4
S moke S ignals
august 1, 2014
A stone for Tilmer
Grand matriarch of the
Confederated Tribes is still
without a headstone
2009 – Tribal Council Chair
Cheryle A. Kennedy, Vice Chair
Reyn Leno and Tribal Council
members Steve Bobb Sr. and
Wink Soderberg inspected Tribal
artifacts at the Smithsonian
in Washington, D.C. While in
Washington, they also inspected
the original Willamette Valley
Treaty that is stored in the Na-
File photo
tional Archives.
2004 – Tribal members visited
Tomanowos – the Willamette meteorite – at the American Museum of
Natural History in New York City. On the trip were Tribal Elder Kath-
ryn Harrison and Tribal Council member Jack Giffen Jr. The Tribe
presented Museum President Ellen Futter with a Tribal blanket.
1999 – Grand Ronde Tribal Elders hosted the first Elder Honor
Day on July 16-17. The event was held at St. Michael’s Church and
included banquet meals and bingo. Ann and Raleigh Anderson were
honored as the eldest man and woman, as well as the longest mar-
ried couple.
1994 – Chris Leno, a Strategic Plan Task Force member, said that
Tribal members living outside of Grand Ronde indicated a need for
outreach services, such as holding Tribal Council meetings away
from Grand Ronde. From 200 to 300 Tribal members also indicated
that there is a need for housing. Many said that if there was housing
available, they would move to Grand Ronde.
1989 – Eleven-year-old Toby McClary was among Tribal members
taking dance and craft classes held every Tuesday at the Tribal of-
fice in Grand Ronde. “Right now I am in the process of finishing a
drumstick that I’m making in craft class,” he said.
1984 – Allen “Biff” and Louise Langley were thanked for opening
their home to Tribal Council members who attended a timber man-
agement workshop held at Warm Springs. “We enjoyed a barbecue
and generous hospitality,” Smoke Signals said.
Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year incre-
ments through the pages of Smoke Signals.
Tribal Council OKs applying for
grant to build police station
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The effects of having a Grand
Ronde Tribal Police Department
dominated the July 23 Tribal Coun-
cil meeting.
Tribal Council approved applying
for a $500,000 Indian Community
Development block grant to possibly
design and build a new police sta-
tion in Grand Ronde.
The current modular building
near Spirit Mountain Casino is
1,443 square feet and too small for
the current police and emergency
services staff. It also lacks a holding
cell and evidence room.
Kim Rogers, Tribal Planning &
Grants manager, said a secure,
3,900-square-foot building would
cost about $960,000. If received,
the block grant would cover more
than half that cost with a $167,000
Tribal match and at least $40,000
in Tribal funds to pay for the space
occupied by the police chief.
Rogers said the Tribe can apply
to the U.S. Department of Justice
and other grant agencies to cover
the balance of the cost, or use Tribal
funds if the grant applications are
unsuccessful.
At the July 22 Legislative Action
Committee meeting, Police Chief
Al LaChance said he favors either
locating the new police station on
the Tribal campus or next to the fire
station on Grand Ronde Road.
In addition to applying for the
grant, Tribal Council held a first
reading on amendments to the
Public Safety Ordinance to reflect
the police department’s expanding
role in the community. Among the
amendments is creating a con-
cealed weapons permit process and
transferring the permitting author-
ity from Tribal Court to the police
department.
In other action, Tribal Council:
• Approved applying for a $5,000
language grant from the Potlatch
Fund. Rogers said the grant
would pay for a six-month proj-
ect to collect, inventory, scan
and organize the Chinuk Wawa
language curriculum and read-
ing materials developed by the
Tribe.
• Approved a Tribal credit card for
Tribal Employment Rights Office
Director Greg Azure.
Eirik Thorsgard, Jon Looking
Wolf Reibach, Travis Stewart,
Chris Mercier and Tribal Council
member Jon A. George opened the
meeting with cultural drumming
and singing.
A video of the meeting can be
viewed at the Tribal website, www.
grandronde.org, under the Videos
tab. n
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
History often sweeps away the lit-
tle things. That’s not always so with
families. They know the people who
were towering figures in their lives,
whatever the larger community and
country knew of them.
Still, even among families, things
get lost.
Tilmer LaChance Leno, 99 at the
time of her death, was born in 1858
in St. Paul, Ore. In 1877, she mar-
ried the first David Leno, one of the
Tribe’s pioneers, who also was an
orderly to Lt. Phil Sheridan.
Together, they brought 10 chil-
dren into the world, all themselves
now passed.
Tribal Elder and former Tribal
Council member Val Grout, Tilm-
er’s great-granddaughter, has been
trying for years to remedy a family
omission when Tilmer walked on.
Buried in the Tribal cemetery,
her memory was never preserved
with a headstone.
“Grandpa has a tall headstone,”
Grout said. “I don’t know why
grandma doesn’t.”
The effort started, Grout said,
about 10 years ago, when she and her
late cousin, Tribal Elder Russ Leno,
talked about it as they came from
Tilmer’s grave on Memorial Day.
Now, Grout is asking Tilmer’s
far-flung family to chip in to get her
a belated gravestone. She thinks it
will cost about $4,000 with a pic-
ture of Tilmer on one side and on
the other a carving of a lady sitting
at a quilting frame.
In that regard, Grout has collect-
ed the names of Tilmer’s children in
hopes that those in the family who
have forgotten her may yet remem-
ber her children’s names.
Tilmer’s children were:
• Joe Leno, 1880-1907;
Tilmer LaChance Leno
• Dollie Leno, Pichette, Baker,
1883-1980;
• George Leno, 1885-1975;
• Edwin Leno, 1887-1917;
• Agnes Leno, Mercier, 1889-
1982;
• Frances Leno, Houck, Porter,
1891-1974, (Val Grout’s grand-
mother);
• David Leno II, 1892-1964;
• Elizabeth Leno, Lafferty, 1895-
1962;
• Myrtle Leno, McKnight, 1898-
1982;
• Gus Leno, 1900-1989.
Grout said she remembers Tilmer
quilting every day and teaching
the craft to many from the next
generations.
“I never remember a time that
there wasn’t a quilt on the frame. She
would let it down from the ceiling,
and she would give me a small corner
and teach me to quilt. And she would
tell me stories of the old days.
“I remember the sourdough bis-
cuits, the white beans and fried
spuds she would make us. It was
so good because grandma made it
and she was a great cook.”
For those who would like to con-
tribute, send the gifts to Val Grout,
P.O. Box 113, Grand Ronde, OR
97347. n