Smoke Signals 9
8 OCTOBER 1,2011
OCTOBER 1,2011
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I I I f I 1 II f I If. .If I I V II I I I I I I II
Smoke Signals
9
NORA continued
from front page
Her parents were Cecille Leno
Warren and John M. Warren. John
Warren's father was Chief Bogus of
the Umpqua Tribe, who was killed
by vigilantes on the 1856 Trail of
Tears.
Chief Bogus was one of eight
Tribal members who died on that
march. At the end of the trail,
Chief Bogus sons were adopted by
the Warren family and took on the
Warren name.
Cecille's father was the senior
David Leno.
Cecille and John Warren had 14
children, but only four survived:
Nora, former Tribal Elders Philip
Warren and Maude (Warren) Hud
son and Pauline Johnson. Nora was
the youngest of those 14 children.
Pauline Johnson, among other
relations, is grandmother to Grand
Ronde Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle
A. Kennedy.
The Warrens raised their family
in hard times. In one year alone,
Margaret Provost says, "(Cecille)
buried two children."
Margaret had been caring for
Nora since Loren walked on in
2000. "He really wanted to be 100,"
Margaret says. "He got pretty far.
He made it to 95."
Margaret, perhaps, has the most
knowledge of her mother's past.
"When Nora was a young girl,
the family picked wild apples and
dried them for the winter," says
Margaret. "They would go to the
coast and gather ocean tea (from a
bush that grows widely in the area)
by the sackfulls, also for their win
ter supply. To preserve their food,
they didn't can at first; they kept
it in a cellar.
"She must have been about 9,
during World War I, when soldiers
came and took her horse to war,
and she felt really bad because they
never brought it back."
Every few months, when the fam
ily went to Dallas for supplies, their
special lunch was on a stopover at
Buell, where they got a few slices of
cheese off one of those huge bricks,
some "hard tack" (crackers) and
something to drink.
Her whole life, Nora always liked
traveling.
From her family, Nora learned
generosity. "Whenever families
were in need, her dad always helped
them out with food from the farm,"
says Margaret.
During World War II, Nora was
a part of the Blue Star Mothers
of America, which provided sup
port for mothers who had sons
or daughters in the military. She
made quilts and things for Tribal
members, and put together boxes
for soldiers.
"Mark Mercier's house today was
their clubhouse," Margaret says.
"Grandmother used to call it,
'The War Mothers' House,' " says
Tribal Elder and granddaughter
Linda Brandon. "They did all their
quilting there."
(I Uy
r
j S u
a Chinuk Wawa jargon video to
gether. "Her and Tribal Elder Cordelia
Kneeland speak jargon yet," Mar
garet said before Nora's passing.
All photos are Smoke Signals file photos
Tribal Elder Nora Kimsey, right, attended the Canoe Family Winter Gathering
in the Grand Ronde Tribal gymnasium in January 2008.
"All the others from the club are
gone, though Tribal Elder Mabel
Gaston, the Mercier ladies," says
Margaret.
"Grandmother would always talk
about former Tribal Elder Mildred
Leno, who always brought cottage
cheese to the War Mothers' House,"
says Linda.
Nora and Loren worked at the
shipyards during World War II.
Nora was a welder and Loren was
a pipe fitter. They lived in Orient at
the time, outside of Gresham.
After the war, Nora and Loren
moved to Grand Ronde to the house
on Andy Riggs Road where she
lived most of her life.
The family bought its first re
frigerator and washing machine,
and enjoyed indoor plumbing for
the first time. When the washing
machine arrived, the Kimseys let
other families use it.
Nora worked at Blue Lake Can
nery in Salem and sometime before
Termination in 1954, she worked
at the cannery at the Agency and
canned food for the Tribe.
She was among the Elders who
baked, canned and dried goods to be
sold to raise money for the Restora
tion effort. The money she helped
raise purchased two acres in front
of what was the original cemetery
that today is part of the cemetery.
She also was on the original En
rollment Committee.
When the Restoration effort
started, Nora "talked about it all
the time," says Linda Brandon.
"(Former Tribal Elder) Clara Riggs
was one of her real good friends
and the three ladies (all former
Tribal Elders), Ila (Dowd), Velma
(Mercier) and Martha Mercier, they
would do bake sales. They were so
dedicated. They did the bake sales
so that Marvin and Margaret and
Merle Holmes could get letters out,
so they had the money for stamps
and for gas, to get the word out."
Nora was proud to be a Native
and that her children worked hard
to make Tribal Restoration hap
pen. "Whatever happened," says Trib
al member and granddaughter Vir
ginia Roof, "she'd say, 'Keep going,
keep going.' "
"She made pies all her life and
dozens of quilts," Margaret recalls.
"She did a real pretty Apache Trail
quilt, a wedding ring design and a
log cabin design, and sunflowers.
She has embroidered pillows all
her life. She was always busy doing
something."
Every year, they went to Oregon
City to catch lamprey. The family
- i Dicked berries over at Orient and
A
visited the hop yards in the Salem
Independence area. Finally, each
summer they went to the McMin
nville area to pick walnuts.
"That was our last place to make
money for the year," says Marga
ret. Margaret remembers that her
mother used to salt food, dry it and,
later on, can it, whether it was fruit,
lamprey or game.
Later, when the children were all
grown, she and Loren worked sum
mers as campground caretakers in
Pacific City.
Margaret also remembers that
Nora and former Tribal Elder Ila
Dowd were good friends and made
Linda Brandon lived a few years
with the Kimseys when she was
young.
"Grandma was always going,"
she says. "She'd get up at 5 or 6
o'clock and make pancakes every
morning, because grandpa loved
his pancakes and grandma liked
her oatmeal. Lots of sugar, no milk.
Grandpa liked to have his pancakes
with gravy and butter, and he was
a big eater.
"Before they tore the old grade
school down, I used to walk from
the grade school to grandma's for
lunch every day, and every day
grandma would have French fries
for me.
"When she got done with wash
ing, she'd take the clothes outside
and hold them up on the line. I was
little. Her arms finally got tired,
and she put the clothes down. She
went to the clothes pins and picked
one up and said, 'These are the
clothes pins.' I learned what clothes
pins were then.
"I have so much in here for her,"
Linda says with her hand over her
heart. "I remember how I always
used to make grandma laugh when
I'd dress up for Halloween.
"She was a darn good cook, too,"
Virginia says. "She cooked every
thing. When they went elk hunting,
she went with dad and grandpa all
the time and was pretty much the
cornerstone of the camp. She pretty
much stayed in camp and did the
cooking and making it nice for when
the guys came back.
"We always had homemade bread
for our school lunches and at home
we had custard pies."
Nora helped her mother cook for
the thrashing crews, when others
worked in the grain fields.
"Maybe that was what made her
Tribal Elder Linda Brandon, left, shows her grandmother, Tribal Elder Nora
Kimsey, photos during a 102nd birthday celebration for Kimsey at the Elders'
Activity Center on Dec. 2, 201 0.
such a good cook." says Margaret.
"She liked that role," says Vir
ginia. "She always had an apron on.
Her and Auntie Pauline both. And
they would tee-hee around a lot."
"They always spoke jargon to
gether," says grand-niece Cheryle
A. Kennedy. "When (Nora) passed,
I thought, 'Wow, what a reunion
they're having!'
"She was a quiet, gentle person,"
Kennedy adds, "who always came
with something to offer. I remem
ber her coming to a Tribal Council
meeting, oh, six weeks before she
passed, and sitting by the side of
the room. When I came in, she
looked at me and just waved. For
me, from my Elder, that was great
encouragement. She recognized
and greeted me.
"She was a very cultural person.
She knew how to do all the things
we are reviving now. She was an
accomplished basket weaver and
knew all the steps required. She
knew how to dye cloth with the
natural elements.
"And she was very industrious,
preserving foods. She took care of
her family in these ways whether
they had little money or a lot."
"Never a cross word ever to any
of us," says Virginia. "Family
means everything to her. Families
are supposed to be close. Grandma
and her made baskets and they
traveled clear to Gladstone to
trade them for school clothes.
Grandma didn't like to go, but she
needed the school clothes so she
went every year."
Myrna Brandon also remembered
her early years and how Nora
would also make school clothes on
a pedal sewing machine.
Nora made their clothes out of
other, worn-out clothes, says Mar
garet. "We lived where the old food
bank was," Myrna says. 'There is
a creek there. I was by the water
with my lunch pail. It was a lard
bucket, and I was careless, and the
bucket floated away. I felt bad." She
adds, "I don't remember what Mom
said, but she wouldn't have been
angry. She just would have found
me something else."
Even Margaret remembers the
incident, because even though it
was only a lard bucket and Nora
would never have made a fuss
about it, even a lard bucket was a
big thing in those days.
"We were poor, but we didn't
know it," Margaret says.
Nora travelled on horseback.
"She loved to ride horses bareback,
her and auntie (Pauline)," says
Virginia.
Linda recalls one of the stories
Nora told her.
"Her and Pauline wanted to ride
their horse, Fly, and Fly was being
stubborn," Linda recalls. "He just
stood there and wouldn't let them
saddle up, so grandma took him by
the bridle and walked him inside
the house to look at the mirror so he
could see how stubborn he was."
After the war, "Grandma and
Aunt Pauline, they used to travel to
a lot of the Indian Reservations in
the U.S. and Canada," says Linda.
"Auntie would preach the Word and
they would travel together to at
tend revivals and prayer meetings,
and do missionary work."
"She was a prayer-warrior," says
Linda.
Myrna Brandon remembers many
of those meetings.
"I remember the days we were
at camp meetings," she says, "in
Brooks, at Warm Springs and at
Fort Hill."
"The church had people on a
list that they would call, a prayer
circle, if a family needed prayer for
something, and she was one of the
ones along with many others, who
went," says Virginia. 'They called
on each other because they believed
in prayer.
"Nora and Auntie Pauline (loved)
to watch people. They'd go to the
casino and just sit there."
"I took my grandma to the casino
for New Year's one year, and it was
about nine o'clock," says Linda. "I
was surprised that she wanted to
go. We were people watching. And
everybody was dressed up, and
there was an Elvis impersonator.
I went down to High Stakes and
asked him, 'Elvis would you do me
a favor? Say hello to my grand
mother?' He came over and shook
my grandma's hand and he said,
'Happy New Year's.' Grandma was
tickled over that."
"She loved the ocean," says Vir
ginia. "She (loved) to watch the
ocean. Grandpa was a commercial
fisherman for years with my dad
(Tribal Elder Marvin Kimsey).
They would go often off Newport
and stay out two or three days at a
time. Duke (Kimsey, Marvin's son
and a member of the Tribe) would
go sometimes, too."
Tribal member Dan Provost, Mar
garet's son, took Nora to the coast
"where grandpa used to launch
his dory" a few weeks before she
passed. She said she didn't know
if she would ever see Pacific City
again.
"She liked to ride in the car, and
park where she could see people
and see what was going on. She
rode the sky train at the State Fair
when she was 99, and we took her
to the Oktoberfest for her 100th
birthday, and when she was 102,
she went to the fair again. She
loved life," says Margaret.
"One time, we went to Walmart,"
says Dan. "We parked and let mom
off, and then a car pulled out closer
to the store, and we took that space.
When mom came out, she couldn't
find us, and Nora laughed at that.
So, next time we went, after Mar
garet got out, grandma nudged me
and said, 'There's a car going out
over there.' "
"Us cousins all got to take turns
spending nights, weekends with
grandma," says Linda Brandon.
"She showed us how to make pot
holders." As Nora aged, she held on to her
abilities.
"She knows just what she wants
77
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Tribal Elder Nora Kimsey wears regalia that belonged to her sister Paulina
Johnson, a Tribal member who walked on in 1 997, in a photo taken on
Aug. 1 8. The regalia has been passed down and is currently worn by
Tribal member CeCe Kneeland and her daughter, Tribal member Nakoosa
Moreland, Kimsey's nieces.
to eat, and her doctor said, 'No mat
ter what it is, if it's doughnuts first
thing in the morning (and it often
was), let her have them. She knows
what she's doing,' " says Margaret
Provost.
"And she does," Margaret says.
"She knows her accounts, and she
knows what they're serving for
lunch at the Community Center."
She kept up with local events by
watching the local cable channel.
Nora watched less television in
her later years.
Nora stayed sharp and active un
til the end, though for many of the
last years her friends were mostly
gone and the world had changed
unbelievably since she was young.
The year she was born, General
Motors, Ex-Lax and the first elec
tric typewriter started, Mother's
Day was first celebrated and "Take
Me Out to the Ball Game" was on
the hit parade.
Here in Grand Ronde, the tradi
tional spiritual practice known as
"Winter Dance" was still a part of
the Tribal culture, according to an
interview with former Tribal Elder
Wilson Bobb. It passed from use fol
lowing the 1917 Spanish influenza
epidemic that killed many Elders
with knowledge of the practice.
The Tribe did not have a Consti
tution until the Indian Reorganiza
tion Act of 1934. When Nora was
born, the Tribe governed through
district representatives based on
traditional family lines, says Tribal
member and Cultural Protection
Coordinator Eirik Thorsgard.
At her funeral in the Tribal gym
nasium, which was filled to capac
ity, Tribal member Rex Haller
sang, "Where the Roses Never
Fade," a song that Nora requested
two years ago be sung by Haller at
her funeral.
"She took care of things," says
Kennedy, "whether animals or peo
ple or land. She took care of things.
She was in my life all my life.
"When I was about 4, we were at
a cold rodeo. It was Easter time.
The wind was blowing hard and
snowflakes were in the air. I looked
at Auntie and told her how cold it
was."
Before she passed, Nora remem
bered that incident. "Oh, Cheryle
Ann," she said. "I remember when
you told me, 'It's cold, Auntie.'
"She led by example," Kennedy
says. "She left footprints for those
around her to follow. She left a clear
path for us to live a clean, healthy,
happy life."