Yesteryears - Dec. 15, 2023

Yesteryears

2018 – Youth Education’s December 2018 student spotlights featured Willamina High School senior Trinity Sherwood, Willamina Middle School seventh-grader Rihanna Many Hides, and Chinuk Skul and Willamina Elementary School second-grader Tiberius Bailey. Sherwood, senior class president, captain of the cheerleading squad and editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, also worked in the Summer Youth Employment Program. She planned and coordinated an activity for Tribal youth to experience Oregon Health & Science University’s Northwest Native American Center of Excellence.

2013 – The Tribal Council Christmas party was held in the Tribal gymnasium with almost 400 people in attendance. The annual event featured children singing Christmas carols, door prizes, and a visit from Santa Claus (aka Tribal Council Vice Chair Jack Giffen Jr.).

2008 –Tribal member and Cultural Resources Protection Coordinator Eirik Thorsgard and Tribal members Stephanie Wood and David Lewis, University of Oregon students, presented at the national conference of the American Society for Ethnohistory. The annual event was held in Eugene and was the top international organization in its field.

2003 – The December General Council meeting included a report from Member Services presented by Tribal member and Director of Operations Chris Leno. Highlights included increases in Tribal support for Elder pensions and for burial benefits. There were 4,002 Tribal members receiving medical insurance, 3,833 who received dental insurance and 601 members received the Elder pension. The Tribe enrolled 90 new members, 70 of them minors.

1998 – Smoke Signals announced it would retain the newspaper’s name following a survey that ran in multiple issues yielding 239 responses. The overwhelming majority, 86 percent of participating Tribal members, voted to keep the name; conversely, 14 percent of respondents were in favor of a name change.

1993 – Tribal members Margo Mercier and Debby Childers chaperoned Grand Ronde youth on a three-day trip to Disneyland.  The trip was sponsored by Walt Disney Inc., Delta Airlines and the Children’s Defense Fund.

1988 – The Tribe assisted 27 higher education students in four-year, two-year and vocational training programs for fall term 1988. Grant recipients included Marion Henry, Cecile Kneeland, Brent Merrill, Susan Martin, Corrine Fugate, Kelly Fugate, Tracy Olson, Andrew Jenness, Christopher Leno, Jeffery P. Brickell, Jacqueline Grant, Brenda Gray, Debbie Mudgett, Kelly Nelson, Ann Ritchey, Kimberly Harrelson, Camille Van Vleet, John Allen, Leticia Tinoco, Teresa Bailey, Phebi Peone, Jesse Peone, Joannie West, Tamara Williams, Lisa Kleinschmidt, Jeanne Larsen and Roger Harrison.

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