Posted on 04/10/2010 10:27:27 AM PDT by JoeProBono
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) -- Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller is being remembered as a patriot who was remarkable for both her strength and humility.
Hundreds of members of the Cherokee Nation and 170 tribal, state and federal officials gathered Saturday at a memorial service for Mankiller in Tahlequah (TAL'-ih-kwah), about 70 miles east of Tulsa. Mankiller led the Cherokee Nation from December 1985 until 1995.
She died Tuesday at age 64 after a bout with pancreatic cancer......
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was the sixth of eleven children. Her parents were Charley Mankiller (November 15, 1914 – February 1971) and Clara Irene Sitton (born September 18, 1921), who is of Dutch and Irish descent, but acculturated to Cherokee life.
The family surname, Mankiller, is a traditional Cherokee military rank and is Asgaya-dihi in Cherokee, which is alternatively spelled Outacity or Outacite.
Rest in peace.
Her name makes for an odd headline.
Sounds like she was a well-respected leader.
Prayers for her family.
Thanks for posting, Tax-chick. My relatives, although not members of the tribe, spoke very highly of Wilma. She was loved by many Oklahomans.
RIP........
The medical care given in her name will remind people for generations of what she did for her people. A noble soul.
My husband’s family is Eastern Cherokee. Chief Mankiller accomplished a great deal for the tribe in OK.
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