NOVEMBER 15, 2008
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REMEMBRANCES continued
from page 8
given to us by the Creator. That's
really what the undertaking of
Restoration was all about. It caused
folks to think about, 'We can do
this.' "
There are a couple different
ways to look at Restoration,"
Tribal Elder and Tribal Council
Vice Chairman Reyn Leno, 58, says.
"You have the people who weren't
Tribal before Restoration, who felt
that now I'm going to be recognized
as an Indian, and you got people
who lived here all their lives, who
never quit being an Indian.
"For us, it was basically the
government living up to their re
sponsibilities finally. That's what
Restoration meant to us. That's
what Dad said. There wasn't a big
life change. Ask Uncle Russ. They
hunted and fished whenever they
wanted. No tags. No license."
Tribal Elder Russ Leno, now 81,
remembers the Restoration effort
taking place with Tribal members
who were "more or less trying to
survive."
Hunting was one route to sur
vival in the community.
"When you got snow up on the
mountains and the loggers were
snowed out, there'd be a deer hang
ing in everybody's garage," Reyn
says.
Tribal member Shonn Leno, who
was 8 at the time of Restoration,
says the idea behind Termination
was not true in the world he lived
in in the Grand Ronde area.
"It was kind of confusing to us
because, like Dad said, we didn't
really notice," Shonn says. "Nobody
ever told us we weren't Indian is the
best way I can put it, so we were
trying to figure out, as kids, you're
trying to understand what's exactly
going on. Why are all these people
meeting all of a sudden? You'd see
Uncle Russ (Leno), Uncle Merle
(Leno) at the meetings. You're try
ing to understand exactly what's
taking place."
Shonn, 33, today is Special Proj
ects coordinator for the Tribe's
Natural Resources Department.
He remembers meetings to update
Tribal members about the Restora
tion effort at Grand Ronde Grade
School, which is now Willamina
Middle School Grand Ronde.
"One of my memories is going
and looking at the map of when we
get back the Reservation," Shonn
recalls. "We stopped at the grade
school and they had it posted."
was here. That was my role."
By 1975, grants, not all of them
large, became available to Tribes
and made it worthwhile for Grand
Ronde members to reconstitute the
Tribal Council as a nonprofit orga
nization through which they could
take advantage of funding.
Jackie Provost Many Hides re
members a meeting held in the
old Grand Ronde Library to select
an interim council: 53 people and
"nobody said anything."
"Joe Lane would ask a question,"
Many Hides says, "and all you'd
see around the room was eyeballs
moving."
Finally, Tribal Elder Gertrude
Hudson Mercier (now passed on)
spoke up: "It's been a long time
since we've been Indians," she said,
"but good luck."
Gertrude was Tribal member
Shelley Hanson's great-grandmother,
Tribal Elder Sharon Hanson's
grandmother and mother to Tribal
Elders Marion Forster, Dorothy
Forster, Norma Lewis, Barbara
Thomas (all now passed on) and
Nadine McNutt.
The nine-member interim council
included Margaret Provost as chair
and Marvin Kimsey, Merle Holmes,
Patti Tom Martin, Nancy Coleman
and Ken Hudson; nine in all.
"Everybody liked the idea (of Res
toration)," Many Hides says, "but
we didn't know what it entailed."
Chip Tom's youngest daughter,
Kathleen Tom, today serving
her second term on Tribal Council,
was in her early 20s during Res
toration. She participated in Phil
Sheridan Days as Tribal Royalty.
"I was one of the princesses or
queens and thrown in the back of
Marvin' Kimsey's pickup," she re
calls. "We had to show that the Tribe
The Restoration effort required
support, starting at the local
level, from counties to timber cor
porations to sportsmen's groups.
Obtaining that support meant
countless meetings and television
news interviews, where the Grand
Ronde story could be told.
At one television event for the
Tribe, designated Tribal members
did not show up.
"My brother (John Allen), who
is now deceased, and I drove from
Burns to Portland to the TV sta
tion," recalls Kennedy, "to support
those that were designated to go on
and speak on behalf of our Restora
tion efforts, and they didn't show
up. And so we said, 'Oh my gosh.
What do we do? Well we've got to
go on. If they're making time for us
and it's on their schedule, and it's
not going to cost us anything,' be
cause we couldn't afford TV, 'we've
got to do it.' I was probably 30 years
old at the time. So we did that. But
that was really a joint effort for all
of those that were interested. You
did what you had to. You stepped
out of your comfort zone."
Tribal Elder Carmen "Candy"
Robertson, 62, also was about 30
when she stepped out of her comfort
zone. Since 1975, she had played
a quiet but vital role in the Res
toration effort, writing grants and
serving as Tribal secretary before
Restoration.
But when Restoration came, and
Kathryn Harrison as chairman and
Dean Mercier as vice chair asked
her to be secretary, she said, "I can't
do that."
.
. -
Nora Kimsey, Jackie (Provost) Many Hides, Margaret Provost
Tribal member Jackie Mercier
Colton said, "You can do it. Let's
try it." And Robertson reluctantly
became an important player in
Grand Ronde history.
'There were a lot willing to teach
me what I needed to know," Robert
son says, and cites Marvin Kimsey,
Jackie Mercier Colton Whisler,
Dean Mercier, Mark Mercier, Kath
ryn Harrison, Merle Holmes and
Russ Leno.
Tribal Council Secretary Jack
Giffen Jr., 57, remembers his
grandmother helping the Restora
tion effort, though the family lived
in Brookings.
"My grandmother, (Tribal Elder,
now deceased) Arvella Hudson
Houck, she used to take us kids to
school every day because we didn't
like riding the bus," Giffen recalls.
"One day, we get ready to go to
school, this is during the time of
Restoration, and she's all in a panic.
'We've got to get to the post office,'
and we're all thinking, 'What's the
big panic?'
"Well, she was sending off some
money for Restoration, for the
work on Restoration, and appar
ently she had written two checks.
One was going to be sent off later,
but she had them both in the same
envelope and had dropped them
off prior to taking us to school. So,
she was in a panic to go and see the
postmaster.
"So, before she would take us to
school, she went down to the post
office to see the postmaster and,
luckily, the postmaster was able to
pull the envelope out with the two
checks in it. It was a great story
for us because her heart was in
the right place, but she got a little
overzcalous."
Uncle Russ (Leno) and Uncle
Merle (Leno) were kind of the
family representatives during Res
toration," says Reyn Leno. "I was
working in the woods at the time,
raising three small kids."
He remembers "getting the pa
perwork done. Mom was on us a
lot. She was the one in the family
making sure we got our paperwork
done."
Grand Ronde Elders held bake
sales to fund the effort, and if no
body bought the cakes, they bought
them themselves, Margaret Provost
says.
"We didn't have gas money,"
Margaret says. "We had to pick up
pop bottles.
Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison,
84, drove around on bald tires, her
daughter, Tribal Elder Patsy Pul
lin, 65, remembers.
Children helped by picking ber
ries to be canned by Tribal Elders
and sold as jam for the cause.
They raised money and sent del
egation after delegation across the
country to Washington, D.C. They
found influential supporters among
lawyers, community organizers,
congressmen and senators. They
had the support of Oregon Gov.
Victor Atiyeh.
And they had themselves.
0
Don Wharton, founding direc
tor of Oregon Legal Service's
Native American Program, was an
early Restoration strategist. He
founded and worked at the Native
American Program from 1978 to
1983.
With the Menominee and Siletz
Tribes recently restored, the Native
American Program was instructed
by other terminated Oregon Tribes
to make Restoration a priority.
"As best that I can recall," Whar
ton says, "at that meeting were
Dean Mercier, Jackie Colton, Mar
vin Kimsey, Margaret Provost and,
I think. Merle Holmes; maybe Eula
Petite as well." The core group
showed up everywhere.
Wharton brought in community
activist Elizabeth Purse to coordi
nate the effort. She was selected
from among four interested can
didates. In law school at the time, Purse
got caught up in Wharton's enthu
siasm and changed her focus to
Native American law. She came
on board the Restoration effort in
1979.
Furse prepared Tribal leaders for
See REMEMBRANCES
continued on page 12