"Carl Tsosie was born on the Navajo reservation in Salina Springs, Ariz., in either 1917 or 1919 — no one knows for sure, as birth certificates weren't available on the reservation then. Tsosie thinks he was probably born in 1917, which would make him 92.

But one thing is certain: He was born during the month of September. "My mother told me that when I was born, the corn had grown very tall," he says.

As a young boy, Tsosie helped his family of sheepherders. His father, Hosteen Nez Tsosie, wanted a better life for his son, so Tsosie was sent to a boarding school for Indians in Chinle, Ariz., only to arrive back at his father's doorstep a few days later. "I missed my family, so I ran away from the school," Tsosie says.

To his consternation, Tsosie's father took him back to school and was adamant that he get an education. "My father was real mad at me for running away, and said, 'Do you want to end up as a sheepherder like me?' That's when I knew that I had to stay in school," Tsosie recalls."

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Ana Pacheco: Navajo man passed on his craft as IAIA instructor (The Santa Fe New Mexican 3/3)