 Hello. I'm sitting here in a beautiful building along the beautiful Rogue River, the land of my people, the Tekelma Indians. My name is Agnes Baker Pilgrim. Today's January the 23rd, 2018. And I wanted to be able to talk to you a little bit about my life, a little bit about things as I grew up, things that happened along the road. And I am sitting here today. I was born September the 11th, 1924, at a little bird called Logston, Oregon, way up by the headwater to the Sletts River in Oregon inland from Newport, Oregon. I'm a member of the Confederated tribes of Sletts. And a tribe long ago named me a living legend of the tribe. And I'm very proud that they did that. And I'm the oldest member that we know of, of the Tekelma Indians that lived here in southern Oregon for over 22,000 years. So I think I'm the last of those old people. And I live here because just north of Grant's Pass, a jump off Joe Creek area, all my old people were born up there. And I think they kind of kept me anchored here. And that they guide me and help me from there, from where they are. And I believe that's the thing that kind of keeps me going because I know that they kept me here to do different things throughout this land, you know, and help the animal kingdom and help take care of the water and be a voice for the voiceless and, and to spread this word around to everybody that it's our job as adults to take care of the land for all of those that are going to be coming behind us. We need to do this. We need to stop the pollution in our rivers and streams. We need to stop the gases, the stuff that's going up to the ozone layer. We've got a hole in the ozone layer. And we've got smog in our cities. So that tells us we're not doing very good. There's pollution. I've been all over the world. And there's pollution in all the rivers and streams and oceans. And it's sad. And so I started the sacred salmon ceremony way back during 1993 because Spirit called me and told me I had to come over here and do the salmon ceremony. And I, I was living in Preston City, California. And I had an office over there. And I told my God, I said, you got to give up. There's somebody over there. I don't live over there. Well, anyway, that didn't work. So I, I went along here and I'm sitting here right now close to the, the bridge that had all of this savage rabbit's dam was piled high with garbage. And I went down and walked around down there. And I saw that things didn't look good with all the garbage behind that dam. And I thought it's not good for anything. And I walked around the, around the shoreline and I saw that, that algae was building up. And I thought, Oh, here comes, there's going to start something else. And so I'm trying to think of what comes after algae around the repairing zone. And so anyway, it was getting polluted. So I told the hero that they need to do something about that dam, but it took a while for them to take that dam down. And it took 21 years to get them all off of the river. And I did salmon ceremonies. I had a lot of people following me when I came over finally to do the start the sacred salmon ceremonies. And I started over on the Applegate River out of Rouge, Oregon, a little south of the Applegate Dam and 1993. And so my husband and I, he was a fisherman of the, of the Klamath River full blood Urock and he had all our salmon and we came over and set up camp. And the Star Ranger district over there let us to use 17 acres to do this. And to this day, I'm very proud that they helped us to get started. And so I started in 93. And here come the state fishing game in 94. They said, grandma, we don't know what you done, but there's more fish in that river than we ever heard of. And I said, when you teach reciprocity, the creator will bless, which meant that at every salmon ceremony I had done, I had a sweat lodge put up in a spiritual manner. And I had young divers to go in there and do a purification sweat for one hour. While they were in there, I had fish cook to feed everybody there. A taste of the salmon, skin and bones they brought back to me and I have a beautiful fish bowl that they put them in. So we gathered all of the skin and bones and had it there when the divers come out of the purification sweat with cedar bows on their hand, which is sacred to us also. And when they came up, I put the skin and bones on top of that. And so the drum would start and drum them to the river's edge. They would line up on the river. They, too, would stand and pray to Salmon Nation because my people believed that salmon looked like us two-leggins. And they lived in beautiful cities below the ocean floor. And they chose every spring and every fall to change into salmon and swim upstream to feed us two-leggins. So I used that to be able to start the salmon ceremony and to have people to come that lived along the bank of the river over there to tell them, let's police the river, let's do a better job, let's stop the pollution in the water because there's life in that water. The salmon are precious to us. And not only that, the animal kingdom needs to drink from its bank. And so all these many years, it took 21 years for all of the damage to come down off of the rivers here so that the salmon were running free for the first time in hundreds of years. So I feel that all the people that helped me do that, you're so special that I thank each and every one of you right now for your support in helping me to continue to get this done. So I pray that the message I have here today, even though I haven't done a salmon ceremony, that you will help me to police the rivers and streams, just keep the garbage what's supposed to be. Because years ago when my kids were little, I taught them they weren't to throw anything out my car window even. I said, that's your mother earth out there. She sustained it. She gives us all the clothes in her back, the car we ride in, our food, everything. So we got to treat her better because she takes care of us. So I taught that to my children a long time ago, not to be throwing garbage around. And if you get a ticket from throwing it out of your car, these people in boats and ships should get a ticket to throw it out in the oceans like that because there's life out there. We got to protect all the animal kingdom and the water. We got to have good water. So do the animals because they're a part of our balance. We need them badly. So help us to take care of the animal kingdom, would you? Let's stop the pollution. Water is precious. Without water, we all die. How long do you think you could live without water? And do you know that I always tell my water inside 75% of your body is water? That I love you. You're sacred. You're precious to my life. I can't live without you. Even when I shower to this day, I always tell the water, bless me, inside and out. Wash out all the baddies. And so even when I wash my hands, flush the toilet, wash the clothes, whoever I use water, I'm always thinking of water. And to this day, I still, when I ride over a bridge, I bless the water. I love you, water. And the rivers, I do that to the rivers. If I'm in an airplane looking out and I see the water, I bless the water. All over this world, I bless water. The rivers cross the United States up into Canada, clear up past the Yukon, I bless the Ottawa rivers. And so, everywhere I've been, the Mediterranean, curred down through Brazil and South America, over to Hawaii, all over Australia, New Zealand, curred down through to Brazil and South America, Japan, Europe. And everywhere I've been, I teach people no life can live without water. Let's do a better job of taking care of it. Stop the pollution. Watch what's going in the water. Stop the fracking too. I was taken to New York to have them to stop it over there. And so we've got to watch out what we're doing. We're destroying our water. And if we destroy the water, we'll all die. You know, I have prophesied that this world will face a water war. I might not see it, but it's going to happen. I'm sure, because never did I think I'd get this old and have to buy bottled water. And then when they go bottle it and put it in a crate, and then they load it in a truck, and then they take it into these stores and put them on the shelf. How long did they sit there before you buy them? And when you buy them, is all the chemicals and everything in it that is good for us? Or does it leak out through the plastic? You better think about it. I have my water delivered right from Mount Shasta, the great, the bluish-green grass jugs. I know I'm getting good water, so check your water. What's the best water for you? So always thank the water for your life, because none of us can live very long, maybe three days, four days, maybe. You know, it's pretty iffy. It's scary to be what I see coming. So I hope that you will talk to the water inside, because I met Dr. Musa Motu. He came over here in 2002. He came to Ashland on his way. He had me up on his website. He wanted to know how I knew water could hear. So I told him how Spur taught me that, and told me to go and be a voice for the voiceless, that I had to be a voice for the water and water could hear, and that my body got water in it to thank it for my life. And so I still do that to this day. And so Dr. Musa Motu gave me one of his books, that there's messages in water, beautiful stories about how different types of music and different types of words, and how you can talk bad to water and a glass of water and then cloud up, and then you could write on a piece of paper and stick it on that glass and say, I love you, and it'll clear up. Don't believe me. Try it. So they knew different types of music, loud, real loud music, and then soft, beautiful music, and how the difference was of the water. So when you talk to your water that you love it and everything, and then you freeze it and bring it back out, it looks like a beautiful piece of snowflake, or a beautiful piece of lace. I never thought today that one of the medallions that Dr. Motu gave me. But anyway, I have him. That he's done, but he's going on now, but he's done a great thing for the world. And so Giddy's book, but the bleep do I know, are messages in water. Take a look at him. None of us, no life can exist without water. Us as adults, if we want our little kids, I have some little ones, three and three and four-year-olds now in my fifth generation, that I want them to be able to grow up and be gray-headed like me and have good water and good air. And you should too, if you've got family. You know, even if you don't have family yet, it's your job to take care of your water and to thank it for your life every day. And so when I'm even in an airplane and I look out and I bless the water, no matter what country, whether I know the lake or river or whatever, I still bless the water. I'm always thanking it in here to bless me, to care of me, wash out all the baddies. You know, there's Seven Street Bridge that goes across the river in the Sixth Street Bridge, goes over the water. I never go across those bridges. Even if I go over, I come back on the other side, I'm always looking down and blessing the Rogue River and thanking it for all that live in it and all that drink from its bank and praying that people will stop the pollution in that water. Help me to do that. You could do that. They'll be putting things in that water that don't belong there. It's our job to try to keep them alive because for that it'll help us stay alive. You know, God honors us when we do things respectfully and to help others. It's our job to take care of the animal kingdom. They too need good water, so help me with that. You could do that. So even the pets you have need good water. And so I work hard all over the world teaching people that water can hear. Talk to your water inside. Take it for when you drink it, when you wash your hands, where you wash your clothes, brush the toilet, take a shower. You know, remember to thank the water. Every day I do that, I take the water wherever I use it and wherever I drive or wherever I fly over a land. I always thank the water. Can you talk about your grandfather and table rocks? Oh yeah, the table rocks, you know, the upper and lower table rocks of the Tekelma, the Tekelma Indians, the Latgavas were the up at the other table rock, which they said were the poor Tekelma people. And in between was the first reservation here in Oregon. And they had interviewed me over there sitting between those two big mountains. And I've been up on top three times, and I went up there one time, and there was a big cloud above, a big rain cloud above us. And the man said, if you run over there and do your work, we're going to go over on the side of the mountain and do our prayers. And he said, if you run over there and get it done, come back, you'll beat the shower. And so I said, I can't run. So anyway, I looked up at the water and told it, you know, you don't need to get us all wet and what we were going to do. And I prayed and thanked it though. And I walked over to where everybody was standing next to the cliff to do our prayers. After we got down, we all turned to come back and we looked up, and there wasn't that cloud up there. So Creator heard our prayer and took it away. So that's proof too that your prayers work. And so anyway, we never did get wet from up there. But when I first went up there, there was cattle up there. And they flew me on a plane and landed me up there on an airplane. I have that film. And there was a building up there, and I went down and met these farmers down there at that ranch and told them that they're destroying plant life up there and they should be taken off of there. Well, eventually it did happen. They got them off of there. And but I've been over there several times at the reservation where their first one was and feeling the aura of my old people there. And when they were driven out of there in 1856 North, they could only take one thing with them and that was a little bag of food. So they walked 200 miles up to our tribe and they wore their moccasins off their feet were sore. It was a sad time for the old ones to go, young and the old. Some of them fell and they'd run back and pick them up. And so the cavalry said, don't do that anymore. We'll just leave them there for food for the animals. But they were respectful to the elders. If they fell, they ran to help them get up. But they wouldn't let them do that anymore. But it was a hard trip for my people. As I talk about it now, it hurts my heart to think what they went through to get up there. And then when they got there, the agents had used up a lot of their money. There wasn't enough food and bedding. Some of them died. It was sad. When they got there later on, they elected my grandfather, Chief George Hardy, as the first chief of the Confederate tribes of Salets. My mother was an Indian princess, but they didn't call her that because it wasn't a word in their language for that word, princess. But she was that. And he was a nice, he was a nice chief. He went to Washington, D.C., and made decisions. My grandmother said they called him a far seer because those decisions that he made would help our people way down the line of many years ahead. It would be all right for them. So they called him a far seer. He was a great guy. He was loved by people. And he used to walk from Salets, clear over the ground, round and help that tribe over there to the point where they took a picture of him and put it in St. Mary's church in a great big window because I got that picture. And I went over there and got that picture from that big window and how they did that for him. He was quite a man. And I'm so glad I have my granddaughter made a medallion and some earrings for me. And I meant to wear them today and I forgot about it. And but he was quite a good-looking guy, too. I have his book, Requiem for People, so you could look it up in the library, receive it down Beckham. And so anyway, I grew up in Littleburg Hall, Logs in Oregon in 1924, September the 11th. And I grew up in Lincoln County, Oregon, and at those times there were signs all over the place that Indians and dogs not allowed. That's the kind of era I grew up in. So my dad was a musician and told us kids we had to learn music. He said, then you learn music, you'll always fit in and belong. And he was right because those kids did grow up and learn. Each one played a different instrument. And I used to play for dances at Salets and songs and violins and sing all over Oregon. And he was right. It made us fit in and belong. So we've come a long way since that time, thank God, that I'm still sitting here. And I thank my old people that were all born north of Grant's Pass here. And I think it's them that kind of anchored me here, that are of them. And because I could go up and live on the res, if I want to. But I've been down here all these many years. And I've been glad because it has done a good thing for me too. With the stories that I have helped, taught people about my people. They were wonderful people that to kill my Indians and all the Shastas and Shastacostas and all of them that lived down here. They'd come together once a year over in the place out of Gold Hill called the Story Chair. Rock Hill out in the river with that chair on top. My people would, one of the menfolk would sit there and there's a big eddy down below. And when they'd see a salmon come, that's when they would start gathering the salmon then. And they'd have big salmon ceremonies to greet the salmon and bring all the people together. And they did that. I read my history for 22,000 years. So when I came over here back into Oregon to start the salmon ceremony, it started in 1993. In 1994 the State Fish and Game came, as I said, and wanted to know what I'd done, you know, because there was so much fish in the river. So I think that that story alone could help you to know that when you talk to the water and help do something for it, you know, because I want good water and good air for my little ones to grow up. So that they can too grow great headed like me. That's my job. This is why I work hard. I think this is why I'm still here above grass to this day, you know, that I want to be able to talk to you. Now there's a doctor in Australia wants to take me to the UN. He said, the people of the UN need to hear my story and not well, if it's meant to be, it'll work. But he wants to set a day for a bathing day all over the world. One day for bathing, people acknowledge the water. So it's a crucial thing, I think, that water of so many places you go to now that they sell bottled water all over. And so you need to think about your involvement with water. What can you do as a human being? What can you do to help take care of the water? Each one of you, if you're older like me, your voice works, teach the little ones. Teach your family. Talk to your water. Teach them to talk to the water. I never even drink water with what I say. I love you. Bless me. It's a habit. I made it to myself. And maybe that's why I'm here for so long. I'm 94 pretty soon. And I thank God for keeping me above grass. He has things for me to do and to say. So we all have this job. And I'm glad that I'm here, because to me, people, I'm also an ordained minister. People say, well, where's your church? And I say, well, you know, the sky is my roof. And the earth is my floor. And everything in between is sacred that I'm to pray for. So that means you, all of you, I pray for you and your life and your existence. I pray for you all to have good water, good air, you know, and to be healthy. Watch what goes down your mouth. That's your job. Because I used to be this, oh my gosh size. I was big. But I took a year for me to get all that weight off and I got rid of my high blood pressure. So it works. So think about your water, you know, that you're using. Stop the soda pop. It'll make you fat, fat, fat, you know. So take care of yourself and watch what you're doing. Learn to be healthy is how you run your mind. And what you put down your mouth is your job. Nobody can give you kindness, happiness, you know, or laughter or all this good stuff. That's your inside job. So if you want kindness, you better have it in here so you can give it away and you can get it back. I do that. So you try it. Kindness. Teach your kids kindness. Kindness and love and respect and honor and compassion. That's, I told my kids, I can't give that to them. If they want that, they gotta treat it themselves. So you could teach your children a lot of beautiful things. One of the greatest things that you could teach them is L-O-B-E. Love is all there is because if you love yourself, and I'm not talking about ego love, I'm just talking about love yourself, the love of your life, that you got life. Be thankful you got life or you'd be DEAD, you know. So enjoy your walk. You got one time to walk this earth. Make it a good one. Make it a good one. The hardest journey that all of you would ever make is from your thinking thing to your heart. That's the longest journey you'll ever know hardest. When you get there, I say, that's at ah-ha stage. Ah-ha, now I know who I am. Ah-ha, I know where I'm going. Ah-ha, I know what I need to be doing. So work hard at it, you know, and always give thanks to God. Wishing for God, you know, I don't think we'd be here. I'm not talking church or religion either. My people said when they left and went to the star nation, they left us one duty. That duty was prayer. And it works. I'm telling you, it works. I used to call my boys. They're all gone up there now. But I used to call them and do some prayers and send prayers to them to call me. They'd say, call me up and say, what do you want? So I knew God helped me with those prayers. And so prayer does work. Any walk of life you're in, you have that way to stop and give thanks just for being. Just for being. Taking up this little spot. You know, be thankful for that. So anyway, growing up here was being down here. I feel great to be down here, Mokosh to my old ones. Right where I'm sitting down the river by the bank over here. Some of them were found and dug up right here by this restaurant. And I had them put back and fixed in such a way. There's a beautiful way they'll never be disturbed again. And there's a little monument down there on their behalf of my people of the river. And so all my people were of the river. They ate fish. They ate everything out of the waters. And they didn't pollute it either those times. So I need to have you all to think about what you're doing with your life. Are you helping in doing anything? How about garbage? Are you taking care of that? Or are you teaching kids not to do things with garbage? There's a place for it. There's a lot of things, good things you need to teach your children. You know, one of the greatest gifts that they could laugh is laughter. Laughter is one of our cheapest medicines too. You know, and then we get vitamins from the sun. So enjoy it when you're in the sunshine. There's a lot of things that you could learn about what you eat and what's in it. Learn what's in your food. You know, get the right vitamins that you need every day. Don't get too big because that's going to cost you. You're just going to make you get sick. There's some huge people out there that they're going to have more health problems than a slim person would. And so watch what you're doing and putting down your mouth. So I pray that all the people that live here will respect our old ones of this land. I'm still trying to get the state of Oregon to have a digitus day one day on our calendar one day a year. You know, if they don't want to move Columbus Day they could just leave it there but put a digitus day on our map. Help me to do that. I want to talk to our governor already. I want to do maybe a salmon ceremony maybe in July if I can pull one off. If I get the help of my tribe to get me salmon. Even though my son is gone on I think we can get people to help me to do this and invite our governor and the rest of the some people from the other nine tribes to come to come together to honor this thing of indigenous day. Help us to get it on the map. It's long overdue. You know because when Columbus came to the east coast he said he found it was occupied and they didn't speak English. It was a six nation of our people over there. So when he left he sent the word around the world that this land was occupied and they were pagan and heathens. The next thing we knew here come the guns started the trail of tears across the United States. They even wiped out some tribes completely that are gone. And so it's it's a thing that's on my heart to try to get indigenous day on our calendar. So help me. It's long overdue. We're entitled to it. I'd like to see it before I go to the star nation. Anyway you know the people here they struggled and they had a hard time life wasn't easy. They didn't have houses like we do. They had these little little hut like things and I've had one made now and if you want to see it it's over on the Kirbyville between Grants Pass and Cave Junction. There's one there and I think it's the only one in the state and from the replica of what they used to live in. It came about because I got a picture of one of them down on I-5 I mean on one-on-one going down to California and I brought it back and I showed my old friend George Fentz that used to call me mom and full blood Cherokee. He's quite a guy, really knowledgeable man and he finally wrote a grant and he said we need to build one here mom. I said okay so then they got the grant and he said where are we going to put it and I said well I don't want to put it way out because there's some red necks around here and I said and then I don't want to make it into a playhouse. You know I want it to be a replica for the old ones and have it to where people can look at it and know that this was the true thing that my people lived in and so then it was built. So if you ever want to come and see it it's over behind the Kirby Museum and Kirby Oregon between just a little couple miles from Cave Junction and about 27 miles I think from Grants Pass. But anyway it's the first and the only one that I know of that's here in the state they call it Little Pit House and they had it too high when they put it up and I made them take it all down and lowered the roof kind of squirty like and then put the smoke hole up and it's quite the thing and I said I don't know how I could get in it because way back there I had a bad back and so they made the hole a little bigger and I said I don't want a hobo sleeping in it or kids using it for a playhouse so I better put a door on it which isn't which wasn't traditional but anyway they put the door in there and then they took a limb and cut some steps on it and put it on the side so I could get down inside when I wanted to go in there do my prayers and use it to be able to teach people about how my people lived in there. So take a look at it it's really nice so I don't know if there's another one anywhere so yeah we had a big uh I cooked sabbath over there to dedicate that little house too and it went off really really nice so stop by when you leave in Cave Junction going towards Grants Pass and take a look it's still there been there I think I don't know good 15 years now I think Is there anything else you want to talk about? What if you want me to say? Oh my gosh there's so much um oh what about being a student at SOU? Well being a student at Southern Oregon University I won a scholarship over there and I graduated in 1985 with honors in psychology and Native American Studies and I was only one in my family that of us older ones uh graduated in college and I'm still pretty proud of that to this day and I'm also uh uh I belong to the Delta Kappa Excellent yeah I'm a lifetime member of a sorority and I'm not only any woman that I know of that belongs to sorority and uh so it was really a thing because my oldest brother George and my brother Tiny Lloyd uh stood beside me when I was in my cap and gown and I have that picture and they were pretty proud of me too and uh talking about it now it seems like a long long long time ago now but my mother used to always say you go on and get that piece of paper sissy I said I will and so I did when I graduated from high school I stood there and and gave a talk and uh told my mom I got that paper and she says keep going so I kept going and so I did I got my uh degree in psychology and Native American Studies because I could hear my mother's voice all the time prodding me along I was in Crescent City and I sit there I went home and I had some water I just had lunch and I went home out in my deck I had a little table and my big dog was laying down there and I had some water left there and I sat there thinking about what God wanted me to do to be a voice for the voices I just told God I don't understand so then a big tree right next to me the leaves began to move and I watched that and I thought the air to wind is that what you mean be a voice for the wind and the air huh so then I reached over got my water my eyes went right to the water you don't have a voice either oh god I'm beginning to understand and by then I'm just crying then my big dog stood up and he was patting you know my knee and I was patting him and I looked at him and I about choked on my spit you don't have a voice either the animals don't have a voice oh god and I'm really balling oh yes I'll be a voice for the voiceless so there's people even David West remembers a long time ago I used to go around all over the country be a voice teaching people be a voice for the voiceless but God has told me done so many things like I could didn't hear from one of my kids I said prayers resins I'd hear call what do you want my sons especially I had to hear from them what do you want my my son they used to tell me I'm rolling brassly brown in his own bed my youngest son and his wife was up at Taft organ what they call Lincoln City now and he called me I was down here in Grands Pass mom you got to get up here I said what for somebody keeps trying to break into her house but if you come up here and bless it and everything that won't happen well I said I can't come right now I'm busy but I'll tell you what I said I'll go and light my smudgy bowl and get out on the deck and I'll send you some prayers your way I could do that later on I'll come up so I did I went out and I had my deck and I did some prayer blew the smoke up that way until God you could take care of that I can't go right now and so I did all that but hour goes by and here's the phone ringing again it was him mom what did you do I said what do you mean what I do what did you do we got to the house and there was all this sage and stuff all over the house and inside was just full what did you do I said don't thank me thank God you know and so I said that's some of the stories of long distance prayer how God can answer you know and it took care of those kids though it took care of their home you know and a lot of people that have called for prayers you know like a doctor's wife she wanted a baby so bad years ago she was back in Chicago and I said if you will got a few moments I'll pray with you and I said when I pray you use your right hand to hang on the phone put your left hand on your tummy okay so I told her that the next time I said you have relations with your your husband I said think about it your God's going to help you to conceive you get your child do you believe in what God can do she said yes you believe this prayer and so she said yes I believe this prayer and I said well I'm going to leave that in God's hands with you and you thank God whenever it runs through your head that this will work and you'll have your child because they tried everything I guess and so several months go by when she calls me again crying and said it worked so that's just some of the stories how God is done my son was dying in Jackson Hole Wyoming and he was one of the top welders at Knott's very farm and he fell and they broke his back so he was in pain and he had to live on heavy pain pills which finally suspected this liver and so they was in Jackson Hole when he's why Sharon called up mom I'm dying and I said do me a favor I said will you go get his prayer feathers I had the white feathers from the eagle's tail that steers the eagle and I had made him a bunch of those and I said will you go get his prayer feathers and put them in his hand she said he can't talk to you he just wished for you won't hear him I said that don't matter he could still wish for his prayer and you put that phone up to his ear put the feathers in his hand and I'll pray with him so she did and I prayed and told him I said my son you're not going to die yet it's going to be a while yet so you believe and talk to God that he could keep you here for a while okay so he did so three days later I'm home and over in Crescent City I heard this big old deep voice all enough at me mother how are you and I said Keith where are you I thought you were supposed to be up to Smith River helping those guys at the church mother who do you think this is I said Keith mother this is Robert a big old voice he's and he I was crying when he said that was him and how that quick three days you know he had that big strong voice and he was up he didn't die to several years after that he called you yeah three days after wow yeah yeah yeah a lot of stories of people like that like a little guy from Africa called one year grandma I hate to mod you but he said there's just a few pygmy elephants down here and I would like to bring them back will you pray with me I said right now on the phone you got time he said oh yes so I prayed with him forgot for these names canoe canoe something like that okay something and it's a 70 years ago and I said I pray I think that you have a good heart and I think God's already heard you and he will help you because you your heart is leading out to these little animals that he put he's put the heavy stuff on you to do this and so I already feel like it's in the works or you wouldn't be feeling like this and so I talked to him and we prayed so then now several of what three or four years go by he calls up I'm this man that called you about the pygmy elephants he said I want to tell you I have a hundred of them so see even how God has helped people that I have don't even know who they are you know there's so many stories of people that have wanted something you know like people that pregnant women I gotta tell you this story about this cane I'm down in Lucas Valley you know George Lucas the Star Wars all right well anyway I'm down here in his house and one of these workers the Jade she said we got something for you so she brought this out this cane and gave it to me a long time ago and I'm down there staying in his house and then he was with me yeah and how that they how that they like me to have one of their canes so that's from George Lucas George Lucas again Jane Bay Jane Bay she worked with him and stayed down there in Lucas Valley I stayed in his house you know I've done a lot of things I've cooked at Washington DC by the monument and salmon on sticks cooked in New York I've cooked in Hollywood you know to raise scholarships for native people I cooked out of Florence Oregon where there was nothing for the Calvinistic Confederation of Canada in the United States nine bus loads how I pulled that off with my husband and some of the York cooks and had people come to cut the grass way out on the beach and I had my water come from Corralis Oregon all my wood from Toledo Oregon was a huge thing and we got all our salmon and I had the guy that brought the water truck from Corralis and he'd standard end of all these tables and as they threw a fish up he'd have the water ready somebody had cut off the fins and go up to another would cut off the tail of the head go up and somebody had played out go on down somebody cut them up into pieces go on down in another pan and they have the pieces and put them on the sticks go on down to the sticks and somebody down there to season them all go on down and there were so young people who might try to take them over to the cooks around the pit went off like remember Nadine cooked for world peace and prayer day remember when Arville and Nadine cooked for yeah she's good cook and so they're now they want me to pull off another salmon ceremony for them try to get indigenous day on the on the calendar and I said well I'm gonna call maybe tomorrow if I get time to up to my tribe and see if they'll help me with about 350 pounds of salmon and if they will we'll try to get enough money together to pull the other stuff off yeah and I hope so anyway I've got the sticks I got the knives and I got the tables and yeah if it's meant to be it'll work yeah I'll talk to God please realize 50 you kids can do better than that do it now you know so I said it's it's beneficial to nobody but yourself you know so I said it's beneficial to nobody but yourself what you put in here the only thing it has to come back out I told them grandmother's and they said what can we do it was over in Australia what can we do we're all getting old and granted I said your voice still works teaching the schools you could teach the kids you know you can you can there's a lot you could do you know your your head works your mouth works you can teach and there's always something you could do if you love you could do it yeah yeah I used to work with all of them over there in different parts of Australia everywhere and how proud I was of all of those people over there yeah I said everybody's got talent of some kind I said God gifted us some talent so you could do a lot of different things that you never thought you could do a lot of people said well we're not good enough I said if it pleases you it's good enough you know if it's comforting to you it's good enough yeah I always tell people put putting yourself down you know everybody's got a gift if they just well I'm going to tell you a long time ago this girls you know my mom was very sick when I was young and uh so my dad and them they worked out my brothers worked out in logging camps and my younger brother said you're going to have your girls are going to teach you to box we can't be very on tick carry all the time you got to learn so they did they taught us how to box and so when I was a freshman in high school when they started the goofy up around me and duped it out of they finally left me alone and so my brother said we can't be around protect you girls you got to learn to do it yourself so nobody messes with our or my sisters either they were tough and we all were we didn't go around bullying anybody but if anybody tried to push around on us we just duke it out with them and then I was a long truck driver I had my own long truck when I was young you know held 190 and I had to get out and stood up on the cold X setting my chokers run down set the buckles on the truck and swing the logs over and the only thing I couldn't do I couldn't throw the chain over I had to crawl up and drop it down and then hook it up but the Indians used to laugh to see me driving a long truck yeah and then I was a race driver my pit men taught me everything and to this day I still drive but all of those good things they taught me and I used to win all my racers too they used to gang up on me won it but the wooden tire gone off of my wheel it came off before I got to the checkered flag but I did those kind of things and used to peel children to make money cascara bark yeah with a lmm luger on my hip way out in the woods yeah carried my children back to some of my religious couldn't even pick it up they'd put it over we had a big d8 cat and they'd take that sack and drag it over and set it up on the track to put it on and I used to do that too I was pretty husky I wasn't a bully I always took care of the underdog I didn't like nobody picking on nobody there were some girls from Switzerland and they'd get on the buses on those kids and pick all of them I said you better watch out I'll duke you up duke out with you you know so they pretty much got to leave them alone because they didn't they know I would really tie into them but I wanted that fairness I didn't like nobody ganging up on nobody I come around the corner in Portland one time off of the Broadway bridge my husband and I and there was a any woman there and two white gals beating her up I said park the car and I jumped out and ran over to through those two girls out in the street and they jumped up was coming at me and I'm boy I just let him have it and to leave her alone I don't know who the woman was they'd beaten on I didn't need to know but that's not fair two on one and they were big girls he'd beaten on her so anyway things like that you know how did I leave home my mother passed away when I was about 12 years old and I went to live with one of my brothers and his wife and then I went to so they went down and Green Eden Beach Oregon and close to Depot Bay and stayed with my other brother and his wife and cuts the bus to go to school and so then my other brother moved down there my oldest brother and his wife so I moved with them and went to school graduated in Taft Oregon after I got out of school there then I went and got a job in a nursing home in Portland and worked for a doctor Dr. Dr. Ruben Green and stayed in their home way up on the hill out of Portland and I used to take care of that little their little baby and now today I think he is obstetrician and Salem that never did get over there to see him but I used to take care of him when he's a baby and so I did a lot of different things I would run the archive in Vancouver BC the Veterans Hospital did that and then I worked until I'm a hospital run the autoclave up there and did run the sterilizer and worked in the hospital and I did a lot of things like that I was on the radio off and on I played and music everywhere too in the meantime I was pretty busy doing a lot of stuff How old were you when the in 93 when the water level stayed? When the what? The water when the when you were told to take care of the water How old was I? Hmm not 45 maybe Yeah yeah boy I fought that too when he wanted me to come do the Salmon Sphere but wouldn't stop I had to go do it I took absence of leave of absence from my job to go do that but I went well People were just astounded how good that fish tasted like that Yeah Can you tell us your family names? Who are your mom or dad, your grandparents, your brothers and sisters? What did she say? Family names like your parents names Oh my mother's name was Evelyn Lydia Harney Baker and my dad was George Wentworth Baker He was crew sitting my mother was Tekelma my oldest my oldest brother His name was Stoney. He was Stillborn And then my sister Marion was next and then my brother George They called him budgie then after him was my brother Lloyd. We called him tiny And then was my sister Evelyn and then was my brother Therald. They called him Terry And then there was me and then after me was Gloria No, after me was my brother Gilbert. They called him Gibb And after Gibb was Gloria and I'm the only one living of all of them And I'm older now than my grandmothers and mothers and dads and they left And I just think God had his hand on me all this time to be able to say that To do a lot of children in your family. Oh, yeah Well So now I got to go up. I already ordered To cut the grass going to our cemetery up the logs and organ And because I want to take Nadine up with the camera so that She could see where all my mom and my grandfather and all of them were Where they're lay and so they could get flowers into them. I didn't get there last year Was gone and so this year I want to make it up there And I already ordered them the guys at my tribe to go up there the lawnmowers and mow it all flat Yeah You were your family worked with um herrington. Yeah, the anthropologist. Yeah Yep Yeah, my Was a really a bunch of wonderful people as I look back They really lived that long in southern Oregon down here until they thought that that land all belonged to them You know, and that was a sad thing in 1856 before them to leave and Gravis said how it hurt them And uh, but anyway He died my great grandfather chief george arty when he ran away horses in 1912 Yeah, they used to a long time ago people of my tribe said my dad was a white man till I got Till I got into school and I looked it up and traced it out that he went to school in chamois And I said no way could he go out there to school if he was a white man It was harder than it is today And so I finally got it straightened out and got the bud quantum raised of everybody a lot of them that Didn't get on or on And so that was a good thing. Yeah And I've helped my people so many times in so many ways, you know Try to stop the meanness You know trying to stop the meanness, you know when you get older and you're said you've got one foot in a banana peel And the one up there you better watch what you're doing you know Yeah, because you know, you know death to us a long time ago even when I was a little kid That they would lift us up if there was a death and somebody was there And they'd make up with that casket. We had to look we had to understand about dying what it meant And it was something, you know And uh, how our people taught us, you know about death and dying How it was our job to watch what went down here when we were little even You know and how we Got along outside and tell my brothers don't be hitting us girls, you know You know some of us would be hitting women And all kinds of stuff they taught us a long time ago And one of the biggest things is how you walk you don't walk in front of your elders You know you you always say excuse me if you have to Or pardon me. We had to learn all the magic words even at the table My dad said when you guys get to the table, that's not the war zone You know no arguing and fussing at the table. That was a sacred place A lot of good things my people had for us as we grew up, you know How to get We have always had our we had our boats we had our dad my dad made nets And we caught fish we had our eels we had gardens all of us had a row I started out with four little plants They showed me the difference between a plant and a weed Pretty soon I got big long lines before I went to school for them I'd had to water weed before I went to school And so we had to learn all these things we had to learn I remember on top of an apple box learning to cook So I was eight years old I made pancakes dried eggs Made oatmeal, you know I could just see me right now standing up there making that stuff Cooking for my mom and then I had a bed put next to her Because at night she had a big long stick She'd have to poke me to wake me up to get her water and give her her medicines at night Yeah So I had to take it then I got to go into sleep in school and they found out I was taking care of my mom So the superintendent had moved all my classes in the morning The teachers let me have lunch in the teacher's room and then I could go in teacher's room to sleep And then they'd wake me up at four o'clock to catch the bus Wow And then the principal found out about it And so he upped me from sixth grade into the eighth and bumped me into my brother's class and my brother was just mad Yeah, but anyway they helped me a lot long, you know Deb, did you have horses? Oh, yeah, we had our own when we were little my mom Could break horses for men were mean to them, you know She would whistle and pet them walk around whisper to them and all this stuff And she had them before she could just whistle and way out in the orchard They'd hear and hear they'd come their tails of flying the main flying Coming to the house and then she taught one of them to put his head way down When my kids were little we'd sling get up on his neck and he'd raise his head up and we'd slide down on his back And if four of us would get on there like that And we'd ride around walk around all over the house around the house They replaced with that horse with us all the way back old jib We sure cried when he died a long truck hit him no gravel truck hit him broke his leg Yeah, they had to shoot him and and uh, but anyway mom taught that horse to do that So we all grew up with horses, huh? Oh, yeah, we each had our we had to feed the chickens and we boys had my brothers had to milk the cows And my brothers is their job the other ones are to go get the cows in One time they dad come home to get the cows milk. We couldn't find them. You couldn't find them Why we looked well, we better go look again because you got to go find them Dad went out there and there they had stuff those kids and stuff moss up into their bell so they wouldn't ring Dad just watered them on a button said you get those cows to the barn and you milk those cows You know crazy kids Todd is how the fish the rowboat set it at All those things and then they had trap lines in those days I said wonder I didn't smell like some of those things drying on those boards So those pelts But they never did say anything like that. But yeah, they'd catch those things and mink and stuff and sell them Yeah So we were taught how to swim and they Did learn to swim they my one brother make me hold my hands like this and one under this arm one two three Out you go Third time they said we'll we'll put he in But then you start learning the dog paddle, you know To learn to swim. That's how I learned to swim Yeah But we all had to learn because we're close to water dad said they may save your life or you might save some buddies So I saved my cousin's life one time and Anyway saved her from drowning But anyway, they taught us a lot of things like that This girl's had to cook and my sisters were sure good cooks too You're pretty young in the family though. Yeah, but still had learned Yeah, if you had to stand on an apple box Yeah But we all we all were good cooks, you know Mom said if you go to cook you make sure your food tastes right and it's cooked right And don't be mean don't be mad because if you're mad when you learn to cook it never turns out right Quilting or sewing Quilting they had quilting bees too Wrapped on the hill and then they had big canaries cost us a penny a can from the government to can or salmon and meat and stuff Great big fat tubs, you know to put them in the can of daddy big canary And we all had to do that dad made nets and the boys run the nets and the trap lines, you know So I can't ever ever remember we had big gardens everything all kinds of vegetables that we grew We had potatoes we had carrots onions celery Oh god, what else? Peas I remember the big peas we had to string the strings up so the peas could go up Now you should go out to eat off of the off of the vine And we had apple all kinds of apples in a big orchard And we had what hook and eels And we had chickens. We had eggs. We had cows. We had calves We had horses We had wagons and everything Yeah, no king car What did you trade for? What did you trade for or buy? Buy we can I could go down to this store. I worked For some people about a mile from her house. We upon what we call red at hill Worked them all day for a dollar And then I'd go down the store and buy my mom some oranges and Whorehound candy that she liked to suck on And I'd get those things and I'd still have money left and But anyway, we had we don't ever remember being hungry For anything we had all kinds of garden stuff and we had rhubarb and we had logan berries All kinds of berries. We had blackberries evergreens that we'd go pick and make jelly And have jam, you know, we never bought any of that stuff. We made all of it Did you dry any food? Oh, yeah, we had we had a smokehouse All the bit of years even after my my husband died I still kept a smokehouse, you know Because my kids were like smoked fish and stuff I even used to put chickens up in the smokehouse to a guy came from he was from An Indian from South Dakota and He said what's it kind of meat is in these beans. I said chicken chicken Never heard of chicken and I said, well, yeah, we we took it and hung it in a smokehouse and so it got smoked He said I taste the smoke I never heard of him using chickens He was just unfounded So we hung chicken up in the smokehouse so that it would get put it in our beans And so anyway, we had a lot of stuff mom canned all kinds of Use those apples and even the pealings and made jellies all kinds of different kind of berry jellies and jams and stuff and she would Pickle stuff and I never had those things anymore But I used to can everything too. I got my hands on And growing up when my kids are little Did your sisters cook were your sisters good cooks? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah Oh, my sister Evelyn was uh, chinese food. Man, she could make good chinese food Oh And even my son, he you know, he was the best sticky rice cook I ever met Where you could just want it and stick to the wall You know, he was sticky rice And my oldest boy could cook anything He made cakes frosted cakes all these I told my boys You're going to do everything you're someday you're going to get married And your wife's going to get sick or something and you have to do her work So you're going to learn to run the laundry Do the laundry you're going to learn to cook All my boys cooked The last one Keith he was a good cook He could cook anything And I could someday you're going to get married your wife could get sick and you're going to have to do her work And that means your laundry. So I made those boys. I said after your night after you're nine years old I'm not your maid anymore you know You're going to do your own picking up of all your stuff. You're going to learn to make your bed You know, you're going to learn to wash dishes even my boys had take turns wash dishes I had six three boys and three girls Yeah, no not there was up to way up to longston Yeah and But anyway up to so that's who started and I lived in tillamook for a long time too I worked in the hospital for a long time up there But anyway, I Can't ever remember any hardship when I was a kid We always dressed good You know, we would work to go out into the Independence organ to the hop fields in the summer and pick hops to make our school clothes We didn't have to buy our food our lunches at school the government furnished that for us And my mother had a Maytag putt putt Maytag washing machine that I didn't have to scrub on the washboard anymore and Side iron we had electric iron We had these sad irons Uh, but anyway, we we learned to sew when we were young anything got ripped. We had to sit out and sew it No pins if we pinned mother would get on us We had to fix it And uh, so there's a lot of stuff, you know that Even prayer They taught us how to how we're supposed to pray and give thanks And those things how us kids weren't to walk in front of an elder without saying pardon me. Excuse me Learn all the magic words You know someday you're going to give these magic words to your own kids and I did You know just like what God called me when I was about 40 something years old to do this spiritual path I can't do that. I'm not worthy you give it to somebody else Well, that didn't work and kept coming and kept coming so finally I said I'll do it So the next thing I did is I went to my kids. They weren't married your own all the adults now I went to my kids and I told them how God has called me to do this spiritual path And I said I I made Mistakes with you kids. I've hurt you in some way, but I want you to forgive us before I do this So I did that Went to all of my he'd went way down southern california by sun keith was way down there So I went down there and told him that too To gas for forgiveness. I said someday you kids will get married And there's no such a thing as parent school. So you'll probably make mistakes or hurt your kids do But teach them forgiveness so that they can forgive you some day and So I thank my kids for forgiving me and so then I began to Listen to God then and there's there's things that he wanted me to do And so it's been that way all these many years now And I thank God because through all of the things that I have completed that he gives me That's why I'm here Because I'm minded and I love my god Huh Oh, yeah Love is all there is whether she deserves it or not You know, I was called to there was 20 Several years ago to sandy, origan to come and pray for these grandfathers There's 27 000 of them at that time circling the globe Mentoring young men and speaking to audience So they called me up to sandy, origan and peter cotton. Do you know peter cotton? From ashland You could talk to him He went with me when they we wound up. He was one of them These grandfathers and so I went up to sandy, origan, and I'm talking to god Up there. I said god. What do you say to grandfathers? You got to help me. I don't know. I bet I'm at a loss for words So I'm getting up on the stage and I looked at all these gray-headed guys and I thought god you give me the words now So I'm standing there and took a deep breath and looked out I thank you for calling me to come I thank you so much and I thank you for what you're doing as you journey around the world To do that you're you're mentoring young men and to be mentoring young men You had to say thanks to your mother because it took a woman's body to bring you all into this world So give thanks to your mother right now whether you love her or not Through her you got your first breath So afterwards some of them said they never thought of that and But anyway, that's what god gave you right off the bat. They never thought of it until I stood up there and I was a sweating But anyway, and then I went back to Deer Park, Pennsylvania They called me back to the men back there the grandfathers and I told them the same thing And they were astounded some of those guys said they never thought to ever thank their mom for their first breath Or I said it's never too late if she's still above grass you better tell her thank you for your life And so then I met with the bear dancers And they didn't want the women to do bear dancing. I said why not? You bear the bearers wouldn't have got into this world. It wasn't for a female bear either So they served their purpose And so now they're letting the women to bring their medicine forward to the bears Those guys that come up to my you know The kitty and situi and them for now there the women can form theirs Yeah, yeah So they can form it because I said in order for the bears that come into this world took a female bear too Didn't that I told them So they got they said were great purpose. It wasn't for the female bear. You guys wouldn't have been here They wouldn't a bear bear men Male bears, you know, so now they they're coming forward We gotta get going. They're gonna start using the room. Oh, that's right. They need the room Oh God this fight ten after four five o'clock Oh, well, I hope you're satisfied with it. If not, I'm not not too far away There's so much to say so much. Yeah, it's always good to hear. Yeah They wanted a picture of me To go to make the statue and this guy said I don't want a picture. I want her And so I went over and they made carved me Russell Beebe He lives over there out of talent and I think he's a jibway Yeah, and he's quite a carver and so he carved me on this altar tree And with my arms up and had oh, I took a suitcase of my Different necklaces stuff that he my caps and things that he could pick out which ones would be Okay, that he could carve And we did that And he had me to raise my arms up as I would be standing there praying So I did so they carved me in full regalia It had me on this tree And then down below me was a baby in a pepuz basket and then there was a Snake on that tree. I think a deer a salmon And there's a lot of animals on this pole with me and then Over the years it began to crack and when it did In the winter it cracked and water get in there and it had freeze and cracked some more And then it got moldy and then the top of my head got moldy where Russell Beebe had to go up there in the ladder to clean it all up And then finally they said it had to be taken put some more so Matthew Haynes a lawyer that he's the one produced the tree and helped to pay to get it done Lives over there. And so him and Russell and I went around into SOU campus looking for a place to put this tree Out of the weather And so we finally found a place there in the library Up close to the window They wanted to put it in the four-year and I said, oh no people be barking on it out there putting things on it So anyway, they let us put it by the window in the four-year Out of the way and then Russell carved some beautiful benches For people to come and set to use it for a turbidity center or to sit and pray whatever It is still there if you want to go look at it It's still sitting there and from that tree. They got a man that Would did it in bronze? His name was Jack And so he did it in bronze and I even went over and had they called me and I went over and I was chipping all that stuff off of my head It was funny And so anyway, they got it. I think it's about 17 feet high over there. This done in bronze and then they got some Some benches there that you could sit and meditate or just sit and rest whatever But it still stands there And uh, they named the mountain after me I don't know whether they ever got it on the map, but it was to why we picked my my name name is to why we which means morning start and So anyway Go have a look at the statue over there as you've gone in on The main street going into ashland on just right into town It's right on your left. It's going down a little hill Take a look at it So a lot of people go over there and say they're glad it's there I'm proud too that'll be there in perpetuity as far as I know Do you want to explain? Yeah, they got the three Tattoo marks on my chin on it two on both of them And uh, it came to me a long time ago vision if I'm the creator what this was supposed to look and uh I kept putting it off and putting it off until some years went by and My tribe called and said there were 17 Māori's coming to our tribe That they wanted me to come up and bless them. I said all right So I went up And in that 17 there was a master tattooist and a one man that he had trained Was there with him? So when they called me to come up I asked mark From over there in duzin and if he brought his tools, he said oh, yes, ma'am Can you do my markings? He said yes So when we were up to my tribe to confederate tribes of sluts and tribe a whole and They'd brought me in a chair that leaned way back Now it's just getting in there lay down and then I started to get up. He said where you going grandma? I said I'm gonna get paper and pencil draw it what my vision is supposed to look like. Ah sit down The other tattooist had already told him so we were all crying what a validation We were all crying To know that that uh the other tattooist had already told him what it's supposed to look like So there was a lot of people lying down over there That wanted something for him to do something on them And so I said mark just make three lines and I was going to new zealand So I said we can finish it over in wellington So that's where we finished it. But when we were at the tribe And the other tattooist had told him what this is supposed to look like everybody was crying my tribal people And the mauris were all crying I was crying and So They sang the mauris were singing it. Oh god. They could sing it's so beautiful to hear them sing And then my tribal people were there they would sing back and forth. They'd sing And I was crying most of the time that he was working on me But anyway, he put just those three lines and when I went to Over there to wellington in new zealand And he finished it up Hundreds of mauris were there singing I swear to god that huge building the walls were weaving in and out when they were singing It was so beautiful And so I feel like that I got done what god wanted me to have done So my daughter has this on her chin my daughter nadine that takes care of me And I she could do what she wants To with hers whatever she wants to have however she wants it But anyway, I'm she she said that Spirit told her to get something on too for he did that for her And so I'm pretty proud that she has that done too But anyway, I that it was a great great connection with those people over there. I've been over there with them several times and There's such a nice bunch of people and I got to speak in their government and it was nice and So we still have connections over there with them And it's been such a great thing and I did this and 2004 Right after us grammis came together and Phoenicia, New York And it was after that But it's the same year but I'm pretty proud that it's on I get asked this even by pilots from planes Ask me what it means But I tell I told my tribal people when I had this done in 2004 It it disappeared for over 250 years prior to that So I got when I did it and then they need there was about a six or seven after us that day But now there's a bunch of them Yeah, there's a lot of them up there that has tattoos on them now So Anyway, it was a nice thing. I feel good about it now even But I you have to really walk your talk You know, that's being honest. Honesty is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself You know, I'm honest to myself. So I'm honest everybody You know, I don't fib about anything either little white lies. I don't do that Either because God knows When you tell a story He knows when you lie or don't tell the truth. He knows So it's better to be honest from the get-go So I am that If you're not too tired, you want to talk about the 13 grandmothers. Oh, you know when when we came together When they called me I thought wondered how they heard of me Because they waited way down Gurneyville, California when the call came And I said, all right. I'll think about that and pray about it took a couple of months and be praying whether decepted or not Find out that one of the women that belonged to down there in Gurneyville and had been up here with winsong Another friend of mine over there in Williams They said they watched my walk for four and a half years here. So they knew that they wanted me on this committee So I finally finally went We were gathered in out of Phoenicia, New York back inland to a place called men la part were Just holding us at allie lava and the monks all come for the retreat a beautiful cap ground of buildings and really nice and Robert uh thurman's Wife Nina was taking care of it. I suppose she's still there and umeth thurman their daughter is a Movie actor and she's really a nice gal I got to meet her too and But anyway, we came together there And there was a grandma's from all over the world and home. We came together at this huge table And we were sitting there my grandma from Alaska Trying to even think of her day right now Uh reader blumenstein She's from up there and when she came with us She brought a package And she put it on the table and she opened it and dumped out Thirteen stones that her grandmother gave to her when she was nine years old Said someday to hang on to him and someday she would sit with other grandmothers We were all crying Man, I'm telling you I even to mention it now. I was so shook up And crying and it's not what a validation You know from that years ago for them to prophesy us coming together And many people all over the world Said how we encouraged them Elders came up and said they could wanted to do this. They wanted to do things It just seemed like they just blossomed like a flower Lot of places we went to and how that uh, so then I was called A couple years ago to come over there to Italy to meet with The european grandmothers 26 of them coming out of that they were supposed to get 13 And they had me to come because they wanted to ask me questions about what us grandmothers are doing and So I pray even as I speak right now that they're going strong that they're doing all right And I was so proud that I really cried because I thought how that country needed them You know needed them to be a guide for peace for love To care about each other to care about their countries to get along And I thought how that europe needed those grandmothers. I felt that so strongly when I was over there So then they had me to come over and I helped them to get started and I pray as I speak That they're doing great And that they're forging ahead and helping their land because that country sure couldn't use the grandmothers You know, I said god God couldn't be everywhere. That's why he created his grandmothers So I have that that little message on my refrigerator That god couldn't be everywhere. So he created grandmothers. So if you're a grandma, think about it You know, it's a nice. It's a nice place to be in your life to be a grandmother To encourage and uphold your children with love And love to me is all there is Because I love my life. I love getting up in the morning. I love what things I can do I love that I can still get around. I might be crippled, but I'm sure not handicapped And so I people ask me how you do it. I said easy one foot in front of the other. You got to keep them moving So use your head, you know in a good way not just to help yourself but to help anybody else You know to be be kind you want kindness and you better have it in there so you can give it away You know, so you can take a glass of water and talk to it with kindness freeze and you can prove to yourself How pretty it will look so you can do that and You could use music even different kinds of music loud too loud music would make it look cloudy And you can do your own testing You know about your water so But I pray that I've said something to keep you encouraged to keep you looking up To to have you to care about your surroundings about yourself Your insides as well as your outside Care about your neighbors how to get along stop the biases God people are getting killed because we don't like color But you know when the white man's bible came across the great waters In it it says you can look this up It says go cleave on to another and make me a new flower garden now. Haven't we done that? All colors are acceptable I don't have any Any any bad feelings about color I never did always stood up from black people mexican people Kids when they were little I stuck them for them You know white kids. I don't I don't like to see anybody picked on They they got a right to stand beside me Anytime I I was called over to medford a few years ago that they had a peace pole a big one over there They wanted me to come over and to bless that and I did When I was there there was a lot of japanese people that were there And when I everybody got through speaking I went out and you know what I said All of this big audience out there and all the different colors of people I said, you know if I had a sharp knife And I went out amongst all of you and cut your skin off. You'd all look alike Think about it. I told them stop this biases about color God says make a new flower garden and that's your job And that's what we have done Everybody has a right to stand by me Of any color you got a right to live just as well as I do And I pray that you hear me that you will stand tall Matter what your color is you have a right to to being be ing right to being Is anybody else you are part of god's flower garden? Don't forget it. Don't let nobody put you down You know, you got a right to be here And black is beautiful white is beautiful brown red all of these colors are beautiful You know, I thank god that I'm not colorblind that I could see them all You know that I don't have any problem With any of those colors and this is the way our world should be right here in America especially You know To accept each other. We're all from god in the first place You know And we all walk on the same path You got one time to walk it. So stop the bias and make it good. You'd be healthier mentally and physically Because love is all there is and again, I'm not talking about ego love. I'm talking about the love of life L-i-f-e four little word You know, I think that that's why god keeps me a going because I keep a hooping about this journey from my thinking thing to to my heart I think god gave us this body and then he gave us this thinking thing and put it above our bodies to rule the rest of it and is it ruling you right? Are you doing right because how you're wherever your feet taking your brains letting you do telling it to do that So watch what you're doing with that ticketing You know make it good make it your end of your day that you could feel comfortable that you felt good throughout the day And don't forget to laugh laughter is the cheapest medicine you got You know, so get out when you can in the sun That's another thing. That's good for us a little bit of sun Okay, now hope to god that I have said something to any of you that would help you Make you feel good about who you are You got a right to stand beside me. You got a right to speak the same as I do That's the beauty about being in America the freedom we have so shake hands to every veteran you meet Through them that we have this freedom those that have gone on that gave their all You know, I always remember them too The freedom that we have in this world And so I pray that you could talk to god Wherever you are day or night And i'm not talking church. I said i'm not talking religion. I've gotten a right. You got a right to do that To sit quietly. It's thank god for your life or whatever You know to help you whatever and I pray that you could do that That freedom we have here allows you to do that And I hope that I have said something that will keep you foraging ahead Learning learning learning It's your job too Old as I am I read everything I get my hands on i'm listening to the news I do my prayers when I hear things about like those 13 kids down in california that Their parents are tired of tied up and chained up and Good to feeding them and oh god, I don't know how parents could do such a god-awful thing And uh, but anyway, I'm always praying about things that I read about in the paper so You think about these things that I have mentioned Once to be born once today And I hope I haven't uh that i'm going to stay above glass for a while because I feel like I got things to do I've got to go to italy pretty soon And I got to go to the gathering of nations in albuquerque I got a lot of places I got to go and I always thank god for taking care of me inside and out And guiding my feet Helping me with words You know nudging me when I need to be nudged You know So I keep my ears and eyes open So that god can help me do whatever I need to do and I rely on my god a lot And I hope you do too Because I want to thank each and every one of you if I said something that Bolsters you up and makes you feel good amen But then if I could ever talk to you in person, I'd like that too so Take care of yourself Watch where you go. You'll got one time. Like I said to travel this world So make it good be strong care love You know, it's a beautiful country every time you blink your eyes you get a different picture What a camera you've got in your eyes Beauty all around you beauty should be inside of you And I pray that it is god bless each and every one and I thank you for listening Amen, love you