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April 6, 2010

Former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller dies

From Staff Reports Staff Writer

TAHLEQUAH — Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, passed away Tuesday morning, April 6, 2010.

Mankiller served 12 years in elective office at the Cherokee Nation, the first two as Deputy Principal Chief followed by ten years as Principal Chief.  

In 1995, Mankiller retired from public office.

Among her numerous honors, Mankiller was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.

In March, Mankiller’s husband Charlie Soap announced her diagnosis with Stage IV Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer.

In a statement Mankiller made at the time, she indicated her readiness for this walk of her “life’s journey.”

“ I want my family and friends to know that I am mentally and spiritually prepared for this journey; a journey that all human beings will take at one time or another,” Mankiller wrote. “I learned a long time ago that I can’t control the challenges the Creator sends my way but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them.  On balance, I have been blessed with an extraordinarily rich and wonderful life, filled with incredible experiences.  And I am grateful to have a support team composed of loving family and friends.  I will be spending my time with my family and close friends and engaging in activities I enjoy. It’s been my privilege to meet and be touched by thousands of people in my life and I regret not being able to deliver this message personally to so many of you.”

“Our personal and national hearts are heavy with sorrow and sadness with the passing this morning of Wilma Mankiller,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize she has left us but we should reflect on what legacy she leaves us. We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness.

“When we become disheartened, we will be inspired by remembering how Wilma proceeded undaunted through so many trials and tribulations,” he continued. “Years ago, she and her husband Charlie Soap showed the world what Cherokee people can do when given the chance, when they organized the self-help water line in the Bell community.  She said Cherokees in that community learned that it was their choice, their lives, their community and their future. Her gift to us is the lesson that our lives and future are for us to decide. We can carry on that Cherokee legacy by teaching our children that lesson. Please keep Wilma’s family, especially her husband Charlie and her daughters, Gina and Felicia, in your prayers.”

“Wilma Mankiller was a figure who earned respect throughout her lifetime,” said Cara Cowan Watts, Dist. 7, Cherokee Nation. “She was an inspiration to countless people and an outstanding representative of the Cherokee people.”

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma issued a statement, saying that the Cherokee Nation (of Oklahoma) had lost its “strongest leader.”

Prior to her passing, Mankiller requested that any gifts in her honor be made as donations to One Fire Development Corporation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing Native American communities though economic development, and to valuing the wisdom that exists within each of the diverse tribal communities around the world.  

Tax deductible donations can be made at www.wilmamankiller.com  as well as www.onefiredevelopment.org.   

The mailing address for One Fire Development Corporation is 1220 Southmore  Houston, TX 77004. Her memorial service will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Cherokee Nation Cultural Grounds in Tahlequah.

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