8 DECEMBER 1 5, 201 1
Smoke Signals
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Deanna Kingston helped
Grand Ronde with repatriation
of Horner Collection
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke SignaU editor
Deanna Kingston, an Oregon
State University professor who
helped the Grand Ronde Tribe with
the repatriation of the Horner Col
lection in 2008, walked on at the
age of 46 on Friday, Dec. 2, after a
long battle with breast cancer.
Kingston, a native Inupiat from
King Island, Alaska, studied the
culture of her ancestors, including
their rich traditional ecological
knowledge. She was an associate
professor of anthropology at Oregon
State and received a master of arts
in interdisciplinary studies from
Oregon State in 1993 and a doctor
ate from the University of Alaska,
Fairbanks in 1999.
Her work included research on
traditional kinship patterns, songs
and hunting dances. She interned
at the Smithsonian's Arctic Studies
Photo courtesy of Oregon State University
Deanna Kingston
Center, and worked on a film col
lection of last-century King Island
life, now housed at the National
Museum of Natural History.
In 2003, she received a National
Science Foundation grant to docu
ment and compare scientific knowl
edge with traditional knowledge
Elders' garage sale seeking donations
Tribal Elders are regularly seeking donations for their fundrais
ing garage sales. To donate an item or items, call Tribal Elder Linda
Brandon at 971-267-0918. B
of King Island, which sits in the
Bering Strait between Alaska and
Russia.
Tribal member David Lewis, who
manages the Tribe's Cultural Re
sources Department, said Kingston
was on the Oregon State Native
American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act Committee, which
oversaw the return of the Horner
Collection to the Tribe.
Lewis also co-wrote a chapter in
the book "Teaching Oregon Native
Languages" with Kingston. She also
served on Lewis' dissertation com
mittee and on Tribal member Eirik
Thorsgard's master's committee.
"She was one of the very few Na
tive professors in the Willamette
Valley and probably worked with
many Grand Ronde students who
attended Oregon State," Lewis
said.
In 2010, Kingston received the
Phyllis S. Lee Award from Oregon
State for her dedication to social
justice. In a nominating letter, her
department chair, David McMur-
ray, highlighted the many ways
that Kingston fought to make the
voices of indigenous people heard.
"Because of her unique status
as a Native person and academic
research community member,
Professor Kingston can clearly see
the way groups with vastly differ
ent worldviews fail to communi
cate even when they are speaking
directly to each other and she
struggles to find ways to bridge that
chasm," McMurray said.
When Angelo Gomez, interim di
rector of the Oregon State Office of
Equity and Inclusion, was charged
with transferring Native American
items from the Horner Collection
back to their Tribes of origin, he
turned to Kingston for advice on
the delicate process.
"Deanna was such a peaceful,
kind and thoughtful person," Go
mez said. "I could always trust her
judgment about what I should be
doing in my work with Tribes. She
was deeply dedicated to the welfare
of Native people." D
RecycDe Center moved
The Recycle Center has been moved temporarily to 9675 Grand Ronde
Road. For more information, contact Tribal Facilities Manager Michael
J. Larsen at 503-879-2407. D
'Tlhe book 5s wrfititieirD Dim IMatiiiwe Moke'
BOOK continued
from front page
and reading firsthand accounts of
our people in old journals, I became
convinced the life experiences
of some of our grandfathers and
grandmothers had to be written,"
Olson said.
So she embarked on a multi-year
project that just this year has been
completed.
In summary, Olson said, "In
2005, I began writing a Native
American directory or Who's Who
that would describe every known
Native family on the Grand Ronde
Reservation."
She included descriptions of his
toric events "from the memories of
our own people."
"For instance," she said, "Waga
yuhlen Gwayakiti, a busy medicine
doctor and the first wife of the Mo
lalla chief, remembered the day of
removal as beginning in the usual
way. Unaware of the advancing
military, on that particular morn
ing she packed a horse with food
for her relatives. Riding one horse
and leading the other, she rode into
Oregon City just as the military
arrived to take the people away.
Stopped by the soldiers, she was
forced to leave her horses where
they stood and join the people being
taken by riverboat."
"The book is written in Native
voice and from a Native perspec
tive," Olson said. "Scenes and im
ages are threaded throughout to
demonstrate the deep emotional
impact Native people endured as
their culture was shattered by
4
1f
government policies."
Olson said indexing families was
a challenge.
"Many, if not most, of the first
and second-generation people were
known by several English names
in addition to their Native names,"
she said. "Further confusing the
situation was the fact that the
spelling of some English names
changed over time."
She quotes Eustace Howard, "one
of our long ago grandfathers," as he
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
records an ancient panther myth
for archeologists: "Whoever talks
(reads) what I say maybe he will
want to see what kind of person told
this. If I live a little longer, if my life
is longer, if I live long enough, they
will see how my words are."
Her purpose in writing this book
was similar. "While Tribal history
education was the primary objec
tive behind this book, like Eustace,
I hope through my words years
from now others will also come to
know me," she said.
"June has worked many hard,
long years researching this data,"
said Tribal Elder and former Tribal
Chairwoman Kathryn Harrison.
'Through her work, she has thereby
created a Tribal family tree. This
book is a must read for each and
every Tribal member."
Five hundred copies have been
published through Olson's newly
formed publishing company, A.
Menard Publications in Clackamas.
Soon the book can be purchased by
credit card through PayPal at www.
GrandRondebooks.com. However,
that site was still under construc
tion in early December. It should
be up and running in the next few
weeks, but in the meantime Olson
wanted to get books out to Tribal
members early and at a discounted
shipping rate.
The book is $34.99 plus $2.65 for
shipping. People can fax their order
to 503-658-4104. If they need an
order form, they can e-mail Olson
at junelolsonhotmail.com.
The book also can be special-ordered
through most leading book
distributors, such as Barnes & Noble,
Ingram, Amazon.com, Baker & Tay
lor and others. The books also will
be available for purchase at Grand
Ronde Tribal and satellite offices.
"Very few Native American his
tory books are being written by
Native people," Olson said. "I am
proud to be a Native author and
prouder still to be one of the few
Tribal members writing the history
of my own people. I hope my work
will encourage others."