Chapter II: The Early Years

II

The Early Years

Pat was born in Pocatello, Idaho on January 21, 1928. At the time of her birth, her father was a clerk for the Bureau of Indian A²airs (BIA), and her mother was a nurse for the Indian Health Service (IHS). They were stationed at Fort Hall, Idaho. Her younger sister, Frances (Milligan), was born two and a half years later on November 3, 1930.

As a result of her father working for the BIA, the family moved frequently. BIA housing was usually close to the o¹ces for the convenience of the employees. The result was that the girls did not mingle much with children from the Reservations. There is no indication that Pat had any enduring friendships from her childhood days. Her children and grandchildren recall that most of her early day recollections were about her parents and her sister. Her son Kevin said she was generally known as a BIA brat, the common term for the children of government employees living on the Reservations.

When Pat and her sister were too young to go to school, their working parents found a reliable and responsible person to take care of them. He was a Shoshone medicine man named Tagwits. Pat recalled an incredible story from these early years. One day their mother had prepared some soup for Tagwits and he was peacefully enjoying it when the over-tired little girls, sitting on the ·oor, started fussing. Tagwits tapped on the table and sang. As he sang a broom

Compassionate Woman

in the corner of the room danced about the room in time with the singing. The girls stared at the dancing broom. They reached out to grab it, but the broom would dance away. Laughter quickly replaced whining for the girls. With their mood change the broom danced back to its corner and Tagwits ³nished his soup.

Years later, Pat credited the dancing broom for her ability to accept the possibilities of the unbelievable. She felt she never had to suspend belief or intellect to accept the incredible.3 It also established a lifelong belief in the power of transformation. Here, from the inanimate to the animate. From this experience, watching a wooden broom come to life, she was led to a question that resonated throughout her life: What are the limits for change?

The family went to the Catholic Church regularly, but Indian ways were at the heart of the girls’ upbringing. Traditional Lakota values were stressed, as well as the need to get valuable skills for success in the white man’s world.

When Pat was about six years old, she entered an interpretive dance competition and won a trip to the national event at an exposition in Chicago. Pat, her mother, and Frances took the train from Pocatello to Chicago. She did not win anything, but she reported that the experience was priceless. Being an independent spirit, she wandered away from her hotel and got lost in the big city. With composure, this six-year-old approached a cab driver and told him what hotel she was staying at and that he should take her there and get paid by her mother when they arrived, which the cab driver did!

Her poor mother was frantic when she couldn’t ³nd her daughter. In desperation, she called Pat’s father, and it was no small matter to make a long-distance telephone call in 1933. Pat then walked in, con³dent and unperturbed. Her parents’ training in independence and resourcefulness paid o² and set the pattern for her future: without resources, but with resourcefulness and con³dence, Pat would ³nd ways to achieve her goals.

The family was closely knit. Eva generally had a garden and the girls would help with the weeding and other gardening tasks. The girls remembered fondly the picnics and camping trips they would

The Early Years

go on. John often took the girls to baseball games. He had a big St. Bernard dog, Patty, who was a favorite of the girls. John made a harness for Patty, who would pull the girls on a sled over the snow. They would have great fun romping together.

Education was also important to Pat’s parents. Books were a prominent ³xture in their home, and the New Yorker magazine could always be found in the living room.* A love for books was something that was instilled in Pat from an early age, and remained with her for life.

Their parents wanted the best for the girls so they could function well in both the Indian world and the dominant society. Both girls were given elocution and declamation lessons to help prepare them for the outside world. Traditions were also emphasized, however, and Pat’s mother made her a buckskin dress. She taught the girls to hoop dance and they also took ballet lessons. Eva’s father’s name was Pat with her beloved grandfather. Noel. His personal Indian name was; “Makhˇókiŋyaŋ,” a contraction of two words; “Makhˇá” (earth), and “Okíŋyaŋ” (·ying on or over)—he who ·ies over or on the earth. He was also known as Little Crow and often lived with the family. He would tell the girls many stories. The girls learned much of the Lakota values and rites on their grandfather’s knees. While they attended and respected the

* Books were important to her throughout her entire life. Her granddaughter, Maymangwa, cataloged several hundred in her personal collection, and she was a frequent patron at the Mobridge library.