April 15, 1997
SMOKE SIGNALS
3
Sande Schmidt memorial highlights her contributions to Native people
The Tribe hosted a memorial din
ner in celebration of Sande
Schmidt's life on March 29 at the
Community Center.
Sande Schmidt, who passed
away last December, was a friend
of the Grand Ronde Tribe and Na
tive people all over Oregon. An at
torney specializing in Indian Law,
Sande was instrumental in the
Tribe's restoration effort of the
early 1980s.
Born in Salem in 1952, Sande
Schmidt grew up in Oregon and
California, and graduated as vale
dictorian of her class in 1970. She
attended Stanford University where
she met her husband, Kelly Smith.
They were married in 1974, the day before
her college graduation.
Sande was admitted to Hastings College
of Law in San Francisco, graduating with a
Juris Doctor degree in 1978, as a member
of the Thurston Honor Society. Sande and
Kelly moved to Bend, Oregon in 1978.
Sande took her last term of law school at
the University of Oregon in Eugene, it was
there that she developed her interest in In
dian Law.
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She was tribal attorney for the Burns
Paiutc Tribe from 1979 to 1982 and had a
general law practice in Bend from 1981
1982. She joined the Native American Pro
gram of Oregon Legal Services (NAPOLS)
in January of 1983 and commuted to Port
land from Bend for the next three years.
She assisted in the restoration of federal
tribal status to the Klamath and Grand
Ronde tribes and also focused on the In
dian Child Welfare Act and on water law.
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Rep. Elizabeth Furse (center, to the left of Tribal Chair Kathryn Harrison) with
Kelly Smith (far left) and attorneys from NAPOLS. During the service, Kelly
read a poem he wrote about Sande in which he referred to her as "the woman
who was my life."
In 1989 NAPOLS opened an office
in Bend, and Sande finally got to
live and work at home. She began
working part time in 1991, focus
ing primarily on water law in the
Klamath Basin. During her career
she was admitted to the Oregon
State Supreme Court, the U.S. 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals, and the
U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1981 Sande began sixteen
years of volunteering and legal ad
vocacy for the Central Oregon Bnt
tering and Rape Alliance, a
woman's crisis service in Bend.
AAer moving her work to Bend, she
volunteered for a number of other
programs, including the Start Mak
ing A Reader Today program for elemen
tary school children, the Big Sister program,
the Bill Hcaly Center for Adult Basic Edu
cation, the Boys and Girls Club of Bend,
and the Reach To Recovery program of the
American Cancer Society. She also con
tributed to the Central Oregon Environmen
tal Center and to Planned Parenthood.
Sande was an avid athlete and gardener.
The many family, friends, and colleagues
who attended the memorial for Sande in
cluded Oregon congresswoman Elizabeth
Furse and her husband John Piatt, members
of the Klamath Tribe, and employees of
NAPOLS.
During her life, Sande Schmidt was a
mentor to many new attorneys. She affected
many young lawyers with her integrity, sen
sitivity and understanding of legal issues.
Because her influence will continue to be
felt for many years into the future, NAPOLS
has established a scholarship to fund a law
clerk position for students interested in In
dian Law. For contribution information
please call the Native American Program
of Oregon Legal Services at (503) 223
9483. The Tribe would like to thank
NAPOLS and Kelly Smith for their help in
making this celebration of Sande's life such
a success.
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Greg Taylor, Legends Executive Chef, sculpted the Three Sisters from Bel
gian chocolate for the service. The Oregon mountains and chocolate were
two of Sande's favorite things.
A letter from Don Wharton
There are those who walk among
us with dignity and humility, with
grace and personal power so
compelling that we are moved by
their mere presence. Sande Schmidt
was not, at first impression, a
charismatic person. It was in
relationship with her that she
revealed her extraordinary strength,
wit, intellect, and personal integrity.
It was in the fruits of her work that she
imparted the mastery of her craft in
the law. It was in her uncom
promising dedication to pursuing the
protection of the rights and goals of
Native American people that she
reflected her commitment to justice.
While Sande reflected these traits in
every aspect of her life, it was in the
arena of federal Indian law that the
attorneys at the Native American
Rights Fund best knew her, respected
her, and will most miss her.
It is difficult to know what to say
about a fallen colleague. What can
be said about Sande as an attorney
is that she was an able and worthy
advocate. She personified the high
est, most noble qualities that can at
tend the practice of law. She was,
without exception, uncommonly well
prepared and knowledgable about
her client's legal interests. But more
than that, she understood her client's
needs and goals. She understood
them because she listened. She was
so successful because she refused to
substitute her own agenda for that
of her client.
Sande never assumed that she
knew better than her client what was
best. Rather, she dedicated her con
siderable skills to accomplishing the
seemingly impossible. Her work re
quired her to seek to reconcile the
goals of tribal governments which
she represented with those of rural
and often conservative non-Indian
governments with whom her clients
were forced to deal. Sande's ability
to change the hearts and minds of
representatives of those govern
ments seemed, from our distant per
spective, almost mystical. But
whether Sande was magic or just a
hard worker we all witnessed the of
ten unlikely result of non-Indian legis
lators translating tribal goals into his
tory changing legislation. She moved
legal mountains and she did it with
grace, with humility, with unflinching
integrity, and with boundless energy
that will continue to inspire all who
were fortunate enough to have
been touched by this remarkable
woman.
One of our own is gone and we are
at once diminished by her passing,
and enriched by her time with us.
Don Wharton
Native American Rights Fund
Don Wharton and Sande Schmidt worked together
at NAPOLS during the Tribe's restoration effort.