APRIL 15, 2001
Smoke Signals 3
Dream of a Veterans7 Memorial Comes Closer to Reality
Community packs into the Willamina VFW Hall to bid on donated items.
By Willie Mercier
The recent Veterans' Memorial din
ner and auction in Willamina was an
evening of hopes and dreams. The
event was held on Friday, March 30
at the VFW Hall.
The Tribe's Veteran's Ad Hoc Me
morial Committee conducted their
first dinner and auction to raise
money for the Veteran's Memorial.
The memorial, designed by Tribal
member and former Marine Steve
Bobb, will honor all Veterans, Tribal
and non-Tribal, from the Grand
Ronde, Willamina and Sheridan com
munities. The memorial is designed to honor
women Veterans as well as men and
features a man and a woman stand
ing side-by-side in traditional regalia.
Four granite pillars, each repre
senting the four U.S. Military
branches, will surround the statues.
The memorial will be located on the
Tribal campus between the Gover
nance Center and the Community
Center.
The dinner and auction fund
raising event raised just over $7,000
from items that were donated to thei
memorial effort. y
"The memorial has been on my
mind for a long time," said Tribal El
der Marce Norwest to the packed
house of more than 200 people. "I've
been to a lot of Veteran events, we
have carried the flags for them, and
I have seen a lot of memorials. I felt
sad because we didn't have one to
honor our Veterans."
The event marked the first of what
the Veteran's Memorial Committee
hopes to be many successful
fundfaising events.
The committee plans to raise
$300,000. Golf, softball and basket
ball tournaments will be held along
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Fundraiser The Veterans' Ad Hoc Memorial Committee raised just over $7,000 for
the planned Veterans' Memorial with a dinner and fundraiser at the VFW Hall in Willamina.
The dinner was the first in series of fundraisers aimed at establishing a memorial that will
honor all Veterans in the Grand Ronde, Willamina and Sheridan areas. Tribal Elder Val Grout
(above) kicked off the event with an fnvocation. Earlier, Grout helped Committee Chair
man Lew Younger prepare dinner for the more than 200 guests that packed the hall.
Television personality -
Wayne Faligowski (right), the host of the
HP High Five Challenge game show on
Portland's KPTV channel 12, hosted the
auction and personally donated several hun
dred dollars in merchandise to the
fundraiser. Several items were donated by
local individuals and businesses to help raise
money for the memorial. Among the items
donated were gift certificates, hats, jack
ets, Pendleton blankets, original photogra
phy and a television.
with other events to achieve their goal.
The memorial will be completed in
three phases, with the final dedica
tion scheduled for Memorial Day
2003. Fundraising efforts will con
tinue until that time.
This project is not funded by casino
profits, in fact just the opposite. In
dividual committee members have
pledged $100 each to go towards the
funding of the memorial.
"I think all service is important,"
said former Oregon Senator Eliza
beth Furse of the memorial effort in
Grand Ronde. "I think the service of
Veterans is one of the services that
we as a nation provide. I think ser
vice has an enormous value and ser
vice has no gender men and
women serve. I really honor the
Tribes for recognizing the service of
men and women.
"I think it is another example of the
generosity of Indian people to recog
nize the whole community," said
Furse. "It is an extraordinary ges
ture of generosity."
For more information about the me
morial, how to donate to the memo
rial effort and how to get loved ones
names on the memorial call 503-879-4584
or toll-free at 1-877-645-2641.
If you receive the voice message, please
leave your name and phone number
and your call will be returned.
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Thank you to all
the local individuals,
organizations and
businesses that
donated so generously
of their time, items
and goodwill.
The Tribal Membership Community Meetings for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde will be held
to share information on current Tribal plans and to gather information for goal setting. Comments
will be used in guiding programs, projects and grant applications. Included will be a review of recent
projects, key achievements in following up on last year's comments and additional information from
the Social &. Economic survey. Your participation is needed, appreciated and makes a difference.
Thursday
6:00 to 8:30 pm
Lane Community College (LCC)
Forum Building (Room 308)
4000 East 30th Avenue
Three miles south of Eugene. A half mile west of 1-5 Exit 189 on 30th Avenue.
(From Eugene take Exit 189 but go a half mile along side 1-5, on McVay Highway, to get to 30th Ave.) Go
west on 30th Ave., left onto Eldon Schafer Drive and then around the college to the south parking lot (parking
lot L). The meeting is In the Forum Building (Bldg.17) Room 308.
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Saturday Grand Ronde Community Center
11:30 am to 2:00 pm (Tribal Campus)
One mile north of Highway 18 on Grand Ronde Road.
For additional information call the Policy & Planning Department at 503-879-2260 or
1-800-422-0232, ext. 2260. If you can not attend and wish to comment on Tribal goal setting
please write to: Kim Rogers, Policy 8i Planning Department,
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347.
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SMOKE SIGNALS is available to anyone at no cost. Fill out this form with
your name and address, mail to: Smoke Signals, Attn: Justin Phillips,
961S Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347
OLD ADDRESS: (Please Print) NEW ADDRESS:
GRAND RONDE ROLL :
Hollywood or Grand Ronde? Tribal Council members
Reyn Leno (top) and Ed Pearsall (bottom) were recently interviewed by Pete Springer
of the Oregon Public Broadcasting television station in Portland. The interviews
took place in back of the
Tribal Governance Center in
Grand Ronde. The topic of
the interview was Tribal in
vestments. Smoke Signals
will publish information re
garding the airing of the in
terviews in a future issue.
The Grand Ronde Tribe and
the Umatilla Tribe were re
cently featured on an OPB
special called "The Oregon
Story."
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