' " "- T I ' ' PRESORTED
Vffi-v'tV Daylight Saving. Time II I. a l .1 1. 1. 1, ll.l 1. 1. II ll al l .f.f.i ll I. ill. .1 1. .1 I first-class mail
yll u ln n r r ri a a n a " u s. postage paid
to 2 ; A R R II II 9 II I 9 T35 P3 SALEM.OR
fdNKi- I I , G U G SERIALS DEPT. - KNIGHT LIBRARY PERM.TNO.178
8-j '""N MARCH 1,2012
A Publication of the Grand Ron.de Tribe W 3T v L WWW.grandronde.org
TJTNEFQTZA. E3 MOLALLA n ROGUE RIVER ca KAX,AJ?XJY ca CHASTA
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
will celebrate the publication of a new
Chinuk Wawa dictionary at the Sunday,
March 4, General Council meeting being held
in the Tribal Community Center, 9615 Grand
Ronde Road, at 11 a.m.
The dictionary, running almost 500 pages,
includes about 1,000 core words and about 3,000
compound words documenting the Northwest
Indian trade language as it was spoken by past
generations of Grand Ronde Indians.
The new edition is one-third larger than the
working dictionary the Tribe's Cultural Resourc
es Department created in 2001, said Henry Zenk,
an anthropologist who first started working with
the Grand Ronde Tribe in 1978.
Zenk's thesis for a Ph.D from the University of
Oregon documented the Chinuk Wawa language,
which was rapidly adopted by treaty-signing
Tribes that spoke different languages once they
were moved to the Grand Ronde Reservation in
the 1850s. The language also was adopted by
most of the newcomer settlers to the region.
The new dictionary includes sections on the
language's local speakers, the alphabet, a pronun-
See DICTIONARY
continued on page 6
LLw
Tribe's eldest Elder
celebrates her
100th birthday
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
The Grand Ronde Tribe's
eldest Elder, Pearl Lang
ley Lyon, weighed 2.5
pounds when she was born on
Feb. 20, 1912, at Bay City Hos
pital in Tillamook,
Family members put her in
a shoebox along with a warm
brick to get her started.
"A modern day incubator,"
said her daughter, Janet Phil
lips, also a Tribal Elder.
The oldest of three sisters,
Pearl remains close to her sib
lings, Tribal Elders Bernice
Jensen and Ruby Bigoni, to
this day.
All three partied together on
Tuesday, Feb. 21, one day after
Pearl's 100th birthday in the El
ders' Activity Center. Dozens of
friends, relatives and well-wishers
celebrated with the family.
"One of the kindest individu
als I know," said Tribal Chair
woman Cheryle A. Kennedy.
"You've set a very high bar for
the rest of us."
"I have deep respect for you,"
said Tribal Council member
June Sherer, and then on an
other level, she added, "You
don't look a day over 99."
Pearl's grandfather, Andrew
Zuercher, came to the Tillamook
area from Bern, Switzerland,
when he was a young man,
Pearl says. He bought a regis-
, , See PEARL
' continued on page 9
U0
ITm ft i W F1 M
irr ... .. it i i
in - z.r&.& ,g.i ""mugs
0
Lc3
Tribe's eldest members
According to the Tribal Mem
ber Services Department, the
five eldest Elders are:
Pearl Lyon, 1 00, born
Feb. 20, 1912;
Opal Davidson, 96, born
April 19, 1915;
Dessie Snyder, 96, born
Dec. 18, 1915;
Josephine Towers, 95, born
Aug. 28, 1916;
Floreine Ray, 95, born
Feb. 10, 1917.
Nora Kimsey, who walked
on at age 102 in 2011, held the
distinction of being the Tribe's
eldest Elder for many years.
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Elder Betty Bly wraps Tribal Elder Pearl Lyon in a Pendleton blanket
that the Culture Committee gave to her for her 1 00th birthday during a
birthday party at the Elders' Activity Center on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Looking
on to the left is Lyon's daughter-in-law, Tribal Elder Anna Hannan. Lyon
turned 100 on Monday, Feb. 20, and is the Tribe's oldest member.
Tribal Council
Secretary Jack
Giffen Jr., right,
shows Tribal Elder
Pearl Lyon, left,
one of the 100 $1
gold coins given
to her on behalf of
Tribal Council. Tribal
Council member
June Sherer looks on.
SWT:
W-frr-