From left: AARP Oklahoma Associate State Director Mashell Sourjohn, Regional Vice President Nancy Stockbridge, Cheyenne-Arapaho Ceremonial Chief Allen Sutton and AARP Oklahoma State President Joe Ann Vermillion. Photo from Facebook
The Oklahoma AARP honored 50 Indian elders at its seventh annual ceremony last month. The honorees were selected for their achievements in the artistic, cultural, educational, legal and political worlds. They represented 30 of the 39 tribes in Oklahoma. “The common thread among these honorees is the wisdom and impact they have had on their tribes, family and community,” AARP Oklahoma State President Joe Ann Vermillion said at the October 6 ceremony in Oklahoma City. The full list of honorees follows:
Joan Aitson (Otoe-Missouria)Get the Story:
Chairman John “Rocky” Barrett (Citizen Potawatomi)
James Battese (Miami)
Linda Big Soldier (Iowa)
Annette Black (Peoria)
William “Bill” Bomboy (Chickasaw)
Dorothy Burden (Thlopthlocco)
Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca)
Chairman Wallace Coffey (Comanche)
Delton Cox (Choctaw)
Sgt. First Class Norman W. Crowe, Jr. (ret.) (Cherokee)
Carol “Jane” Davis (Cherokee)
Irene Digby (Chickasaw)
John E. Echohawk (Pawnee)
Henry McNeer Ellick (Quapaw)
Parker Emhoolah (Kiowa)
Dr. John Farris (Cherokee)
Leona Fish (Muscogee Creek)
Nancy Fixico (Seminole)
Chief Billy Friend (Wyandotte)
Howard Hansen, Sr. (United Keetoowah)
Leon Hawzipta, Jr. (Comanche & Kiowa)
Ron Hayes (Chickasaw)
Charlie Hill (Seminole)
Freida Homeratha (Otoe-Missouria)
Elfreida Irving (Wichita & Affiliated)
Matilda King (Muscogee Creek)
John Wayne Kionut (Caddo)
Norma Kraus (Eastern Shawnee)
Brenda Leftwich (Kialegee)
Susie Martinez (Kialegee)
Sheri Mashburn (Osage)
Doris “Coke” Lane Meyer (Cherokee)
Redena Blanchard Miller (Absentee Shawnee) Diana Moppin (Alabama Quassarte)
Eva Munroe-Jones (Kaw & Otoe-Missouria)
Vada Foster Tiger Nichwander (Euchee/Muscogee Creek)
Michael Reed (Chickasaw)
Mary Elizabeth Ricketts (Osage)
James “Bunny” Ross (Wichita & Affiliated)
Scott Secondine (Shawnee)
Delores “Sue” Simmons (Chickasaw)
Georgette “G.G.” Palmer-Smith (Kiowa & Choctaw)
Ollie Starr (Cherokee)
Traditional Chief Allen Sutton (Cheyenne & Arapaho)
Bonnie Thaxton (Delaware Tribe)
Dr. Pamela Jumper Thurman, Ph.D (Cherokee)
Barbara Childs Walton (Otoe-Missouria)
Reta Marie Wilson-Harjo (Absentee Shawnee)
Dorothy Whitehorse-DeLaune (Kiowa)
AARP Oklahoma honors Indian elders (The Oklahoman 11/3)
Join the Conversation