Smoke signals., February 01, 2007, Page 5, Image 5

FEBRUARY 1,2007
Smoke Signals 5
RESTORATION continued
from page 4
letter and asked everyone to sign
it, but a representative from Les
AuCoin's office called and said
they didn't want form letters; they
wanted individual letters of sup
port," said Harrison. "So we sent
out an outline for people to tell why
they wanted to support us, and
they wrote their own letters."
Even though the community and
some countystate representatives
began to show support for the
Grand Ronde people, the group still
encountered those who resisted.
"We gave a presentation for the
Polk County Commissioners of
fice and there was one guy there
that just didn't like us. He said,
"How do we know you're going to
do what you say?" I said, "Because
we promise; we're not the United
States." And the man said, "Yah,
well the road to hell is paved with
the promise of glory." That was
his exact statement. He was never
supportive," said Harrison. "I can't
remember his name, but he was a
Polk County Commissioner."
"At the same time, Commission
er Dougherty from Polk County,
Margaret Provost,
Umpqua and Rogue River
Tribal Elder
I am the daughter of Nora
Warren Kimsey, the oldest liv
ing Tribal member. Her father
was John Warren, and his
father was Chief Bogus from
Table Rock. He was killed on
the march to Grand Ronde
from Table Rock in 1856. My
grandfather's mother passed
away before-the march had
started.
So when the boys, my grand
father and his brother, Bill
Bogus-Warren, arrived in
Grand Ronde they were still
young. They were adopted,
or taken in by a family from
McMinnville. That's where
they got the name Warren;
he was a banker in McMin
nville. So they raised the boys,
and when they got older, they
came back to Grand Ronde.
John Warren married Ce
cile Leno and they had three
children, Nora, Maude, and
Phillip. My parents also had
three children, myself, Myrna,
and Marvin.
I used to go to what they
called Indian meetings with
my Grandfather at Govern
ment Hall in Grand Ronde. He
always advised people at these
meetings never to sell their
land. I've been going to Tribal
meetings ever since then.
I worked in Albany, Oregon
at a rare metal plant for 14
years. My supervisor was an
Osage Indian from Oklahoma.
He was keeping up with dif
ferent Tribes' restoration ef
forts. He talked about the
Monominees, and he talked
about Siletz. So he encour
aged me to organize Tribal
members so we could work to
get restored.
and Dave Bishop from
Yamhill County were
always very support
ive," Harrison said.
In 1981, after many
long-hours and a lot of
hard work, the group
of Grand Ronde people
finally succeeded in
getting the Restora
tion Bill introduced to
Congress. It was about
that time that an inter
im Tribal Council was
elected to represent the
Grand Ronde Tribe.
The following is a
list of elected council
for 1981-1982: Marvin
Kimsey, Chair; Bill
(Wink) Soderberg, Co
Chair; Jackie Colton,
SecretaryTreasurer;
Kathryn Harrison;
Merle Holmes; Dean
Mercier; Eula Petite;
Jackie Provost; and
Margaret Provost.
"It took a lot of good
people along the way to get us
where we were at that time, Eliza
beth Furse, Mark Hatfield, Sena
tor Packwood, Governor Roberts,
I joined the Association for Urban
Indians (AUI) in Albany, and that's
basically where we started our ef
forts for restoration because I saw
a need for health care, housing,
and education; all the things we
had done without for many years.
I saw that our members had a lot
of needs that could be met with
federal recognition.
Merle Holmes and my brother,
Marvin Kimsey, came to join me
through this organization. That's
when we began our efforts for res
toration. , We approached Congressman Les
AuCoin about restoration for the
Tribe, but he said that we would
have to do a census to prove that
we had a need to be restored. So
we applied for a grant to conduct
a census for Grand Ronde Tribal
members and their descendants.
We were granted $9000 and began
our efforts to find the locations of
Grand Ronde members.
We met with Joe Lane in Port
land to find out how Siletz went
about doing their census and the
process to be restored. Then we con
tacted the Oregonian, and they put
an article in the paper to let Grand
Ronde people in the area know that
were having a meeting to organize
efforts to be restored.
We held our meeting at the Li
brary in Grand Ronde and got
about 100 people to attend. We an
nounced our plans to get the Tribe
restored, and asked for their input.
Everyone at the meeting thought it
was a good idea.
At that time we elected nine peo
ple to represent the Tribal members
during restoration efforts. I was
elected Chair of the organization.
So we used our $9,000 to complete
the census. We hired five people,
and were able to locate approxi
mately 900 members. After that, we
continued to apply for small grants
from church groups and different
' - - ' ' - . -- :- S,
Tribal Elder Marvin Kimsey (above) and deceased
Tribal Elder Merle Holmes played significant roles in
the Tribe's Restoration.
and that was just a few of the
many people that helped us," said
Margaret Provost.
On November 22, 1983, more
" p
V w ..T--- A r . r '
Tribal Elder Margaret Provost
organizations. We used the money
for postage, phone calls, and travel;
what ever we had to do.
We went to the Oregon Legal Ser
vice in Portland and received legal
assistance from Elizabeth Furse. At
that time she was a legal aid.
We held our meetings at the
Grand Ronde School every month.
I was on the Board for Oregon
Legal Aid; I was the community
organizer here. Merle and Marvin
took on most of the efforts at that
time. They made most of the trips
to D.C. to meet with Congress and
testify. Then we got another grant
and Kathryn Harrison was hired
to help with the efforts. I think
Kathryn made a trip or two at that
time; she made several trips later.
I was on the health committee and
I went to D.C. to talk about health
concerns for our members.
At that time, Jackie Provost and
Jackie Colton were hired. They
worked in the office. They kind of
all worked on some of the same proj
ects. It was going out and meeting
people, and looking up the members
who were on the old roles. We had
to make a base role and keep track
than 10 years after the fight began;
President Ronald Reagan signed
the Grand Ronde Restoration Act
and the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde were once again a
federally recognized Tribe.
"We were elk hunting and we
heard the announcement on the
radio," said Margaret Provost. "It
was very exciting."
Other Tribal members recalled
an elated Kathryn Harrison driv
ing her car up and down Grand
Ronde Road; honking her horn and
yelling, "We did it; we did it!"
There were a lot of excited peo
ple that day, and many who didn't
know what to expect next. But
there's one thing they did know
for sure, and that's that they
could finally hold their heads
high, and say I am an enrolled
member of the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde.
"I just want people to realize how
hard the people involved in the
fight for restoration worked. And
it's not just me, because I don't
feel that I played as big a part as
Margaret, Marvin, and Merle did,"
said Whistler. "I really appreciate
the work they did, and I would like
to thank them." D
of who were Grand Ronde In
dians. We couldn't enroll new
members, but they had to keep
track of who they were.
The efforts of our Elders were
very instrumental in helping
us raise money. They would
have bake sales. Every time we
had a meeting; they would have
a bake sale. If things didn't sell;
they bought it from each other.
One of the things they used
their money for, was to buy
the two acres of land in front of
the cemetery. That came from
money that the Elders raised.
That was kind of our social
isms here; it was visiting with
each other and sharing. But
that's how we were. We social
ized; we shared; we shared
food; we helped one another
out. The drive for a better life
for our members is what kept
us going; it kept me going.
I saw so many young people
with many needs for health
care, housing, and employ
ment; that was the thing that
drove me to continue on with
the efforts. B