4 FEBRUARY 1, 2002
Smoke Signals
Ha Dowd: A Life Spent Helping Others Comes To
An End, Legacy Of Love Is Left Behind
Tribal Elder was a window to the past, an inspiration for the future.
Editor's Note: It was mentioned at Ila's funeral that she never spoke a bad word about anybody. Imagine if others in this community could use her
example how much better the world would be. What a pleasure to know Ila Dowd. She was my mother's teacher as a child in Grand Ronde, thus my
mother always referred to her as Mrs. Dowd rather than Ila. Ila and her sisters Eula, Velma and Martha were always so good to me - they always let
me know how much they cared for me and that felt so good. Martha was always quiet, but extremely kind and generous with her smiles. Velma asked
to see me just a week or so before she passed - she just wanted to let me know that she cared about me. Eula was such an inspiration to me. One of my
biggest regrets in life was thinking that I had time to get Eula on tape speaking jargon. I kept thinking I had time and then it was too late. When I
was awarded the Eula Petite Scholarship it was one that proudest accomplishments of my life. When I returned to Grand Ronde, the first thing I did
was make a beeline to meet with Ila and get her to speak jargon for me while I videotaped away. She smiled when she had finished reading to me a
story that she translated into wawa. She told me stories about her youth. She cackled at the memories. She told me stories about my family. She
touched my life. I'll miss you Ila. Brent.
By Chris Mercier
Imagine Cairo without the
pyramids. Or if you can, Paris
missing the Eiffel Tower, perhaps
waking in London one day to find
Big Ben has disappeared. That is
precisely how the Grand Ronde
Tribal Community Center felt last
week during the lunch hour.
Tribal Elders shuffled in for their
meals and I hopped from table to
table asking questions about the
late Ila Dowd, a woman whose per
sonal presence can be described with
no better word than monumental.
Her physical presence was far
from that, though. In the flesh she
was a tiny, delicate woman, as
many remembered her, yet of ro
bust health, and mentally quite
strong. She had an aura.
"Yeah, to be honest you can't re
ally begin to write about her," Leon
"Chips" Tom told me. "She was just
overall a really good woman."
And that's it really: good. A good
friend, a good grandmother, a good
listener, a good Chinuk wawa
speaker and teacher - Just plain
good in every respect.
Chips was right in another place
too. Just where do you begin with
Ila Dowd?
To start, she was born November
25, 1908 in Grand Ronde, one of 14
children of John B. Hudson and
Hattie Sands. Her grandmother was
Martha Jane Sands, whose metallic
likeness rests in the lobby of Spirit
Mountain Casino. And Ila, along
with her sisters, formed that legend
ary group known as "the Hudson
girls" and which featured other
Grand Ronde personalities Eula
Petite, Velma Mercier, and Martha
Mercier. Clearly, she came from a
rich bloodline.
She would go on to marry Joseph
Dowd (d. 1982) in 1930, a marriage
that produced one child, Joyce
Ham. Many Elders may remem
ber her as a teacher in a one-room
school. But teaching was but one
vocation of Ila's, as she also put in
many years at the Blue Lake Can
nery near Woodburn, and at an old
nursing home, now a bed & break
fast in Grand Ronde. Ham recalled
briefly a three-year interlude in a
Tillamook logging camp during the
1940's, as well as her mother tak
ing off for a year to attend Mt. An
gel College to get a teaching certifi
cate. But aside from that, Ila spent
the greater part of her existence in
Grand Ronde and that's why for
many locals she was a living win
dow to the past.
Ila's life spanned about as great a
i "t
VI.
transitional phase as
can be had around
here. In an interview
with Smoke Signals
during the fall of 1999,
she reflected profoundly
on the changes in
Grand Ronde, from the
horse and wagon days
of her childhood, to one
of the first-ever auto
mobiles glimpsed by lo
cals. "I can remember the
first automobile I ever
saw," she told Brent
Merrill, recalling an
elderly man who
showed up at her
father's one day in a
pickup to buy beef.
"It overwhelms me to
watch TV," she added.
"It has changed so
much during the time
that I first started
watching. I remember we always
had a phonograph (record player).
We always had records."
Ila seemed to have very few prob
lems coping with changes. No
quite the contrary she loved them.
"If there is one thing I will always
remember about her house," Joyce
said. "It was the sound of The
Waltons and Bonanza on her tele
vision. She just absolutely loved
those shows."
And ice cream, evidently. In her
childhood, the only ice cream avail
able was of the homemade variety.
But as anyone who visited her cot
tage off of Grand Ronde Road can
testify, ice cream was never in short
supply.
"She always kept her fridge
stocked for guests," Joyce said. "And
she had an extra freezer that was
always stocked with ice cream and
popsicles. Some was for her but most
of it was for guests, especially kids."
Though Ila herself wasn't a well
spring of children, having only
Joyce, plus three grandchildren and
seven great-grandchildren, nothing
stopped her from going to great
lengths to treat them nicely. Some
might even say she spoiled them.
"Oh yes, she spoiled me," Joyce rec
ollected. "I was her only spoiled brat."
Well, not quite, really, as she
thought further. Ila also went out
of her way to spoil the grandkids
and the great-grandkids. Come to
think of it, she went out of her way
to spoil just about anybody who set
foot inside the tiny house.
"She used to always tell me that's
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She Was The Last Surviving Granddaughter of Martha Jane
Sands Tribal Elder Ila Dowd (right) passed away in January of this year. Dowd
was loved by many and well known for her humor, hospitality and ability to speak
in Chinuk wawa. Here Ila has a conversation with Tribal Elder Mabel Gaston at the
Elder's Housing dedication in the summer of 2000.
an old Indian tradition," Joyce ex
plained. "You always feed visitors.
She always had something cooked
in the fridge for people."
In retrospect, that was the com
monality of virtually every person
interviewed for this story, that they
always remembered her generosity,
her almost complete lack of selfish
ness, her selflessness, in fact. In
my own personal experiences in vis
iting the woman, which were far
too few, what struck me, and oth
ers apparently, was that Ila Dowd
only spoke of herself when asked.
The devotion to others almost comes
off as a flaw.
Francine Peterson, one of Dowd's
three grandchildren, could remem
ber the caution with which she
would .visit Ila, basically making a
habit of dropping in unannounced.
For the better, she told me.
"Honestly, we had to do that," she
said. "If we told her in advance she
would make such a fuss over it.
She would cook bake cakes, pies.
She would clean and prepare stuff.
She would just fuss so much and
we didn't want her to do that.
"You couldn't get her to not do it,
either," she continued. "She was
stubborn that way. Eventually, we
just quit announcing when we'd
visit because we didn't want her
doing all that work."
Though Peterson grew up in Port
land, the family convened often
during the years. Most holidays,
and even during spring breaks, the
Hams would venture down to
Grand Ronde to visit Ila and Jo
seph. Like most everyone who came
to know Ila, they couldn't help but
be influenced.
"She was always just this grand
mother figure," Peterson said. "She
was always offering you help in
some way. She would do anything
for you.
"She always put others first," she
added. "She attended to herself last."
Generous, yet modest. Lavish
with others, but frugal with herself.
Grand Ronde's own version of
Mother Teresa. Strange, then, but
maybe not, that one of Ila's quali
ties that stands out more than any
thing else to the lone granddaugh
ter is her perceptiveness.
"I also remember her sense of
humor," she said. "But one thing I
never forget is how sharp she was.
I mean you can remember her kind
ness, but even in her old age she
was never naive. You could never
pull the wool over her eyes.
"She always knew more than she
let on."
Perhaps that's why Ila under
stood the need to be soft-spoken, the
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