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AUGUST 1,2011
AUGUST 1,2011
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Smoke Signals
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MERCIER continued
from front page
"I think his contributions to the
Tribe are understated," Kennedy
and many others said. "He was there
before Restoration. People may not
have always liked his approach, but
he knew how to get the job done."
"Dean is one of the community
icons whose strength and fearless
ness helped make Grand Ronde
what it is today," said Tribal Coun
cil member Steve Bobb Sr. "We,
as a Tribe, will never be able to
say thank you enough to leaders
such as Dean, for their deeds and
contributions to our people. He
leaves huge shoes to fill. He will be
missed, but his presence and spirit
will always be with us."
Dean was a leader, serving on
Tribal Council for 12 years before
Restoration and two after. He was
on Tribal Council the first time the
group went to Washington, D.C.,
and was Tribal Chairman at the
time of 1983's Restoration.
"Dean made one of our first con
tacts with (Congressman) Les Au
Coin," said Tribal Elder Margaret
Provost.
"Marv (Tribal Elder Marvin Kim
sey) and Margaret (Tribal Elder
Margaret Provost) and Merle (for
mer Tribal Elder Merle Holmes)
get a lot of credit for what they
did," said Tribal member Brent
Merrill, "and they did a lot, but
Dean was right there, so he needs
to be remembered for all the work
he did when the Tribe was being
put together."
Among his many occupations,
logging was his career.
"I started working in the woods
when I was 9 or 10," he once said.
He worked with his father, former
Tribal Elder Harold Mercier, and
his uncle, Harold's brother, Hubert,
and later worked for himself.
He also worked for local loggers
like Roy Zimbrick of Willamina. He
built roads through the woods for
Zimbrick for three years.
"His real passion was building
roads," Zimbrick said. 'There was
nobody any better than he was."
He also worked in Brookings as
the logging industry changed.
In the late 1970s, Tribal member
Lonnie Leno was setting chokers
behind Dean. "He was the CAT
skinner," said Leno. At that time,
they were working out by Dallas.
"It was really, really hot, with
lots of poison oak and bees all over,"
said Leno, "and he always used to
bring me frozen water to drink dur
ing the day."
He was an excellent logger and
ran a cedar stealing business that
even amazed the police trying to
catch him for a time.
Sioux Tribal Elder Jess Robert
son worked on the cedar crew.
T cut a lot of cedar with him,"
said Robertson. "He was the best
cedar thief I ever knew. And he had
more guts than a government mule.
He could get caught red-handed
and bluff his way through it. I re
ally admired him."
Tribal Elders Gene and Butch
LaBonte worked with Dean steal-
Recently walked on Tribal Elder Dean
Memorial Landing, a place he liked to
Mercier at
go.
ing cedar.
"There were a lot of things that
he showed me throughout my
lifetime," said Gene LaBonte. "I
rode with him. I fished with him.
I partied with him. I worked for
him, but we never did go to church
together."
"It was a rite of passage working
with him," said Tribal member and
cousin Jeff Mercier. "Dean cast an
enormous shadow."
"I was doing chores when I was
big enough to walk," he once said.
"The damn old chickens. I hat
ed those chickens then, but they
.. showed me responsibility."
'He worked in a cannery, a ply
wood factory, buying and selling
everything from potatoes to junk,
cutting and selling firewood, pick
ing hops and fishing.
He fished Celilo Falls before the
dam.
He was a good hunter and a
spotlighter.
Tribal member and grandson
Mike Colton remembers his father,
the elder Doug Colton, telling him
and his brother, Tribal member
Doug Colton, "Don't go spotlighting
with grandpa."
" 'No, no, we won't,' " Mike remem
bers saying. "When his headlights
were out of sight, Dean said, 'You
ready?' and we said, 'Let's go!' "
Even Doug Sr., though, felt like
one of the kids when Dean was
around.
"I felt very privileged to have Dean
in my life. He taught me an awful lot
in my younger adult life. He was a
pretty special person. Hunting, fish
ing, I killed my first deer with Dean.
The kids and I grew up together
learning to hunt because of Dean
and his dad (Harold)."
"Dean and Hubert were the mak
ers of men," said Mike.
He worked as a counselor for In
dian children through Oregon State
University.
He took pride in sticking up for
the powerless, or those in need of
a hand.
An early post-Restoration Tribal
Council included, seated from left,
Kathryn Harrison, Dean Mercier
and Russ Leno, and standing, from
left, Frank Harrison, Merle Leno,
Darrell Mercier, Mark Mercier, Candy
Robertson and Henry Petite.
Tears came to the
eyes of Tribal Elder
Marcella Norwest Sel
wyn when she heard
the news of Mercier's
passing on July 6 at
the age of 81.
"When I first came to
Grand Ronde in 1996
the first one I met was
Dean Mercier," Sel
wyn recalls. "He had
a big smile on his face
and told me who he
was. I told him my
name and he asked
about my brother, (for
mer Tribal Elder Greg
Norwest). He said he
knew my father for
years and remem
bered me from when I was just
a little bitty girl. He said, 'Every
powwow time, I have a gathering
here. Come over and have a few
drinks with us.' " Selwyn doesn't
drink, but she said, "I remember
his big, huge smile. He was a kind
man, a very kind man."
"When my son, Ryan, passed
away," said Tribal member De
nise Harvey, "I wanted his burial
place to be under the apple tree
(in the Tribal cemetery). It is an
old apple tree with many roots
and nobody wanted to disturb the
roots to dig a grave. Ryan's body
was never recovered. He was
lost at sea. Dean said, You don't
have to dig a grave? Just put a
stone there? Fine, that's Ryan's
spot.' And that's where his grave
is today."
Dean drank with the best of
them, but early on voted against
serving alcohol at Spirit Moun
tain Casino.
"Every Tribe ought to have
somebody like Dean," Tribal El
der Kathryn Harrison once said.
Tribal Council member Val
Sheker saw him as a power bro
ker. She remembers visiting
Mercier before she ran for Tribal
Council the first time. "You had
to stop at Dean's," she said.
Tribal Public Affairs Director
Siobhan Taylor remembers her
first meeting with Dean at the
end of the 25th Restoration Anni
versary celebration.
"He came over to me at the end
of the evening. I'd heard all of the
stories about him, so I was really
nervous. There he was with his
big white cowboy hat on. You the
gal who organized all of this?' he
growled. I was shaking in my boots
as I said yes and I tried to steady
myself for what I was sure was go
ing to be a tongue lashing.
"Instead he reached out to me
with his hand, I remember think
ing what big, hard-working hands
he had. 'You did a great job. I had
a good time.' As he shook hands we
started talking. I told him about my
Auntie and Uncle who ran the Blar
ney Castle Tavern in Rose Lodge.
His face lit up. 'I knew you looked
familiar. Tell Tessie that Running
Bear said hello.' "
"He was the first person who
helped me understand what was
involved with Restoration," said
Tribal Council member and cousin
Chris Mercier. "He always gave you
a pretty frank answer. I felt he was
pretty honest. He didn't sugarcoat
anything."
"He's of that generation that
weren't afraid to speak their mind,"
said Merrill.
Starting in the 1960s, Dean was
passionate about the Dory Days
boat races held at Pacific City. He
named his dory Running Bear,
which also was his nickname.
Tribal Elder Mike Larsen recalls
a story from those days.
"He had asked me and (Tribal
member) Carmen Mercier to join him
on the Running Bear," said Larsen. "I
was 17, and really proud that Dean
asked me to join him. On the boat,
that popular song, 'Running Bear,'
was playing," Larsen recalled.
"Gov. Tom McCall's float had a
little tipi on it, and the governor
was wearing war paint on his
face. He was trying to look like an
Indian.
"On Dean's Dory, I was wearing
a headdress and Carmen Mercier
was wearing full regalia."
When the governor was awarded
the trophy, possibly for best boat or
originality, Dean went down to the
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Recently walked on Tribal Elder Dean Mercier poses with the infamous 1 93 1 Chevy that he was
driving when an accident with a log truck caused him to almost lose his arm.
market and got some butcher paper,
and he wrote on it 'The Originals"
and put that on his boat. He then
wrote 'The Imposters," with an ar
row pointing to the McCall's float.
"He had a sense of humor that not
everybody understood," said Tribal
member Penny DeLoe.
"He always spoke loud and clear
about how proud he was to be a
Grand Ronde Indian," said Lars
en. "There was a time," said Doug
Colton Sr., "when we took his dory
out in Pacific City. Nobody in his
right mind would have gone out in
that weather, but Dean wanted to
take it out and go around that rock.
What a ride that was!"
When Restoration finally came,
a newspaper asked Dean how it
felt, recalled Mike's brother, Tribal
V
. t
, i
1
Elder Ed Larsen. "It just feels good
to be Indian again," Dean told the
reporter, with a well-tuned sense
of irony.
"We were all kids together, born
and raised here," said Tribal Elder
Chip Tom. "He was a nice, friendly
guy, a very good hustler for work.
He liked to party. We all did. I
knew his folks, too. They were good
people. He was raised right."
"We used to party all together,"
said Tribal Elder Val Grout. "He
was lots of fun, always willing to
help. Dean was just Dean."
"He was a neat guy. Wilder than
hell," said Roy Zimbrick. "He liked
to have a good time, and he would
do anything for anybody, anytime,
day or night. If somebody was stuck
in a ditch on Mt. Hebo, he'd be the
first one to go up there and pull
him out."
"Dean had three passions," said
Zimbrick. "His grandkids. His fish
ing boat, Running Bear, and build
ing roads."
Doug Colton Sr. remembers
Dean's dedication to the kids.
"During the time when the Tribe
was getting started," Colton said,
"we had a Little League baseball
team, and people got to know that
the Tribe was there through that
team. Dean was at almost every
ball game there was. When we'd go
to Warm Springs, he'd go. He was
always there."
"He had his moments," Colton
said. "He was opinionated, but he
had everybody's good will in his
heart."
r- x
On Dean's last day, more than 50
visitors came to say goodbye, said
Joann Mercier. , " ,
"People kind of fell in place and
did what they needed to do so Chris
(Christina Mercier, Dean's wife)
didn't have to do
anything."
Folks who had
known Dean for 60
years - Roy Zim
brick, Tribal Elder
Frank Bean, Doug
Colton Sr. and La
Verne Bean came
in his last days.
"Some came in
their walkers,"
said Joann.
"It was neat to
be here with him
and get to see those
people who came,"
she said. Some, like
Tribal Elder Donna
Casey, came with
her oxygen equip
ment. Some came with home-baked
pies.
Seven Tribal Council members
also came, she said.
"I served with Dean on the Tribal
Council in the Restoration era,"
said Tribal Council member Wink
Soderberg. "He became chairman
of the Tribal Council and he was a
very forceful person, but he had a
good heart. If he was your friend,
he was your friend."
"They destroyed the mold when
he was born," said Jess Robertson.
"They didn't make any more like
him."
Christina recalled that Dean took
care of his parents "until the day
they died."
Dean once said, "I never could
have taken care of them without
Chris."
"My husband loved hard, fought
hard and made up easy, (after some
silent treatment that is)," said
Christina, "but he rarely told me,
'No,' and he always had my back.
I
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Recently walked on Tribal Elder Dean Mercier celebrates
his 75th birthday at his Grand Ronde home on April 1 6,
2005. He was actually born on April 1 8, 1 930. Mercier
was a Tribal Council member through the 1980s.
"I've heard many stories about
probably everyone in Grand Ronde.
So when you look at me and wonder
if I know about the time ... I prob
ably do. LOL.
"If anyone was down and out and
Dean liked them, he would open
our home to them. It would give
him more ears to fill with his many
stories. He loved all the people that
came to our celebrations. And was
sometimes the last person to stop.
No one could keep up with him.
"I miss him with every breath
I take, every minute of the day.
He will always be one more hero I
keep safe in my heart along with
my son."
"While everybody was here," said
Jeff Mercier, "a monster bald eagle
came and circled above."
'The day before Dean died," said
Joann, "he was telling stories and
calling people by the nicknames he
had given them. The next morning,
on the last day, he didn't have any
more stories." B