Katherine Siva Saubel, a respected elder and former chairwoman of the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians of California, died on Tuesday. She was 91.

Saubel was born on her tribe's reservation in 1920. She was a fluent speaker of the Cahuilla language, both in the Mountain Cahuilla dialect at Los Coyote and, later, the Pass Cahuilla dialect from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

Saubel spent most of her adult life on the Morongo Reservation. She was an advocate for tribal traditions, helped co-found the Malki Museum and published works on the Cahuilla language and culture

"Dr. Saubel was truly remarkable, both as a leader and as a fierce defender of Native American culture, from the preservation of the traditional Cahuilla language to the protection of sacred sites," Morongo Chairman Robert Martin said in a statement, The Banning-Beaumont Patch reported.

Get the Story:
Malki Museum mourns passing of co-founder (The Riverside Press-Enterprise 11/3)
Native American Scholar, Cahuilla Historian Katherine Siva Saubel Dies at 91 (The Banning-Beaumont Patch 11/2)