Last year, we invited Wendell George to join us at the Entiat Museum. We proposed to him a new exhibit about the Entiat Tribe. We have bits and pieces of the story, but told from the settlers' point of view. Our intention is to bring to our display the early history of Entiat from the tribe's perspective.
Wendell George is a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes and is now retired after many careers such as helping land a man on the moon as an engineer for Boeing, tribal planner, elected tribal Councilman, tribal corporation CEO, author of three books with another on the way, owner and operator of a 100-acre apple orchard and a 150-head cattle ranch. His great-grandfather, Chilcosahaskt, was Chief of the Entiat tribe, his grandfather, Lahompt, started the first family cattle ranch and his dad, Moses, was elected to the first Tribal Council.
Wendell was also elected to serve on the boards of Wenatchee Valley College, Omak school, and Paschal Sherman Indian school. He lives in Omak, Washington with his wife, Barbara. They have six children, six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Wendell is an author of several books about his people. He learned the power of writing down the stories that were passed down through the generations from his parents. They took a course at the Wenatchee Valley College and began writing the oral stories of their people. They and Wendall have ensured that the history and philosophies of the Entiat Tribe will not be forgotten.
Wendell has given us permission to use his books, words and photos to tell the story of the Entiat Tribe as told in his book, Last Chief Standing: A Tale of Two Cultures , written in 2012. Wendell introduced us to Cheryl A. Grunlose, artist and member of the Lakes, Wenatchee, and Entiat bands of the Colville Confederated Tribes to create an art piece to complement the stories of the Entiat Tribe. Cheryl began her artistic career in 1995 and attended the prestigious Institute of American Indian arts in Santa Fe. In 2000, her ledger art took first place at the Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market & Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ledger artists, inspired by centuries-old line drawings and pictographs, work with introduced paper materials such as ledgers or journal books.
All of Cheryl’s chosen papers, books and documents are dated in the early 1900’s. She uses pictorial art to tell stories, and her drawings as a plateau style ledger artist are richly influenced by a combination of her tribal history and traditions.
Comments