Smoke Signals 15
JUNE 1,2013
Congratulations Peter
on your graduation
A?
Your family loves you so much,
Mom, Dad, RJ, Uncle & Auntie.
Congratulations
Mikayla Shea
Mercier
on finishing kindergarten! We're
SO proud of you and love you "to
the moon and back!"
Mom, Dad and Ian.
. ' I Z
I V) ,. V (
, m
-XT' -J
Happy 8th Birthday
Kandence
Gilkerson
June 11
Your family loves you!
From Granny,
Mom, Dad, Tyler,
and the whole family.
"HAPPY SWEET 16
KALLIE"
Wishing you a wonderful day
with all the love and happi
ness to you that you so happily
give to us. Love, Mom, Nekole,
Grandma and Grandpa.
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'We D ouDir eGeiramis weiry year'
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Senior Miss Grand Ronde Kiana Leno pours salad dressing on a salad as
Junior Miss Grand Ronde Kailiyah Krehbiel waits for the dressing during
lunch in the Tribal Community Center before the Memorial Day observance
ceremony held on Monday, May 27. All of the Royalty girls prepared plates
and brought them to Elders who needed help during the community meal.
VETERANS continued
from front page
year's meal by Tribal cook Kevin
Campbell.
Tribal Royalty, including Senior
Miss Kiana Leno, Junior Miss Kail
iyah Krehbiel, Little Miss Kaleigha
Simi, four Junior Miss Princesses
Amelia and Amaryssa Mooney,
Elizabeth Watson-Croy and Madi
son Ross along with Veterans
Queen Iyana Holmes helped serve
the meal. During the subsequent
Memorial Day ceremony, they also
performed "The Lord's Prayer."
Flags' were, at.half-staff as the
lunch crowd moved out to the Veter
ans Memorial and though the earlier
rain held off, they sat protected from
the temperature and wind under a
series of overhead tarps.
Tribal Enrollment Specialist Jo
landa Catabay sang the national
anthem.
Wayne Chulik, carrying the Ea
gle staff, led Navy veterans Gene
LaBonte and Al Miller and Army
veterans Shawn Robinson and Ray
mond Petite in posting the colors.
LaBonte represented the Tribe
along with almost 20 others at lo
cal cemeteries starting at 8:30 a.m.
His wife, Billie, baked four dozen
cinnamon rolls for the veterans and
delivered them early in what Tribal
Council Chair Reyn Leno called "a
downpour. You were just huddled
there under umbrellas," he said.
"I think they appreciated them,"
Billie said.
Leno, a Vietnam War-era Ma
rine Corps veteran and master of
ceremonies of the event, said that
veterans only ask for recognition.
"We earned the right to be called
veterans," he said.
He took a moment to reflect on
the cold, windy and on-and-off
rain, saying that in war veterans
routinely see a lot worse weather
and sacrifice so much for those back
home. Put in that perspective, hon
oring veterans in windy 57-degree
weather on Memorial Day did not
seem like much of a hardship.
It is not so much for those present
to honor warriors in "a little bit of
weather," he said. And in fact, he
added, this year's event had "one of
the better turnouts."
"We lose our veterans every year,"
he said. "Not having Mike Larsen
with us this year brings that home."
Larsen had long prepared the cem
etery for Memorial Days gone by.
He walked on in January.
Tribal Council Vice Chair Jack
Giffen, Jr. thanked the veterans
for "doing whatever they had to do
to keep our country free."
"This is an emotional day for
me," said Tribal Council Secretary
Toby McClary. "From the veterans
I have had the honor of working
with, freedom is one thing I don't
take for granted."
He said he thought about the
sacrifices that families of warriors
routinely make.
Tribal Council member Steve
Bobb Sr. gave the invocation and
later added that the memorial "be
longs to all but we're honored to be
caretakers.
"When it comes to this nation,
with all of the issues that we tend
to have with each other, internal
conflicts and prejudices, we will
stand together in defense of this
nation and its people.
"The memorial sits on the cam
pus of the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde, but belongs to all.
We are privileged and honored to
be the caretakers of the names of
those who have served from our
communities."
"People take pause," Bobb added,
"and quietly offer thanks to those
now serving and those who served
in times gone by; to those who sac
rificed their lives.
"We are a people, a nation defined
by the words in our national an
them: 'the land of the free and the
home of the brave.' "
Army veteran Shawn Robinson
read the names of Marines added
to the memorial this year. Navy
veteran Gene LaBonte read the
names of Navy veterans added.
Tribal Council member and Army
veteran June Sherer read the
names of Army veterans added.
And Air Force veteran Carl Lam
bert read the names of Air Force
veterans added.
Twelve new names were added
to the memorial this year with four
names corrected. New additions
included from the Marines: Cory J.
Meneley and Gavin D. Van Soolen;
from the Navy: Dennis E. Lund; from
the Army: Shawn L. Robinson, Theo
dore T. La Chance, Albert G. Endres,
Teresa I. Cain, Helmer Naslund,
Chancy Parazoo and Michael James
Cain; and from the Air Force: Dennis
E. Carlton and Raymond E. Cain.
The additions bring the number of
names on the memorial's four black
granite pillars to 2,281.
Sherer said that the memorial
was "built to honor all people who
serve."
Bud Abbott read the poem, "Free
dom Is Not Free."
Tribal Land and Culture Depart
ment Manager and award-winning
musician Jan Looking Wolf Reibach
played taps and "Amazing Grace" on a
traditional Native flute that he made
earlier this year for Larsen's funeral.
Also, off in the distance, Willamina
resident Bob Thornburg played tra
ditional taps on the trumpet.
Reibach's flute included beadwork
by the mother of the Tribe's Cultural
Protection Program Manager Eirik
Thorsgard. Ardyth Hoffer-Hallicol-la's
(Yakama) bead work includes
military service ribbons from World
War I, World War II, Korea, Viet
nam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan
and Iraq. Seven dots on the Eagle
feather hanging from the flute rep
resent the seven generations and
the seven service ribbons, Reibach
and Thorsgard said.
Meneley, a five-year Marine Corps
veteran and member of the Tribe
from Sheridan who served from
1991-96 in San Diego, Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, and El Toro, Calif., as a
supply chief had his name added to
the memorial this year.
He posed for pictures of himself,
his wife and three children in front
of his name on the memorial.
"It means a lot not only to myself,
but to my family," Meneley said.
"I consider it a huge honor, not for
myself but for my brothers-in-arms
that have fallen before me."
The event was planned by Tribal
Public Affairs Director Siobhan
Taylor with help from her acting
assistant, Chelsea Clark.
The Grand Ronde Veterans
Special Event Board hosted the
event. H