Yesteryears - March 1, 2012

2007 - The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde hosted the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Awards Banquet honoring Elizabeth Furse. Furse, a lifelong advocate for peace and justice causes, was a former Oregon congresswoman and was instrumental in helping the Grand Ronde Tribe gain Restoration in the early 1980s.

2002 - Cliff Adams was promoted by the Tribe to general manager. Previously, he worked for the Tribe as Natural Resources Division manager for 14 years.

1997 - Tribal Council made appointments to a re-organized Powwow Committee. Twenty-four applications were received and seven appointments were made. The seven new members were Donna Casey, Carol Gleason, Dana Leno, Mark Cook, Jon George, Kathy Tom and Joann Mercier.

1992 - Tribal Forester Cliff Adams received a gold-plated ax from Tribal Council, which nominated him for the InterTribal Timber Council's Earle Wilcox Memorial National/Regional Award. "Cliff has been most conscientious in maximum utilization of forest management, using state-of-the-art methods. Our Tribal Council is pleased with Cliff's dedication to his work," wrote Tribal Chairman Mark Mercier in the nomination letter.

1987 - Tribal member David LaChance, 95, of McMinnville received the Purple Heart 69 years after receiving wounds in World War I. He was wounded in the left shoulder and both legs while serving as a U.S. Army private with an infantry unit in France. His division was fighting to keep the Germans out of Paris. He was 26 and hospitalized for 22 months. The medal was awarded by U.S. Rep Les AuCoin.

Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year increments through the pages of Smoke Signals.