SpilyayTymoo
Warm Springs, Oregon
January 20, 1995 3
Warm Springs elders share their past
Spilyay Tymoo will feature senior citizens of the
Warm Springs community throughout the year. We
hope to share stories of the past to give readers an idea
of what early reservation life was like for our elders.
Fannie Waheneka is eighty-fivc-years-old and an
enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs. She was born February 15, 1909 in Log
Springs. She grew up on the other end of Simnasho, in
the Foreman Point area. She was born to Louie and
Lucy (Yahtin) Scott in a small community of
approximately 1 1 homes.
Her mother was Warm Springs, and her father was
12 Yakama and 12 Wasco. Her parents had eight
children, five of which survived. Fannic's oldest sister
was Alice, known as Daisy Heath. She was enrolled in
Yakama. Her parents then had a baby boy who passed
away. Her other sister was Emma Queahpama. Her
sister Delia passed away as did a baby girl. Her brother
Leonard Scott was born followed by herself. Her
brother Sam, was the youngest. Fannie was thrce-ycars-old
when her father passed away, so she doesn't
remember him very well.
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Fannie Waheneka while attending
Chemawa Indian School.
While growing up, her family had to do their
shopping in cither Tygh Valley or Wapinitia. They
followed a trail on horseback to go shopping. Other
means of transportation was by walking or traveling by
wagons. At that time their was no electricity, and they
got their water from natural springs which were adjacent
to their home and barn. The family spoke only their
native language, Sahaptin.
The family belongs to the traditional Indian religion
of Washut. Washut was the first religion around before
all others came to be. At that time they didn't pay much
attention to doctors, not that there were any around.
After her father died, she came down to Warm Springs
to attend boarding school because she lived too far
from Simnasho. Only those who lived right in Simnasho
were able to attend Simnasho school. "It was more like
military school than a boarding school. We couldn't
even speak our native language." She lived in the
dorms and was away from her mother for long periods
of time.
In 1 924, at the age of 1 6, she was sent to Chemawa
Indian School.
She married Grant Waheneka in 1929. They had
two children, one of which they lost. Faye Waheneka
is their only surviving daughter. Her husband did a
little farming. She now has eight grandchildren; five
grandsons, three granddaughters. They include:
Kenneth Sidney Miller (Kcnman), Sharon K. Miller,
Robert Roscoc Smith, Julian Bruce Smith, Eldrcd
Dean Smith, Pamela Faye Cardenas, Kevin Lee Smith,
and Robin Tracy Mitchell. From these eight
grandchildren, Fannie has twenty-two great
grandchildren.
Fannie enjoyed doing beadwork. In 1 938 she started
beading a bag with metal beads. The picture is of deer
in the forest. She said her brother went hunting one
time and told her of the deer he saw. He kept the image
in his mind and her sister Emma drew a picture of what
he remembered. That is where the image on the bag
came from. The bag lay unfinished until 1968 when
she was told there were beads in White Swan. She then
finished the bag.
Fannie worked at the BIA boarding school for about
two years as a girls matron beginning in 1941. There
she resigned and went berry picking between Sandy
and Gresham. Berry farmers would pick them up in
Warm Springs to pick berries for the summer. They
were provided cabins to stay in. In 1943, as berry
picking season was ending, her brother convinced her
to work in the Shipyards in Portland (Swan Island).
The war was going on at the time and she was 34 years
old. At the shipyards she began carrying welding leads
for her best friend. One day, at lunch time, her friend
showed her how to weld and the boss saw how good
she welded and she became an overhead welder. She
walked about two miles every day to get to work
because they had no car.
They moved from Gresham to Roswell, New Mexico
where the Air Force stationed Grant in 1 943-44. When
he got his oversees orders they moved back home in
1945. To make more money they moved back to the
valley again to pick berries. She was then contacted,
and told she needed to come back to be a girls' matron,
which she was for over twenty years before she retired,
due to bad health. Her daughter Faye then went to work
and Fannie took care of her grandchildren.
When asked how she felt about the differences
between the past and the present, she feels you can't do
much about it but live with it.
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Fannie displays a beaded bag she made from an image her brother
remembered from his hunting trip.
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Mabel Eyle is the oldest tribal member in Warm Springs. She now lives
at her home in Wolfe Point.
Story compiled and written by
Bob Medina and Saphronia Katchia
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Mabel really enjoyed fishing when she was younger. Above she is pictured on a scaffold at Sherars Bridge.
The oldest enrolled member of the Confederated
Tribes, Mabel Eyle is 93. Mabel was born July 3, 1901
to Joe and Fannie Henning in Log Springs. Her blood
line is Warm Springs and her ancestry reaches back to
the Tygh Band. She had four brothers; George Henning,
who passed away in 191 8; Clarence, who died in 1909.
An unnamed child passed away in 1903, and her
brother Henry died in 1911. She had two sisters as
well, Mary Henning Sumpter died March 18, 1962,
and Sophie Tancwasha, who also died.
Mabel moved with her family to Simnasho where
she went to school for three years. Prior to starting
school, her family spoke only their native language,
Sahaptin. When she spoke of it in school she was
yelled at for doing so. Sometimes her family would
travel to Warm Springs to visit for a day and go back
home. She also recalls going to Willamette Falls to
pick berries when she was younger, and picking berries
between Sandy and Gresham.
Mabel did a lot of beadwork, she also enjoyed
leather work. She made moccasins and gloves from
hides she tanned herself. She made numerous items
which she traded for groceries in Wapinitia and Tygh
Valley. Fishing was another joy . She would often go to
Sherars Bridge by herself or w ith her husband.
Mabel was twenty w hen she married Johnny Tew cc,
February 2, 1920. They had three children together.
They divorced ten years later on May 19, 1930. Lena
Tewee Santos is their only surviving child. Hesler
Tewee died in 1923, and Johnny Tewee, Jr. died in
1927.
In 1924, at age 23, she remembers when she first
rode in a car. Her family went to Sherars Bridge to fish.
At age 30 she helped clean and do laundry at the Tygh
Valley Hotel.
She married Kaleb Adams September 6, 1936. Their
marriage ended in divorce, November 10, 1954.
The following year she married William Eyle of
Yakama, February 19, 1955. He preceded her in death
May 12, 1986.
Mabel made her home in Simnasho until her house
burned down in 1967. At that time, Delbert Frank
leased her some of his land so her family could build a
home in Wolfe Point where she now lives.
She has ten grandchildren: Juanita Denny, Marjorie
Danzuka-deccascd, Carl Santos-deceased, Irene Santos,
Ruebcn Santos, Rick Santos, Michael Santos-deceased,
Susanna Santos, Albert Santos and Theresa Santos.
Mabel is the great grandmother of 25, and the great
great grandmother of four. Just recently she became a
grcat-grcat-grcat grandmother.