{"id":16952,"date":"2021-10-18T11:50:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T15:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=16952"},"modified":"2022-03-01T22:33:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T03:33:10","slug":"mary-toya-mother-of-secretary-deb-haaland-passes-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/10\/18\/mary-toya-mother-of-secretary-deb-haaland-passes-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Toya, mother of Secretary Deb Haaland, passes on"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mary<\/a><\/div>\r\n
Mary Toya is seen at a celebration in honor of her daughter Deb Haaland being sworn in as one of the first two Native women in Congress in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n
Mary Toya, mother of Secretary Deb Haaland, passes on<\/div>\r\n
Monday, October 18, 2021<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nMary E. Toya, the mother of Secretary Deb Haaland<\/a>, passed away last week, the Department of the Interior<\/a> announced.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nToya was from the Pueblo of Laguna<\/a> and the Pueblo of Jemez<\/a>, tribal nations based in New Mexico. She was a veteran of the U.S. Navy who worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/a> for 25 years.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThe Department of the Interior mourns with Secretary Deb Haaland as she and her family grieve the loss of her mother,\u201d the agency said in a statement on Saturday.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe celebrate Mary Toya\u2019s long life and are grateful for her 25 years of service to Native students as a member of the Interior team within Indian Affairs,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cMary spoke Keres, raised her children in a Pueblo household, and passed traditional wisdom down to her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Her legacy will live on in Secretary Haaland, all of her relatives, and the countless Native people she inspired. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe ask that media respect the privacy of the family,\u201d the department said.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"Mary<\/a>

Mary Toya is seen with members of her family, including Deb Haaland, in the office of then-Congresswoman Haaland at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C, on January 3, 2019. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a> <\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nHaaland, who is the first Native person in a presidential cabinet, was due to travel to Montana to speak at the grand opening of the American Indian Hall at Montana State University<\/a> on Saturday. Her appearance was canceled \u201cdue to a family emergency,\u201d MSU announced on Thursday.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cAs the daughter of a Pueblo woman, I was taught to value hard work,\u201d Haaland said at her confirmation hearing<\/a> to be Secretary of the Interior on February 23. \u201cMy mother is a Navy veteran, was a civil servant at the Bureau of Indian Education for 25 years, and she raised four kids as a military wife.\u201d \r\n

<\/P>\r\nHaaland’s father, David D. Haaland, was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He passed away in 2005, shortly before the age of 69. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery<\/a>.\r\n

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