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Wednesday, May 5, 2021
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COVID: As of May 3 roughly 40% of
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Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Nez Perce drummers give an air of authenticity to ceremonies held April 29, 2021, surrounding
the turning over ownership of the now-closed Wallowa Methodist Church to the tribe. About
60 people, both from the tribe and the church, were on hand for the ceremony.
Homeland:
Continued from Page A1
erly way, “I was telling
them this morning to behave
yourselves. I watched these
boys grow up, so I always
tell them that when they’re
drumming. I am so very
proud of them.”
NPTEC Chairman Shan-
non Wheeler, who headed
the tribal delegation in
accepting the property, was
particularly moved at the
experience.
“As we think about this
land and our people moving
from here, being forced off
of this land, and the year of
sorrow as we left,” Wheeler
said. “As the story is told,
the last Nez Perce who left
looked back and thought,
‘We may never see this land
again.’ Think about that; put
yourself in that place at that
time. It’s who we are as the
Nez Perce people and the
tear that came down their
face that day. We didn’t do
anything. All we wanted to
do was live. All we wanted
to do was live in peace. …
So for those tears of sor-
row at that time — today,
if you shed a tear that’s OK
because they’re tears of joy
now because of the land
that is being gifted back to
the Nimiipuu. The people’s
tears of sorrow on that day
will be tears of joy. That
memory in our blood that
fl ows to each of us, their sor-
row is felt today. Our tears
of sorrow and joy today will
also be felt by our ancestors
in the past. That’s what this
means to us today. … Our
Nez Perce people will think
back and look at this day
and remember the Method-
ist Church and their kind-
ness in recognizing that the
fi rst people, the Nimiipuu
and our rightful position
here in this land here where
we stand.”
He also said that the
people from the Methodist
Church and others involved
in the transaction will go
down in history books
alongside others who will
be remembered for their
kindness.
The fi nal pastor of the
church, Kaye Garver, also
was on hand. She said that
when the church closed, the
congregation consisted of
but fi ve people, down from
its peak of about 200 in the
1960s and 1970s.
“We didn’t have the
money to do the needed
repairs and pay the insur-
ance,” she said. “It was a
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Mary Jane Miles, a member of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive
Committee, introduces NPTEC Chairman Shannon Wheeler
during ceremonies to turn over ownership of the Wallowa
United Methodist Church to the tribe Thursday, April 29, 2021.
sad but necessary thing. The
younger people wanted to
move out of the county; they
wanted to go to the city and
everybody else aged.”
Pastor since July 1,
1999, Garver recalled com-
ing to the church somewhat
hesitantly.
“When I came here to
interview for the job, I had
my doubts as to whether or
not this was going to work,”
she said. “I pulled up out-
side and there was an angel
stained-glass window and I
said, ‘OK, that’s my sign.’
I walked in and there were
three people I knew from
church camps over on the
coast and I’m going, ‘OK,
that’s my second sign.’ So
this is where God has led me
and the church has been just
fantastic people.”
Garver recalled how
active the church had been
in the Wallowa community.
“We’d do a lot of things
with the community. We’d
do breakfasts on Memorial
Day Weekend Sunday for
the whole community. We
would do other meals and
dinners during the year for
the community,” she said.
“On Christmas Eve, ours
was the only Christmas Eve
service in town. We brought
in people from all denom-
inations for that Christmas
Eve service.”
But Garver thinks it’s fi t-
ting the property goes to the
tribe.
“It’s a joy that, although
we had to leave that building
when it closed, that it’s now
going to the Nez Perce,” she
said.
Laurie Day, director of
connectional ministries for
the Oregon-Idaho Con-
ference UMC, confi rmed
the desire of the church
to cement its relationship
with the Nez Perce in turn-
ing over ownership of the
property.
“The church has a rela-
tionship with the Nez Perce
Tribe and we checked with
them to see if they would
like to have the building and
the property because they
were the original inhabi-
tants of this land,” she said.
“Today is the ceremony
where we are returning the
property to the Nez Perce.”
She said the cash value
of the property didn’t even
come into play.
“It was not part of our
conversation in returning the
property,” she said. “It was
out of friendship and it was
the right thing to do. It was
not about the fi nancial. It
wasn’t part of our decision,
so it didn’t factor into it.”
Wheeler and Mitch-
ell agreed that there are no
certain plans as to how the
property will be used. They
said the NPTEC is expected
to meet to make such plans.
“The building’s old,
so we’re not sure if we’re
going to keep it,” Mitchell
said of the 1910 structure.
“The idea is everything’s
sky-high right now, as far as
property goes. We do have a
powwow in July here so we
may use this as a camping
ground and let the folks use
the showers and the bath-
rooms when the powwow’s
going on. We usually have it
at the Tamkaliks (the Home-
land Project in Wallowa).”
Miles concluded the fes-
tivities on a solemn note.
“Now I off er a prayer,
in the Name of your Son,
Jesus Christ, for this gath-
ering that we are in as we
walk and you go before us
that you are leading into a
place of ‘peace that passeth
all understanding.’ As the
world goes, we know there
is disunity, but in this partic-
ular occasion, we are against
that and we rebuke it,” she
said. “We thank you for
what is happening with our
brothers and sisters. We are
grateful. We say all of this in
Your Son’s Name, Jesus, the
Christ, amen.”
positive tests earlier in
the week. In a post April
27 that fi rst outlined the
details of the outbreak, the
district said that it did not
plan to close. That plan
changed April 28. Jones
told the Chieftain that
all six of the individuals
noted in the post were stu-
dents, and a seventh stu-
dent tested positive over
the weekend.
“We
are
working
closely with our local and
state health authority to
respond to this news and
protect the health of our
community,” Jones wrote
in the Thursday morn-
ing post. “We are rapidly
putting the contact trac-
ing logs together and pro-
viding them to local health
offi cials for contact trac-
ing. Given the timing and
the numbers of contacts
that local health offi cials
will needing to contact,
we are immediately clos-
ing our high school.”
Students in grades six
through 12 were moved
to distance learning April
28 and will remain there
through May 11. A local
health offi cial will contact
parents who have a student
who is required to quaran-
tine, Jones said in the post.
Students in kindergar-
ten through fi fth grade will
remain on campus, Jones
said.
The Facebook post
April 27 linked the out-
break to a community
prom, which the post said
was not a school spon-
sored activity.
“Many
Wallowa
County students attended
this event, along with
community chaperones,”
the post stated. “(April 27)
we learned that a number
of individuals attending
the prom have tested pos-
itive for COVID-19.”
She added that any ath-
letes will be able to com-
pete during the move
to distance learning as
long as they are not in
quarantine.
The school’s cases are
part of 16 cases reported in
the county in the last week.
Oregon Health Author-
ity reported two cases on
April 27, three on April
28, April 29 and May 1,
four on April 30 and one
on May 3. The increase
brings the county’s overall
total of cases to 176.
According to state data,
as of May 3, about 40% of
the county’s population —
2,903 people — have been
vaccinated against the
coronavirus.
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