u.i... n.,..k cri.nH Kathrvn Harrkon was honored bv Tribal Veterans at the Grand Ronde Pow-wow in 2001, her last as Tribal
Chairwoman. Her ideas for the Tribe looked out seven generations, but health and retirement benefits, job training and housing assistance for
Elders are already part of the fabric of life in Grand Ronde. The Nation publication debuts this month on-line at www.GrandRondeNation.com.
From the New Biography of Kathryn Harrison
Standing Tall tells an ancient and contemporary story through the life and times of a
Grand Ronde Tribal leader.
By Ron Karten
When Molalla Mayor Mike
Clarke came to the Molalla Area
Historical Society on February 4th
to make Tribal Elder and former
Tribal Chairwoman Kathryn Har
rison an honorary citizen, Harrison
turned the tables a little.
"Welcome to my homeland," she
said.
The meeting coincided with a book
signing for Kristine Olson's Stand
ing TallThe Lifeway of Kathryn
Jones Harrison, her new biography
of the Grand Ronde Tribal leader.
The place was mobbed and the
available books were all signed
before the afternoon meeting was
half over. By late in the afternoon,
when the rain had come and gone
several times already, Harrison
and her daughter, Tribal Elder
Patsy Pullin, along with Molalla
Area Historical Society First Vice
President Maria Vaughan and her
husband, Champ,
and a few others
sat back with bis
cuits and tea to
talk over some
old times.
It turned out
that Champ's
cousin's grand
daughter has now
married former
Umatilla Chief
Clarence Burke's
grandson, Randy
Burke, who lives
in Pendleton.
Also on hand
was Sue Davies,
whose husband,
; 2 C .v I ,J ft 1
Ivor Davies, recently passed on at the
age of 98, had known Molalla Kate's
brother when Davies was a boy and Kate's
brother was an old man.
The connection here in
Grand Ronde is that Mo
lalla Kate, who became a
Siletz Tribal member, is
Harrison's great, great
aunt on her father's side.
Discussion followed on the
difference between a great
great aunt and a great
grand aunt.
Molalla resident Jerry
Holbrook brought a spear
point he had found as a
. present for Harrison.
People often give pres
ents to Harrison. As a
former Tribal leader and
now a Tribal emissary,