DECEMBER 15, 2001
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Meeting With a Congressman - Tribal members Jackie Whisler (right), Frank Harrison (foreground)
and Marvin Kimsey met with Congressman Les AuCoin while in Washington, D.C. AuCoin was one of a handful of
politicians in Oregon to take up the cause of the Tribe and really help the people work towards Restoration. Everything
Tribal members have today is a direct result of the efforts of a handful of Tribal members and their efforts.
nal territory or on the former reservation.
4. They have maintained their customs and
language.
5. The Tribal group is poorer than the sur
rounding adjacent non-Indian population.
"So there you had it," he told me. "The five or
six steps toward Restoration. It seemed so simple,
but it wasn't."
And AuCoin was the first person to tell them
that.
"When we first dealt with him, he told us about
all the work," said Kimsey. "And he told us
Tou've got to do the work, I'm not going to do it
for you.'"
They had to hold meetings, to prove govern
mental functions. They had to hold Pow-wows
and other rituals to demonstrate the upkeep of
culture. They had to certify the blood quantum
of members, document those who still spoke jar
gon, research families and collect numbers on in
come. They had to pursue grants for funding.
Fry bread stands and peddling homemade (by
Tribal Elders) jam were some of the notable fund
raising activities. At one point, Merrier said, the
Tribe had an unsigned deal with United Airlines
and Southwest Airlines to provide them with
huckleberry jam. That is, until they realized the
quantity demanded was way beyond their means.
Community support also had to be garnered.
They contacted churches, clubs and scores of or
ganizations, and just about anyone who would
give support. They went through all manner of
tedious bureaucratic work just to fulfill those
obligations. Before steady funding arrived,
Kimsey had to quit his job just to devote more
time to the effort.
"It was like chasing a rainbow," he told me.
"It seemed closer but it wasn't."
But the group got plenty of help from Tribal
Elders; either through bake sales or money.
Their support was monumental, said Kimsey.
"Ila (Dowd) and Velma (Merrier) helped us,"
he said. "And Wilson Bobb and Esther LaBonte,
they donated money.
"It made you feel pretty good that someone
believed in you," he added.
"Sometimes I think the Elders just wanted an
excuse to get together," said Whisler. "To them
Restoration hopefully meant getting their medi
cation paid for."
But even with all the backing, the goal still
seemed unreachable, just always out of grasp.
More than once they felt like quitting.
"The hours were long and tedious," Kimsey
said. "And there were times I wondered if it was
worth it."
"I can remember once I wanted to quit because
we didn't get this ANA (Association for Native
Administration) grant," Whisler told me. "We
thought we had it. But Marvin told me we didn't
get it and I cried. It just seemed like this would
never happen."
They got over it, and pressed on, taking solace
in the slightest sliver of hope. As Whisler told
me, the encouragement came sporadically, and
when it did, it worked.
"We would be so down sometimes," she said.
"But all it took was one phone call from some
body in Salem or (Washington) D.C, telling us
we had to do this or that and it would have us
all fired up and working for another week."
The occasional workshop would happen, or a
conference out of state, and they would have to
decide who would go. Funds were that limited.
"We didn't have enough money, so we just sent
one person and they would take notes for all of
us," remembered Whisler.
Ultimately, another ANA grant came their way
for $60,000 enough to fund the whole operation
for a year, and enough for the core members to
quit and go full time into Restoration.
"At that time it was enough for all of us," said
Kimsey, smiling.
More help materialized, as Elizabeth Furse,
Don Wharton and Oregon Legal Services jumped
on board and really got the effort going. In a
clear reversal of fortune, at one point Kimsey
and the others were actually turning down
grants. And slowly but surely, with their
newfound aid and finances they were building
up toward a date in D.C. with Congress.
But other obstacles loomed, among them op
position from Oregon Steelheaders and commer
cial fisheries, who feared that the special fish
ing rights likely given to a newly restored Tribe
might encroach upon their business. Timber
organizations worried federal lands loaded with
troves of lumber might go to Indians for reser
vation land. Even the Bureau of Indian Affairs
proved difficult.
"Geez, you'd think the BIA would be your
friend," said Whisler. "But they demanded so
much from us."
Through political maneuvering, they were
able to neutralize opposition or turn it into sup
port. With AuCoin gathering support in the
House and Hatfield in the Senate, plus the aid
of then Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh and assorted
Polk and Yamhill County Commissioners, CTGR
was only a hearing away from reality.
In 1983, Kimsey, Whisler, Kathryn and her
son Frank Harrison and her daughter Karen
Askins, along with Elizabeth Furse made the leg
endary trip to Capitol Hill in Washington. Nei
ther Kimsey nor Whisler have forgotten that.
As funds were still nowhere near the abundance
they are now, the intrepid group stayed at one
Davis House, not exactly a mission, and pretty
far from being a hotel.
"My room, as near as I can tell, was a con
verted closet," said Whisler. "And I had one towel
for the entire week. I had to ask for another."
Down the hall lurked a large and noisy Japa
nese delegation with a fondness for showering
together (per Japanese custom, no doubt).
Kimsey remembered the presence of Finnish mis
sionaries. The big day was truly, well... big. Whisler
wasn't really prepared for what lay ahead. The
plan was originally to have Marvin and Frank
speak before Congress and aides, with her look
ing on not uttering a peep. But Furse had other
plans, telling Whisler it was imperative she spoke.
"I freaked out," she said. "I told her there's no
way I can speak in front of all those people. I
told her I wasn't going to do it.
"She just looked at me and said 'Jackie!'"
Whisler told me, imitating Furse with a voice
similar to the way a parent might speak to a
petulant child.
Later on, while walking down the halls of Con
gress, Whisler peeked into a side room. Mike
Wallace (60 Minutes) was conducting an inter
view with some political bigwig.
"I said to Frank 'Do you know who that is?'"
Whisler told me. "I said we should go ask him
for support. Frank said 'Are you crazy?'"
They also met with a Senator from Minnesota.
She remembered vividly how he explained that
some Tribes in Minnesota considered termination
one of the best things that ever happened to them.
"We didn't know what to say," she said. "I just
said, We can't speak for other Tribes.w
They all spoke on behalf of their Tribe, and what
was said you'd just have to ask for yourself. But
needless to say, Ronald Reagan signed Bill HR
3885, and it was passed with 57 letters of support
and none opposing. And on November 22, 1983
the inception of the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde began, 2,200 members in all.
Sadly, nearly everyone who really fought for
Restoration has retreated into anonymity.
Holmes, Provost, and Mercier have retired.
Kimsey passes his days volunteering at the Food
Bank or the Grand Ronde Rodeo Commission.
Whisler resides in Cultural Resources as a
Chinuk teacher for pre-schook is.
"The truth is, I've no interest in being back
there and part of those politics that go on to
day," said Kimsey "But I'm glad I was pnrt of Res
toration, and like I said, I don't know what would
drive a person to do it. But if it had to bo done
again, I suppose I could muster up the strength."
Whisler reflects rather fondly on it as well.
"As good as we're doing now, when I think back
to all the struggles then, it was so much fun,"
she said. "It was so... innocent."
If Kimsey himself has any hard feelings, they
are well concealed. He just hopes that some day
the recognition due to this crew will come, par
ticularly Whisler, who he thought had been
largely omitted in appreciation.
"Not enough is said about Jackie," he said. "I
can't even begin to tell you how important she was.
Whatever we needed, she always got it done." D