Southern Paiute: A Portrait

Gevene Savala

46 Gevene had to leave after just an hour of this interview, so she wrote a short biography for us, which accounts for the different meter of storytelling. She has a beautiful voice, and that night she was to record four more Circle Dance songs for the tribe. She was also painting a watercolor, with the evocative image of a Southern Paiute woman, wearing a traditional conical basket hat, etching petroglyphs into stone with her tears. Iused to run wherever I went. We had foot races from the pond to the apple orchard, by the schoolhouse. I was the only one who could run all the way to the end. I was told that kids were made to run around the teepees for fifteen to twenty minutes so they wouldn’t be lazy. During the summer we would play Indian baseball, which has one pitcher and two lines. After you hit the ball you’d run from one line to the other, and you’d be out if you were hit by the ball between the lines. The men would fence off a section on the fence so we could box. I was the only girl to box. The boys were my playmates because there were no girls my age. We had sleds, homemade for us by Margie Jake. We used to have a lot of snow at that time. The pond used to freeze up; the ice was very thick. We would take our sleds and play all afternoon on the ice. Our little pond was always full of water, so during the summer we swam every afternoon; we all loved to swim. We all would get on our horses and go to Moccasin. There was a small grocery store there, so we would get our monies together and go to buy candy. The clerk was a young girl our age and she never knew how to change, so we usually came out with more money after we paid. We didn’t think this was bad. We would use this money for the next time. We used to walk over the mountains. We’d take potatoes with us, and when we got hungry we would make a fire and roast the potatoes. I started to drive grandpa’s pickup when I was around nine. I helped him with his herd, as he was getting to the age where he could not throw the rope since he was experiencing rheumatism in his arms. He tried very hard to rope the cow, with no results. Then grandpa handed me the rope to see if I could rope the cow. I was surprised that I got the cow’s horns. I thought surely it would come off, but it didn’t, it held the cow’s horns tight. So I hurried and twisted it around the pole to tighten it. Then my grandpa tied another rope around the neck and we doctored it right there. When I went to Riverside School, I was the youngest one from here. They cut my hair; it was very embarrassing to me. Margie Jenks and Laticia Seegmiller took care of me. I was the first Community Health Service worker here at Kaibab. Margie said, “I took care of Gevene Savala kaibab tribe, born January 30, 1928 48 you then, now you’re taking care of me.” There was nothing when I started, no records, no nothing. I had to set all that up. I loved school, loved everything that had to do with school. It was a different world. Like here on Sundays, everything is closed. There, everything’s open, you go to movies, roller skate, play tennis. I was all over the place. I loved the big campus. It was a treat to swim in a regular swimming pool, play basketball. Even right now I take classes at St. George Community College and the Mojave Community College extension. I especially liked to play in the band. I started playing the violin but I liked the clarinet better. I joined the band and traveled wherever they went, to participate in band concerts, going to play for the football players. I got to march in the Rose Parade two times. One time we went to Los Angeles to play for a war bond drive; the master of ceremonies was Jim Thorpe. This was really an opportunity for me since two of his nieces were also going to school in Sherman. I was in Riverside until about seventeen...