Camille Russell and my Dad
This picture was taken at a Head Dress Ceremony.
The following experience happened at another time, but was something I always wanted to remember.
Excerpt from Dad's Journal, May 19,2011:
I went to another Indian Residential School Committee meeting this morning. It was very interesting. I sat beside Bruce Wolf Child and he was telling me how he got his Indian name. Apparently his aunt had conferred the name of his grand father upon him after he had proved himself worthy of it (in competition with his cousins). It made me think of my grandfather's Indian name. Heber Matkin was known as Appiweenam. So I asked Bruce if it was possible for me to receive my grandfather's name. He looked at me for a moment and then said, "I will give it to you." So after our meeting there was a ceremony where he gave me this name and a blessing with all the other elders in the meeting as necessary witnesses. The elders all remember Heber Matkin with admiration and respect and each told about their experiences with him and with me and reminded me of the privilege and responsibility of my new name. Camille Russell told me how rare a privilege it is to receive an Indian name. He said, "I hope you understand how rare this is, I don't have an Indian name. This means you are now an elder in our tribe." Bruce concluded the ceremony by taking me by the arm and asking me to cross my hands over my heart and then he sang an Indian praise song.
I told them that one of the most important and formative examples in my life had been my grandfather and that one of the most impressive features about Heber had been his respect for native peoples and I hoped to emulate that love and respect and that I was very grateful to accept the name Appiweenam and pledged to live up to that tradition of respect and service.
