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230 10 / Legacy I n 1959, after Wayne came back here to be business manager, this tribe sponsored a meeting of the Northwest Intertribal Organization. They met in Everett. Indians came from Spokane, Colville, Okanogan, Yakama, Wenatchee, Fort Collins, and Cowlitz. There were delegates from all over the United States. I was on a panel that met in the morning from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I wasn’t supposed to be on—Sebastian Williams was. I thought, seven o’clock in the morning at my house is midnight for me. He asked me if I would be the chairman. The conference was being held at the Monte Cristo Hotel, when it was new. When he asked me if I would be the chairman for this panel, of course, I said, “Are you crazy? I don’t know anything!” He said, “We have to have somebody on there, and I want you to do it.” I was the only woman on a panel of seven Indians. I had three men on one side and three men on the other, in front of about five hundred or six hundred Indians, in a room that was just standing room only. It took me a long time to get over it, because sitting right next to me was a handsome young Indian man—well, not that young—who came from Yakama. His name was Tony Skahan, and he knew one thing: he was the answer to every woman’s prayer. He was very good looking. Each person on the panel had a subject they were going to talk about. There were two or three of them. There would be an Indian person speak and then a white person, and the white person, I think, came from Washington, D.C. The subject that morning was fractionated Indian lands. I thought I was a “super good chairman.” I talked loudly and clearly. I thought nobody is going to back me off of the map. I wore a blue suit and a white blouse. (The suit was a real pretty shade of blue. It wasn’t navy blue. It was a bright Belgian blue. Well, it was lighter than that. And anyway I thought I looked like a “killer.”) After each one spoke for half and hour, then we opened it up to questions from the people in the audience. One person stood up and said, Legacy / 231 “Miss Chairman.” I said, “I recognize you,” and when they asked a question, I looked to the man I hoped would answer it, and then I said, “Do you have an answer?” The young man sitting next to me, Tony Skahan, said, “You are supposed to repeat the question. You are supposed to repeat it out loud. The audience way in back didn’t hear the question.” It took me a while, and I think I did pretty well, even with the criticism, and he said several things all through the three hours. When I came down from the podium, which was a stage clear across the room, a lot of people came up to me, people I knew from the reservations. Of course, I didn’t know many of the people. I will always remember a young attractive lady from Cowlitz in a big crowd. She grabbed my arm and said, “Oh, I want to thank you. You did so wonderfully well! You just showed the men what women can do, and they are always trying to keep the women back. I’m so proud of you.” I’m always sorry I didn’t get her name. Others said I did pretty well, even wonderfully well, even with the “crumb bum” sitting there giving me “Hail Columbia” every time! The man whose place I took had gotten sick with an upset stomach, and of course some people said he just had too much to drink. They were having parties the night before. I said, “Well, good.” So I had a chance to go on, but I will always remember him. I thought maybe he would come and speak to me afterwards. Three hours is a long time for me to appear before a group. He was in the audience. He did look upset or sick. I would have thanked somebody who took my place, but I guess I was just a crumb to them. I saw Sub later, and I grabbed his arm and said, “I want to kill you, Sub, and the man...

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