Tribe hosts annual Memorial Day Ceremony

 

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

The Tribe held its 23^rd annual Memorial Day Ceremony Monday, May 25, adding four names to the West Valley Veterans Memorial and paying tribute to the Tribe’s Gold Star families.

With the new additions, there are now 2,395 names on the memorial, which holds six black granite pillars honoring Tribal and community members from Grand Ronde, Willamina and Sheridan who served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Designed by the late Tribal Elder Steve Bobb Sr., a Marine Corps veteran himself, the memorial features a man and a woman in traditional Native garb, reaching toward the sky. It was dedicated in 2003.  

Tribal Elder Gene LaBonte and his wife Billie were among those who raised money for the memorial, working with Bobb. The Ad Hoc Veterans Memorial Committee worked to raise nearly $450,000 for the memorial, including $175,000 from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund and $113,000 in Tribal dollars  that the then-Tribal Council agreed to have taken out of the Capital Improvement budget. Tribal staff helped, performing project design refinements that trimmed $100,000 from the cost. The dedication ceremony included a flyover from an Air Force F-15E-Eagle that Billie LaBonte said she arranged for.

“My husband and I worked to put that up there,” she said. “Gene LaBonte, Reyn Leno and myself are the only ones that are still alive. Gene’s 84 and I’m 88, and we moved to Salem so we could be closer to our children.”

This year, the Tribe added the names of Tribal Elder Tim Douglass, Marine Corps; Adam R. Lulay and Tyler Mursch, Army; and Craig A. Haymowicz, Air Force.

Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy, Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris Mercier and Tribal Council members Pete Wakeland and Lisa Leno attended the ceremony.

Following a lunch served indoors in the Community Center, the crowd moved outdoors to sit under a canopy in front of the memorial, keeping them dry in spite of the rainy day. Veterans’ Special Event Board Chair Molly Leno, who organized the event, served as the master of ceremonies. Kennedy gave the invocation and Tribal member Anthony Quenelle sang in the honor guard as they posted the colors. Quenelle also sang an honor and healing song. Mercier read aloud the names added to the memorial. Honor Guard member and Tribal Elder Jesse Roberston read a poem, “Freedom is not free.”

Tribal Elder Reyn Leno was the guest speaker. Hearing that a few people had stayed inside because of the rain, Leno quipped that “I served in Vietnam. I served through the monsoons; this is nothing.”

He said he wishes someone would write about the Tribal families of military members.

“Veterans are one thing, but families of veterans is another thing,” Leno said. “Somebody should write a story. We should do it Tribally, we should do something in our cultural department to track families and have them give family stories.”

He noted that “When we were terminated, in 1954…we were only a Tribe of about 800 and most of them were here at Grand Ronde. Approximately 80 of them served in World War II, so 10% of our Tribe. Actually, every family probably had somebody serving.” Noting that the Tribe’s tribute to Gold Star families listed 10 lives lost, he said, “So 10% of that 10% actually lost their lives during World War II. That is history that we should never forget.”

In his own family, Leno said, his father served in North Africa, while three uncles served in the South Pacific and two more in the United States.

Both Reyn and Molly Leno said they particularly wanted to invite everyone to the 2026 Marcellus Norwest Memorial Veterans Powwow, taking place Friday to Sunday, July 10-12, at the uyxat Powwow Grounds in Grand Ronde.

Mercier also extended an invitation, noting that the Tribe will be hosting more than 100 student athletes from the Big 10 conference at the powwow in July.

“Just know that they could have chosen any Tribe out of Oregon and Washington to do this, and they chose Grand Ronde,” Mercier said. “The entire footprint of the Big 10 will be represented.  …  a lot of these students will have never been to a powwow before; they will have never experienced Native culture, so please do your best to be a good host to these people.”