Mary Lembcke, an elder of the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma, died on April 30. She was 95.

Lembcke, whose father was Peoria Chief Willis McNaughton, was born on her family's allotment in 1915. She was the first in her family to go to college and always emphasized the value of an education.

"'You give a child an education, no one can take that away,'" current Chief John Froman told The Tulsa World. "That was her constant message to me and other chiefs before me."

Lembcke co-wrote the first documented history of the Peoria people.

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Peoria Tribe elder's longtime tradition was giving back (The Tulsa World 5/13)