OCTOBER 1, 2002
Smoke Signals 11
Like a Native Detective, PSU Grad Is Making Indian History Her Life
Tribal member Jessica Juran works summers organizing the Tribe's cultural collections.
By Ron Karten
Jessica Juran has been pursuing
Indian history at least since high
school when she wrote a paper
about the effects of the Spirit
Mountain Casino on the neighbor
ing communities.
"I've kind of always been inter
ested," she said recently from an
office in the Community Center
where she spent much of the sum
mer cataloguing the Tribe's photog
raphy collection, estimated to in
clude more than 1,000 photo
graphs. Last summer, she worked at cata
loguing the Tribe's artifact collec
tion, including baskets, stones and
arrowheads. Among the baskets
were the nearly 300 donated to the
Tribe by Anita Neilson, a Tillamook
collector who gained an interest in
Indian artifacts through her long
time friendship with the great
granddaughter of Tillamook Tribal
Chief Kilchis. The Neilson dona
tion represents from a third to a half
of the Tribe's current collection.
The Tribe also has an archival
collection including tens of thou
sands of documents and historical
records, according to Lindy Trolan,
Cultural Collections specialist.
"It's interesting," said Juran,
"getting to see everything and fig
uring out where it all came from."
A history student just graduated
from Willamette University (WU)
LiL
Jessica Juran
and set to begin graduate studies
in history at Portland State (PSU),
Juran discovered along the way
that "I like to track things down. I
like the detective work."
At WU, she traveled to Seattle to
research a paper regarding the city
of Salem's reaction to the federally
run Chemawa Indian School of the
1880s. At that time, federal policy
aimed at assimilating Indians into
the dominant culture (simulta
neously wiping out Indian cul
ture) and the federal repository
for original documents from
that era were only in Seattle.
Even today, the school's
website makes no mention of
the disastrous policies of the
past.
Her senior thesis at WU
looked at public support for
militia efforts to "exterminate"
Indians during the Rogue
River Indian Wars. The mili
tia, composed mostly of miners
and others only temporarily in
the area for personal gain, had
no compunction about killing
Indians to make gold digging
easier.
Recipient for three years of
the Tribe's Higher Education
scholarship and additionally of
an education grant from the Tribe,
Juran also earned a WU Internship
to work with the great granddaugh
ter of one time Oregon governor
Oswald West. His legacy, Juran
said, includes the effort that made
Oregon beaches public property and
one that "cleaned up" the state's
prison system.
"He was also big on prohibition,"
she said. West was governor of Or
egon from 1911-1915.
For the coming year, Juran has a
fellowship from the Oregon Histori
cal Society. It provides her tuition
and the opportunity to work 12
hours a week on an upcoming So
ciety project. Her particular job will
be with the Society's Public Histo
rian, Richard Engeman, coordinat
ing with affiliated museums to put
together an exhibit tentatively
called - "Oregon A to Z."
At home, or with her roommates
from Willamette University in Sa
lem, Juran describes herself as an
arts and craftsy person. She mats
artwork and paints birdhouses.
"I like to make stuff," she said.
Her dad's (Rod Thomas) side of
the family includes the Hudsons
and Merciers, and also includes
Bruce Thomas, her father's brother,
who used to be Chief Executive
Officer of the casino.
A lot of her interests and natural
abilities also come from her mom
(Maryann Juran), who has an enor
mous collection of photos covering all
sides of the family. It is also her
mom's hobby to mat and frame and
keep track of these many pictures.
Her current ambitions lean to
ward the strengths she has uncov
ered with her educational achieve
ments "I'll either teach or work
in a museum," she said.
"We're lucky to have her," said
Trolan. "She has combined her aca
demic studies with our Tribal his
tory, and it's exciting to see." B
Tim Nelson Stays in Education To Help Others
Active as a student, Nelson now counsels students to go to college.
1 j
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By Ron Karten
Tribal member Tim Nelson has
always been "pretty active" in
school events. As a high school ath
lete, he enjoyed
baseball and
cross country
while holding
down the
equivalent of a
full time job with
a trucking com
pany. "It was a
lot of evening
and weekend
hours."
At Eastern
Oregon Univer
sity, where he
majored in busi
ness administra
tion, manage
ment, and mar
keting, he also
served in the
school's Ambassador program for all
four years of his undergraduate
career. He was president of the Ski
Club for two years, taking skiers to
Bachelor, Hood, Anthony Lakes
and Whistler in British Columbia.
Although he grew up in John
Day, Nelson remembers a lot of Pow
wows and rodeos from his youth.
His mother, Tribal member Judy
(Strom) Nelson, grew up in Grand
Ronde, and with the family, Nelson
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visited his many relatives in the area
including the Butlers, Bishops,
and Zimbricks "as much as I pos
sibly could."
When he gradu
ated from college
this spring, Nelson
felt lucky that the
opportunity in the
Admissions De
partment at the
university opened
up. "Hove the uni
versity," he said.
It's a bonus to
him as a new
student recruiter
that he spends
his days "talking
to students about
where higher edu
cation can take
them." Although,
of course, he likes
it when students choose Eastern
Oregon, Nelson said he emphasizes
the value of higher education no
matter where the students go to get
it. "I want to see these students
have opportunities," he said.
His fellow staffers also contribute
to make the job satisfying. "I also
got great people to work with," he
said. "The people I work with were
part of the decision (to work here)."
Handling politics is among the
lessons he has learned since join
ing the university staff. "One of the
biggest things that you don't learn
in the classrooni is how to handle
political issues in the real world, and
how to communicate with people;
how you can say certain things at
certain times, and (learn) who to
call for what."
Also among his lessons is the
value of patience. "It took me four
times of changing my major to see
what I wanted to do. It just takes
time to see what you want," he said.
He also appreciates the adven
ture of the job. "There are always
new things every day to keep your
eyes on," he said. B
Raising Money Has Never Been So Much Fun
Tribal member Tammy Cook enlisted a big casino
presence to raise $6,400 for McMinnville hospice. '
By Ron Karten
Executive Casino Host Tammy Cook enlisted
a big Tribal presence in raising $6,400 for
McMinnville's Health Dynamics Hospice.
Tribal members Camille Mercier - Human Re
sources Director for the Grand Ronde Tribe's
Spirit Mountain Casino (SMC) and Mychal
Leno - Employee Development Manager - led
a talented group that also included SMC em
ployees Kathy Barnett, Rachel James, Cheri
Barnes and Cheryl Adams.
Cook's biggest money making event was the
Bachelor Auction, which included Tribal member Regan Dugger
among five men who put themselves up for sale. That event alone
brought in $1,700, Cook said.
"And it was fun to see all these adults chasing glow-in-the-dark golf
balls" for the Moonlight Golf event at McMinnville's Bayou Golf Club.
"None (of the events) were unsuccessful," Cook said. "Everybody
knows the value of hospice."
Cook's trophy said she was 2nd Runner Up.
"That sounds better than third place, doesn't it?" she asked.
"