Join us May 5th and 6th for a day of shopping and eating!
With fry bread, chili and pie available to-go!
Location is at the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland Farmhouse:
71054 Whiskey Creek Road in Wallowa, Oregon
Friday, May 5th from 9am until 4pm
Saturday, May 6th from 10am until 4pm
If you would like to donate to the rummage sale please call 541-398-1112 to schedule a drop-off.
Catch up on the events of an impactful year at the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland! Download our 2022 Newsletter to read up on the Tamkaliks Celebration, NPWH updates, projects, and more.
Kellen Trenal’s latest collection, Treatyz. His pieces focus on the treaties of 1855 and 1863 that have shaped Nimiipuu history. The pieces symbolize his interpretation of those treaties and are on display at the Josephy Center. (Photo by Kellen Trenal)
JOSEPH- A small celebration took place featuring Nimiipuu artists at the Josephy Center for Art and Culture in Joseph, Oregon. A group of seven Nez Perce artists and writers who call themselves luk'upsíimey “North Star" Collective, gathered at the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland for a week, practicing their art, learning and relearning their language together. They are college professors and language teachers, visual artists and wordmakers. They traveled from California, Arizona, Philadelphia and Lapwai. They came together at Wallowa, the place that echoes their ancient common Nimiipuu language. On July 23, Nimiipuu artists such as Kellen Trenal and Phil Cash Cash, writer Beth Piatote and other Nez Perce writers and speakers read and reflected on their individual work as it relates to maps, words, and images of the current exhibit, “Nez Perce Treaties and Reservations, 1855-Present.” Trenal is a multitalented Nez Perce performer and a visual artist. He’s a master beadworker and has his own podcast that raises awareness for Black and Indigenous cultures and communities. Cash Cash, who co-authored a book of area place names, is CayuseNez Perce and enrolled Umatilla. Beth Piatote has written poems, plays and academic texts about the Indian experience. Along with other Nez Perce speakers, they spent a week in their own “language camp” in the land of their ancestors. “I’ve been at this Josephy Center work for almost ten years. We’ve been successful as an organization, making our way through the pandemic with virtual and hybrid programs about Covid and Fire, Natural Resources and the local health care system, making and giving away over 1000 art bags with individual supplies and art projects to children and parents,” said Rich Wandschneider. “But this exhibit and Friday night’s words and music have been a highlight for me, and the surest proof that our work is important,” he added. People are becoming more aware of the actual history that occured to the Nez Perce people, reading the words of the exhibit, seeing how the settlers and U.S. Government contributed to Native Nations losing their lands and how promises were made and not kept, how hopes were dashed and treaties were put into place with words unfamiliar to tribes. Awareness on the Nez Perce War of 1877 was highlighted as well. Attendees learned how the words of the same treaties still have legal currency today, and the Nez Perce are fishing, hunting, and gathering as they always did in their “usual and accustomed places” as promised nearly 150 years ago.
Written and photographed by Bill Bradshaw of the Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — The Nez Perce Tribe took another step toward reestablishing itself in its traditional Wallowa County homeland Thursday, April 29, when it received the title to the now-former Wallowa Methodist Church.
The ceremony on the lawn behind the church included about 60 people, most of whom were Nez Perce tribal members from the Lapwai, Idaho-based reservation. Also in attendance were members of the United Methodist Church’s Oregon-Idaho Conference, which has held title to the land and building since it closed June 30.
It was a time of thanksgiving, reconciliation, tradition and blessing on all parts.
“It’s the transfer of deeds so this church is going back to the Nez Perce Tribe. We’re very honored to be able to be here today for this,” said Casey Mitchell, vice chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. “Any land that comes back to the tribe is a blessing for us, considering this is originally our homeland that we were pushed out of.”
Mary Jane Miles, a NPTEC member who was tapped at the last moment to hostess the event, spoke of the gratitude the Nimiipuu — Nez Perce in their own language, meaning “the people” — for receiving the land.
“The bishop of the Oregon-Idaho annual conference of the United Methodist Church has indicated this is an opportunity to join in a partnership with the tribe,” she said. “This came to me this morning; I opened up my book and there it was: Luke 1:78-79 (she paraphrased) ‘Our God will bring the rising sun to visit us, to guide our feet into the way of friendship, love, strength and peace.’”
At this, Miles looked to the sunny sky and seemed to acknowledge the fulfillment of prophecy.
“The Nimiipuu — the people — are tied to this land,” she said. “I heard one of the ladies say this morning, ‘We are here forever.’ It just seemed to warm my heart with what is happening today, how favored we are to be getting this land back to our homeland. And the Nimiipuu are here to stay and I thank you for your drums that just bring in the spirit of the Nimiipuu … as to how this all played out. The Creator is certainly going before us and doing things for our favor. … Most indigenous groups are ‘the people’ and we are the people.”
Speaking to the tribal drummers, who added an air of Nimiipuu authenticity to the occasion, Miles said in a motherly way, “I was telling them this morning to behave yourselves. I watched these boys grow up, so I always tell them that when they’re drumming. I am so very proud of them.”
NPTEC Chairman Shannon Wheeler, who headed the tribal delegation in accepting the property, was particularly moved at the experience.
“As we think about this land and our people moving from here, being forced off of this land, and the year of sorrow as we left,” Wheeler said. “As the story is told, the last Nez Perce who left looked back and thought, ‘We may never see this land again.’ Think about that; put yourself in that place at that time. It’s who we are as the Nez Perce people and the tear that came down their face that day. We didn’t do anything. All we wanted to do was live. All we wanted to do was live in peace. … So for those tears of sorrow at that time — today, if you shed a tear that’s OK because they’re tears of joy now because of the land that is being gifted back to the Nimiipuu. The people’s tears of sorrow on that day will be tears of joy. That memory in our blood that flows to each of us, their sorrow is felt today. Our tears of sorrow and joy today will also be felt by our ancestors in the past. That’s what this means to us today. … Our Nez Perce people will think back and look at this day and remember the Methodist Church and their kindness in recognizing that the first people, the Nimiipuu and our rightful position here in this land here where we stand.”
He also said that the people from the Methodist Church and others involved in the transaction will go down in history books alongside others who will be remembered for their kindness.
The final pastor of the church, Kaye Garver, also was on hand. She said that when the church closed, the congregation consisted of but five people, down from its peak of about 200 in the 1960s and 1970s.
“We didn’t have the money to do the needed repairs and pay the insurance,” she said. “It was a sad but necessary thing. The younger people wanted to move out of the county; they wanted to go to the city and everybody else aged.”
Pastor since July 1, 1999, Garver recalled coming to the church somewhat hesitantly.
“When I came here to interview for the job, I had my doubts as to whether or not this was going to work,” she said. “I pulled up outside and there was an angel stained-glass window and I said, ‘OK, that’s my sign.’ I walked in and there were three people I knew from church camps over on the coast and I’m going, ‘OK, that’s my second sign.’ So this is where God has led me and the church has been just fantastic people.”
Garver recalled how active the church had been in the Wallowa community.
“We’d do a lot of things with the community. We’d do breakfasts on Memorial Day Weekend Sunday for the whole community. We would do other meals and dinners during the year for the community,” she said. “On Christmas Eve, ours was the only Christmas Eve service in town. We brought in people from all denominations for that Christmas Eve service.”
But Garver thinks it’s fitting the property goes to the tribe.
“It’s a joy that, although we had to leave that building when it closed, that it’s now going to the Nez Perce,” she said.
Laurie Day, director of connectional ministries for the Oregon-Idaho Conference UMC, confirmed the desire of the church to cement its relationship with the Nez Perce in turning over ownership of the property.
“The church has a relationship with the Nez Perce Tribe and we checked with them to see if they would like to have the building and the property because they were the original inhabitants of this land,” she said. “Today is the ceremony where we are returning the property to the Nez Perce.”
She said the cash value of the property didn’t even come into play.
“It was not part of our conversation in returning the property,” she said. “It was out of friendship and it was the right thing to do. It was not about the financial. It wasn’t part of our decision, so it didn’t factor into it.”
Wheeler and Mitchell agreed that there are no certain plans as to how the property will be used. They said the NPTEC is expected to meet to make such plans.
“The building’s old, so we’re not sure if we’re going to keep it,” Mitchell said of the 1910 structure. “The idea is everything’s sky-high right now, as far as property goes. We do have a powwow in July here so we may use this as a camping ground and let the folks use the showers and the bathrooms when the powwow’s going on. We usually have it at the Tamkaliks (the Homeland Project in Wallowa).”
Miles concluded the festivities on a solemn note.
“Now I offer a prayer, in the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ, for this gathering that we are in as we walk and you go before us that you are leading into a place of ‘peace that passeth all understanding.’ As the world goes, we know there is disunity, but in this particular occasion, we are against that and we rebuke it,” she said. “We thank you for what is happening with our brothers and sisters. We are grateful. We say all of this in Your Son’s Name, Jesus, the Christ, amen.”
Written by Angela Bombaci, NPWH Executive Director
Image credit: Ellen Morris Bishop/Wallowa County Chieftain
When the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland project purchased 320 acres from Norman and Mamie McCrae in the 1990's, the goal was to provide a permanent home to the Tamkaliks Celebration and Friendship Potluck held each July since 1989. Today, that land provides much more than a place to reunite once a year. Improvements to the site include a permanent, circular dance arbor; a traditional longhouse complete with a dirt floor used for walasit and other ceremonies; horse corrals, hiking trails, bathrooms, showers, interpretive signage and a pedestrian bridge over the Wallowa river. The many amenities make the celebration grounds popular with residents of Wallowa, and a much-loved destination for dispersed descendants of the Nez Perce people who have always called this place home.
There are others who call this bit of land home too. From the fox families and nesting birds hidden away on the rocky bluff, to the deer sheltering in the brush along the river, to the marmots, frogs and insects that we hear but don't often see -- wildlife flourishes at the Homeland. Similarly hidden away until spring, when they burst with color, are a bounty of wildflowers and foods. Arrowleaf balsamroot, qaws (biscuitroot), quemes (camas), wild onion and nettles peek out from the rocks and spread across the topmost reaches of Tick Hill. Today, one must earn the opportunity to see many of these plants by hiking the loop trail along the bluff, because much of the land at the valley floor has been filled, leveled and planted with cover crops. But the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland isn't farming this land. We are returning it to the plants and animals.
Arrowleaf balsomroot and the Wallowa Valley looking southeast from Tick Hill. Image credit: Angela Bombaci
As you read this, a two-acre section of riverside pastureland is being restored to seasonal wetland habitat for fish. The Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries first identified this section of river as a possible restoration site nearly a decade ago. This January, they broke ground. Right now it may look like a big muddy mess, but there is a plan. A complex and very scientific one, that within the confines of the project area allows the Wallowa River to ebb and flow, flood and change course, as it once did along this entire valley bottom. As it turns out, nature loves messes. Log jams, woody debris, deep pools, muddy bogs and seasonal floodplains all provide key habitat for fish, insects, birds and plants like cottonwood, willow, alder, tule reeds, camas and cattails. These animals and plants in turn provide people with food, medicine and materials.
As Indigenous people have long understood, what is good for the earth is good for us. We must take care of this generous and thriving system which we count on for survival. The Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland has pursued this side channel restoration project in order to fortify a small piece of land, a short stretch of river, and thousands upon thousands of fish smolts who may take refuge and grow strong for their journey downstream. Once construction is complete, the land is planted and seeded, and the management plan is in action, we'll watch with wonder as nature does what she does best: heal.
Image credit: Ellen Morris Bishop/Wallowa County Chieftain
The Nez Perce Tribe Department of Natural Resources/Wildlife Division is recruiting for: CONSERVATION PLANNER I [HR-21-107] (Part-Time/Lapwai). This part-time position is 20-29 hrs./week. This is a two (2) year position assisting the Nez Perce Tribe’s Wildlife Division complete a California condor management plan. Primary duties are to refine an ecological assessment of California condor habitat within the greater Hells Canyon ecosystem, Page 13 of 17 identify potential release sites, collaborate with area partners to develop a management plan, write reports, and conduct outreach and education efforts. The position may at times be field intensive and involve working long hours in steep terrain, with a variable work schedule. Requires a bachelor’s degree in related field. Related field and/or course work requirements defined in job expectations. Experience does not substitute for education. Technical experience in related field preferred; demonstrated leadership experience preferred. Class/job description available at the NPT Human Resources Department. The Nez Perce Tribe is a drug free work environment, pre-employment drug testing required. Requires a valid driver’s license with the ability to be insured under the Tribe’s policy. Must provide a current driver’s license record (DLR) and any DLR from other state(s) where you have been licensed to drive in the last three (3) years. This position closes 2/5/21. (Grade 17)
To apply: Recruitments for Professional Positions (Grade 16 and above) will require a completed Tribal application and resume. Please submit all application materials to: Nez Perce Tribe Human Resources Office ATTN: Job Name & No. P.O. Box 365 Lapwai, Idaho, 83540 Phone (208) 843-7332 Fax (208) 843-7414
LATE OR INCOMPLETE APPLICATION PACKETS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. Tribal Preference applies. www.nezperce.org.
Specific questions about the position should be directed to Precious Lands Project Leader, Angela Sondenaa at (208) 791-9374 or angelas@nezperce.org.
7-year old Ruby Teepvong holds the heart of her first kill.
Written by Mary Jane Oatman for the Nimiipuu Tribal Tribune
At only seven years old, Ruby Teepvong harvested her first animal and proudly represented her family and the Nez Perce Tribe as she traditionally honored the deer and the meat by sharing it.
On October 25th, 2020, what started out to be a tag along trip turned into a hunt with one bagged. Ruby’s oldest brother, Jackson Wak Wak and his 'aayat Asia Weaskus traveled from Lapwai to Kamiah so that Jackson could harvest a buck with his bow. Jackson stopped by to visit with family before the evening hunt and picked up a couple of additional spotters, his mother Mary Jane, and baby sister Ruby.
The pair traveled to a tribal allotment overlooking the Clearwater River, a gathering place for bucks and does as they travel from the brush to the river. Ruby and her mom stationed at the top of the hill while Jackson and Asia crept up on a small buck. Jackson pulled his string back, released the bow; miss. The crew departed to another sweet spot just down the road.
About a mile away from the hunting, the pairs split up again, Jackson stalking bucks while Asia, Ruby and Mary Jane herded deer back towards him. Nimiipuu Pit'iin: Ruby Teepvong Shares Her Young Life as a Provider 7-year old Ruby Teepvong holds the heart of her first kill. They spent another hour walking the fields enjoying a crisp fall hike. As the sun started to go down, they loaded and headed towards the road. It was at the turn that Jackson said, "I bet if we drive back to the big field, we will see deer for Ruby to get." He then turned to Ruby, "do you want to keep hunting?" With scared doe eyes but a booming confidence in her voice, Ruby replied "Yeah! I want to shoot a deer!"
Mary Jane drove back to the field entrance. When they arrived, Jackson got Ruby ready and into position for her shot. 80 yards away along the skyline stood several deer. According to her brother Jackson's Facebook post: "My sister is so outstanding, puts her to sleep at 80 plus yards she was about to shoot a 22Lr, as I kept pumping her up right after she shot she's all I saw fire come out of the gun!!! We get to the animal and she said “mom you told me you where 18 when you got you're first kill, and brother you told me it was a 22 not a bigger gun,” i was like it's a 22-250. Thanks momma bear Mary Jane Oatman, miss Ruby Jane and Asia Ann Weaskus for the Amazing time yesterday evening."
Ruby is no stranger to hunting, gathering and fishing. Ruby was only six months old the first trip she went huckleberry picking and has been gathering every summer since. Ruby has hit the hillsides picking qemus, qeq'it and loves to get dirty digging for kouskous. In the summer of 2018, Ruby spent a great deal of time along the Clearwater River, determined to land a salmon by herself. On June 4th Ruby entered the Nimiipuu hall of fame by landing her first naco'ox, alongside her uncle Vance Oatman, grandpa Bo Oatman, grandmother Judy Oatman and brother Jackson Wak Wak. They all caught fish via hook and line that day.
The family is blessed to be able to give back and provide not only the goods that are harvested, but also the time and knowledge to other young gatherers, hunters, and fisherman.
Congratulations Ruby. Her brother-cousin Jaigger, also 7, harvested his deer this fall as well. Both of the cousins will be honored in a first kill ceremony. The hides from both of them are being preserved to be given away and the pair of young harvesters are honored to carry on a long tradition of Nimiipuu providers.
Ruby Teepvong is the daughter of Mary Jane Oatman and Chaiya Teepvong. She is the granddaughter of Carl “Bo” and Judy Oatman, and the great-granddaughter of Alice Jeanie Johnson-Warden, the late John Wes Warden and Marcus “Tukeliksima” Oatman and Jeanette Jackson-Oatman. She is in the second grade and attends Kamiah Elementary.
Big Hole National Battlefield, the location of a surprise attack by the U.S. Army on members of the Nez Perce Tribe in western Montana. The skeleton tipis symbolize where the Nez Perce were asleep at the time of the attack. (Photo by Alan Majchrowicz Photography)
The history of the Big Hole battle courtesy of Nez Perce tribal elder, Wilfred (Scotty) Scott and the Nez Perce Historical webpage.
In the early morning of August 9, 1877, a Nez Perce man and his Nez Perce wife woke to the sound of gun shots. The wife told her husband to get his gun and fight. He told her to grab their 2-year-old daughter and run for the willows. The child was not in the tipi.
The mother began frantically searching for her. When she stepped outside of their tipi, she found the little girl walking toward the soldiers and their flashing rifles. The mother sprinted toward her, but before she could get to her, the little girl was shot.
This is the story of the beginning attack on Nimiipuu as they laid sleeping in their tipis. This was the Battle of Big Hole, 143 years ago.
The mother grabbed her child and was also shot in the back. The mother survived and buried her child two days later, somewhere on the trail at an unmarked grave.
The unsuspecting Nez Perce people were all sleeping. U.S. soldiers began the bloody clash just west of present day Wisdom, Montana. The battle persisted for over a day and a half, with both sides taking heavy losses. An estimated 60 to 90 Nez Perce lost their lives at the Battle of the Big Hole. Many of the Nez Perce victims included women, children, and elders. This national battlefield is a step into history and serves to honor those who fought and died.
Historically, the Nimiipuu people moved throughout about 7.5 million acres of land in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming; where they would fish, hunt and trade. Then, in 1855, the Nez Perce agreed to share their tribal land with the U.S. government as long as it was protected. An 1860 gold discovery on the reservation led to a second treaty in 1863, which took away protection of 5 million Big Hole Continued from Front Page acres. The Nimiipuu, outside of the small reservation left, were non-treaty Nez Perce and refused to endorse this “steal treaty.” Their defiance led to the Nez Perce Flight of 1877, a 126-day, 1,170-mile, eight battle run from the U.S. Army.
The Battle of Big Hole was a turning point in this flight. The non-treaty Nimiipuu consisted of nearly 800 people and 2,000 horses. They passed peacefully through the Bitterroot Valley near Missoula and believed the U.S. Army was not pursuing them and that the fighting was over. They arrived at the soon-to-be battlefield on August 7, 1877, to rest before heading to buffalo country.
Two days later, the soldiers made a surprise attack at dawn. Colonel John Gibbon was under orders to forcibly relocate the remaining Nez Perce bands, who were being led by Chief Joseph, to the Lapwai Reservation. When Gibbon caught up to the Nez Perce, he marched his soldiers, civilian volunteers, and a howitzer down the Bitterroot Valley and across from the Nez Perce encampment. U.S. soldiers crept through the willows surrounding the North Fork of the Big Hole River and took aim. U.S. soldiers were ordered to shoot their rifles low into the tipis to kill sleeping and unsuspecting Nez Perce, and to set the tipis on fire.
With serious losses and disheartened spirits, the Nez Perce fled the battle and headed east toward present day Yellowstone National Park. They sought aid from the Crow people; unfortunately with the U.S. soldiers not far behind, they were denied refuge. This time they fled north toward Canada but were stopped 40 miles short in another bloody encounter, the Battle of Bear Paw.
Some Nez Perce made it to Canada, but the rest were sent to Oklahoma only to be relocated again in Washington, never to see their native lands again. There are Nez Perce remains from there to Oklahoma. When Nez Perce would die on the trains the U.S. would throw the bodies overboard.
The Big Hole Battlefield is now managed as a Nez Perce Historical Park by the National Park Service. Today, the entire battlefield landscape is preserved. A visitor center rests high on a hillside overlooking the battlefield where visitors can learn more about the historic battle and the Nez Perce people through informative displays, talks on the deck and the summer speaker series.
Visitors can also access the battlefield directly through a ranger led-tour or by self-guided walks on three short trails. A 0.8 mile, oneway, trail goes along the river to the Nez Perce encampment, marked by the frames of dozens of tipis. The other trails leads up Battle Mountain to the siege area, where an overlook of the battlefield and a replica Howitzer can be seen.
The Big Hole National Battlefield is just one of the stops along the Nez Perce Historic Trail to remind our people of the sacrifices our ancestors have made over one hundred years ago.
By Ellen Morris Bishop for the Wallowa County Chieftain, July 15, 2020
WALLOWA LAKE — A self-loader log truck placed three impossibly huge Pondeosa pine logs into Wallowa Lake early on Monday, July 13.
But these old-growth pines are headed for a higher purpose than lumber. They are going to become Wallowa Band Nez Perce dugout canoes, the traditional, local indigenous watercraft since time immemorial.
The logs were cut near Ollokot Campground by JZ Lumber because the U.S. Forest Service considered the dead snags to be “hazard trees.”
The first step in making a dugout canoe is determining which side of the log should be “up” and which side of the log naturally will be the bottom. The only way to do this, said Wallowa Band elder Alan Pinkham, is to float the logs in the water and see “which side the lake and the log decide should be the bottom of the canoe.”
The logs were hauled by truck operator Tim Gilbert. Gilbert backed his log truck down the county boat ramp, and used the self-loader to gingerly swing each log into the lake. The largest, 4 feet in diameter and an estimated 14,000 pounds, lifted the front end of Gilbert’s log truck off the ground as he plucked the log up with the loader and swung it into the water.
Pinkham’s son, Alan Pinkham, Jr., tested each of the three logs by slowly turning them in the water and then waiting to see how they would stabilize. He marked the top of the log with orange paint, and Gilbert reached back into the lake to pluck each log from the water and place it back onto the truck.
The whole operation took about an hour.
Gilbert hauled the mammoth logs back to JZ lumber, which donated them to the project along with the space for building the new canoes. Alan Pinkham, Jr. will begin work on the first canoe there later this week.
Two years ago, he constructed a smaller, 16-foot dugout at the Josephy Center that was launched on Wallowa Lake. But these logs will make much bigger, 30-foot canoes.
Pinkham’s goal is to have a canoe or two completed for the 2022 or 2023 Indigenous Water Journey, an annual gathering of native canoes on the Columbia River. In 2022, the festival will be centered around Celilo on the Columbia River. The project is sponsored by the Josephy Center, which funded some of Pinkham’s expenses as well as Gilbert’s transport of the logs.
By Ellen Morris Bishop of the Wallowa County Chieftain, May 27, 2020
On a near-perfect morning, Wallowa High School launched 10 promising new graduates into the future at the Tamkaliks Pow-Wow grounds. The ceremony, which met Phase 1 COVID-19 guidelines, broke with many traditions. But it may have started some new ones.
Except for the final awarding of diplomas, students and their immediate families were confined to their vehicles, parked in designated spaces around the outside of the Tamkaliks arbor. The inevitable graduation speeches boomed through a loudspeaker. There was no clapping at the end of speeches, or for individual students as they received their diplomas. Instead, there was celebratory horn-honking. KWVR broadcast the entire ceremony, play-by-play, over the radio, and it was also simulcast on a Facebook feed. It was available in every virtual respect. And it was also very real.
Principal David Howe gave a short but moving introduction. He lauded the class of 2020’s achievements. “Some people said this class wasn’t as academic as the class ahead of them or the class behind,” he said. “But they outperformed the class above them, and the class below them, on the PSAT tests in both their sophomore and junior years, and outperformed the class above them in the Oregon State Assessment tests.”
“You all have heart, and your heart shines through more often than you might think, Howe said. “Class of 2020, I believe that if you follow your mind and your heart, there isn’t anything this class can’t do,” Howe concluded.
Salutatorian Quinten Tillery summarized some of his classmates’ most memorable adventures and misadventures. “We stuck with it through the hard times, and got our diplomas, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of the class of 2020,” he said.
Valedictorian Ashlyn Young reminded the class of 2020 that each moment is different, and we’ll never get the same moment twice. “I think many of us get lost trying to create the perfect moment,” she said. “We put the trophy at the finish line, and overlook the small wins along the way. We promise not to take this life and the moments in between for granted.”
In her tribute to seniors, Wallowa teacher Jori Journigan noted that the class of 2020 accumulated more than $113,000 in scholarships and awards, mostly from local sources including the Lawton and Florence McDaniel award, the Wallowa Volunteer Fire Department, the Terry Crenshaw Memorial, the Wallowa Education Association Memorial, and the Wallowa Lions Club.
Natalie Miller, valedictorian of the class of 2010, gave the commencement address. Miller studied to become a CPA, and after working for a prestigious firm in Seattle came home to Wallowa County where she is now the chief financial officer for Terminal Gravity. She reminded students that there is much more to life than following a set plan to achieve financial and professional success. “When I finally achieved all the goals I’d focused on, and checked all the boxes on my life “to do” list, I had lost sight of what I liked to do for myself without an agenda or a plan. So I started going to concerts, getting outside, spending time with friends. Those things filled me up in a way that work was never going to. Work and goals are not the only things that give your life value.”
To receive their diplomas, students exited their family’s vehicle and stood at designated spots (with appropriate social distancing) around the interior of the circular dance arbor, then walked to the stage, picked up their diploma, paused, and ultimately returned to their original spot when the diplomas had all been awarded. A ceremony without handshakes or hugs seemed barren of the usual emotion, but there were plenty of smiles as well as the traditional change of tassels, and joyful cap-tossing.
Principal Howe said he thought the ceremony as a whole went off as planned, and that the school might consider holding future (and more traditional) graduations at the Tamkaliks grounds.
“If we had weather like this, it would be perfect,” he said. He also expressed gratitude for the glass Cougar paws made by Stirling Webb at Moonshine Glass, and the sponsors (Enterprise Animal Hospital, Main Street Motors, Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness, Winding Waters Clinic, and Wallowa County Grain Growers) to help graduates and faculty long remember this very unusual ceremony and very different year.
Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland Visitor Center
209 East Second St., Wallowa, OR 97885 541.886.3101, info@wallowanezperce.org
SUMMER HOURS:
May 6th - September 29th, 2024
Open 10:00am - 2:00pm daily, Monday - Thursday, or Fridays by appointment. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Call 541-886-3101 or email info@wallowanezperce.org to make an appointment.
The Homeland
70956 Whiskey Creek Rd., Wallowa, OR 97885
Open to the public dawn to dusk, seven days a week (except during special events)
