Meet some Potawatomi

 

Prairie Band

These are my grandchildren:  From Left to right:  Luis "Hooty" Ortiz.  I've called him Hooty since he was a baby.  When he was young, there was a hurricane that hit the South called Luis.  We had no word for Hurricane so I asked this Mexican gentleman how to say it in his language.  He said "uh duh kon" (sorry for butchering the words) and in time he bacame known as Hooty:  Hooty is a freshman ar Royal Valley High School.

Nyeh was keh is my oldest grandson.  When he was a baby he cried a lot until he got his Indian name and then calmed down a bunch.  They would play pow wow songs for him and that calmed him down too.  Neyeh was a top dancer and when he was just a little guy, he would go dance for Maynard and Coraline his great grandparents.  They sure enjoyed watching him.  His other grandfather, Troy taught him how to lead stomp dances.  He graduated from Kickapoo Nation School and is a singer with a good voice and is picking up the songs well.  He is working now but we want him to go to school somewhere and I'm sure he will in time.

"Kek Kah Kweh" or Kek was born on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing took place in 1995, so out of that came life.  She had the most hair I ever saw on a baby and she was such a fragile baby.  Now she is a freshman at Royal Valley High School and has no interest in sports but she helps by being a manager on the basketball teams.  I never pushed our kids and always left it up to them in this regard.  She volunteers for everything and is a licensed babysitter.  Kek won an award for her "Native Youth Outstanding Volunteer Work for the Health Initiative Program in 2009.

My oldest granddaughter Tara was a top-of-the-line basketball player who accomplished  a lot.  She even won many all-league awards.  Now she is living in California and her husband is in the United States Marine Corp.  Tara does bead working, fortunately we have not out sourced this to China yet.

The guy on the far right is "Pat ko shuk" and he is my youngest grandson but I still call him "my boy."  I teach him prayer words that I was taught by my mother, father-in-law and my aunt.  I feel so good to hear him learn so quickly.  He prays every night before bed time.  Sometimes he can get into trouble, he is nine.

Gary Mitchell, Prairie Band of Potawatomi. Tribal historian.  
To Continue Reading Link



Potawatomi Sermons In Potawatomi Link
The Book Of Acts In Potawatomi Link 
The Book Of Matthew In Potawatomi Link