Author: Kim Kalliber

 

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News 

Honoring Lifegivers:

The women in our community are strong. We want to acknowledge their role in strengthening our people. As grandmothers, they continue to be our first teachers, building our foundation and shaping our cultural identity. As mothers, they nurture our future generations. As daughters, they are the promise that our people, our teachings and values, and our identity will live on.

 

This past March, the Tulalip Tribes elected Marie Zackuse to serve as Chair to its Board of Directors, making her the second Chairwoman in the Tribe’s history – the first woman to hold the position since Harriette Shelton-Dover. The Tribe also elected Teri Gobin as Vice Chairwoman, giving Tulalip its first-ever female majority of the seven-person Board, as the new Chair and Vice Chair joined Bonnie Juneau and Theresa Sheldon; as well as Mel Sheldon Jr., Les Parks and Jared Parks.

Following this year’s historic election, Les made a motion for the tribe to dedicate an entire day to honor the past, present and future women of Tulalip.

“This happened right after the election in March,” Les explained. “In the first meeting of the Board, we were trying to decide amongst the seven of us, ‘how are we going to identify ourselves as the new Tulalip Board of Directors?’ To me it was obvious because I was sitting around four women, now a majority of the board. It’s really exciting times for Tulalip to know that we now have Chairwoman Marie Zackuse, Vice Chairwoman Teri Gobin, Bonnie Juneau and Theresa Sheldon serving and leading our Board of Directors. It was really apparent that this is the Year of the Woman. It is so important that we come together to celebrate women because it’s you women who made us who we are today, we could not be here without you.”

On Wednesday August 16, the Tulalip Tribes hosted Honoring Our Lifegivers at the Greg Williams Court to pay tribute to the Grandmothers of the tribal community as well as celebrate the first female majority Board of Directors. Upon the ceremony’s opening speeches, the Board showcased a video which honors many Tulalip grandmothers, many of whom passed. However, Les expressed that the video is still a work in progress as it is the Board’s wish to have all of the grandmothers of Tulalip featured in the video.

During the event, the Tribe recognized and honored the ten eldest grandmothers of the community, Blanche James, Genevieve Williams, Etta Jones, Roberta Skoog, Lavinia Carpenter, Elizabeth Penn, Katherine Elliot, Geraldine Bill, Eleanor Nielsen and Loretta James. The honored guests were encouraged to speak to the community, and many of the women shared their family history as well as advice for future generations.

“My father was one of the first loggers on this reservation,” expressed Loretta James. “He always held that title but he was a policeman too. And then I was a judge, so that goes to show that there’s a leader in each generation. My advice for the future generations: if I had a dream it would be to find a way to get rid of all the drugs on this reservation. They have hurt and taken away the lives of our people who have been far too young. I have seven children, over one-hundred grandchildren and great grandchildren who all love me dearly.”

Traditional honor songs were performed by the Tom family as well as the Tulalip Salmon Ceremony singers for the grandmothers and the four female Board members.

“It is history making for our Board to have a majority of women,” stated Chairwoman Marie Zackuse. “And it’s because of the women we are honoring today, for the women that were on the film and for the ones not mentioned who we don’t have a picture for. I’ve said many times, if it wasn’t for the men and the women who were our early leaders, who laid that foundation for us, for our youth, for the young ones sitting here today, the ones that are in our Early Learning center and for the ones that are coming still – seven generations out. On behalf of our people, we are going to continue to do this in a good way – serve for our children and for our children’s children.”

Tulalips paid respect to the many strong women of the Tribe. Several female leaders spoke to the community sharing stories, advice for the youth, as well as who their female mentors were while growing up. Many community members were moved to tears as Deborah Parker, Karen Fryberg, Marci Fryberg Johnson, Inez Bill and Tulalip Tribes General Manger, Misty Napeahi passionately spoke about both their personal experiences as well as the resiliency of past female leaders during the colonization era.

“I’m honored to serve as your General Manager, I’m also honored to say that I come from a long line of strong women,” Misty stated. “My grandma is not here in physical body but I know she’s here in spirit. Her name is Genevieve Kona Williams and I know how proud she is of the work we are doing to honor the women of our community. Women always had a rightful place in our communities but through the acts of colonization we got put behind men. That’s why I’m so grateful for today, because there’s not one stronger gender, we’re all equal. It’s the balance we bring to one another that creates a community that’s full of love, blessings and safety. I’m a strong woman because I come from a long strong line of women but I also have strong men that stand beside me.”

Board Member, Theresa Sheldon thanked the community for uniting together to honor the Lifegivers.

“Our hands go up to every single one of you who are here today to celebrate our Lifegivers, our women, our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunties, our sisters – those who gave us the foundation of who we are,” said Theresa. “To be able to celebrate the Year of the Woman means to honor those who came before us and those who set the ground for us to stand upon today. It was not easy to be a woman in leadership; today we are able to stand on the shoulders of the great women of our Tribe and say thank you. Because of your work and all of the things you’ve done, you’ve lead the path for us to be where we are today. Thank you, t’igwicid, is never enough for the love, the strength, the beauty that’s in this room right now; I feel it in my heart.”