please contact Angela
Ramirez or Darin Rilatos, Enrollment
clerks, at 800-922-1399 ext. 1258, or
541-444-8258.
