string about indian boarding schools and the kids who went there... Before reading this on boarding schools, I named my website Navajo Spaceships because I envisioned it to be a flight into the imagination, taking us to a higher place. I did not realize I was just following a trail of Sioux girl, a former boarding school student like me, who started out to these places a century before I got here. I found this information about a young Indian girl who wrote a story about taking a trip to the moon, taking herself, her people and me on her travels there. This is taken from research on Carlisle Indian School, the website address follows: The Nellie we know best is that girl who took a trip to the moon in 1890. It was that Nellie who came to Carlisle as a student, graduated in the second class (1890), went on to university, returned to Carlisle as teacher and then matron, and was one of the last people on campus when it closed in 1918 Nellies Trip to the Moon The following is discussion about boarding schools taken from Navajos message board June 9, 99. It is regrettable that this websit is no longer available, and also gone are Navajopage and Shidineh, both were good sites when they were around...I got these messages.... Rustywire: I was in Albuquerque the other day and found myself standing on the street next to the Old Albuquerque Boarding School. It was a nice place the old buildings and I remember the kids who went to school there. The campus was clean, grass in front of the buildings and the voices of the children there, the comings and goings to the nearby stores and movies. The Dorm life, staying there with a bunch of others, the dorm attendants checking on everyone, cleaning all the time and all those things. The cafeteria food, the playing of basket ball outside and lounging around on the grass at the park next door. Those buildings were old, the school was built way back in the 20s and I think some of those buildings were that old, red brick, great big Victorian structures. There was a circle in the middle, a sidewalk with trees that was nice. Mainly I remember kids like Bettian Judee from Shonto, long hair and a nice smile. Her and many other graduated from Valley High, alot of kids went to schools in the area there. Life experiences were gained in this place, learning to live with one another and to see what a city was like. All these things came from this place. I stand here looking at this school, but I find that it has all been torn down and there is nothing but an empty field of weeds, a few pieces of broken concrete that were foundations and no trees. Everything is gone. It is an empty feeling standing here, much that was here and in other places like Stewart, Nevada; Richfield, Utah; Manuelito Hall in Gallup, Intermountain at Brigham city, Utah. These old schools that shaped us are disappearing, they are like a mist that has disappeared with the light of dawn. Soon they will be all gone. There is no monument not even a plaque to say this is where Albuquerque Boarding School was, just a street called Indian School Road, there is also a street with a similar name in Phoenix. The school there is gone as well. It was a place where lives were formed and life changing experiences were brought to native children in a world of the white man. Now, there isnt anything. I listened to the rustle of the trees and there is nothing more. I have seen old pictures of Carlisle in Pennsylvania and the Grand Junction School in Colorado; of those young Indian children standing there in black and white with buttoned up uniforms, shades of grey and they have no names. They are faces and not much is known about them. Yet I know I was one of them. How many of our children have gone to these places and there is nothing written about them and so their names are gone with the wind. I stand on this empty street and realize I am one of those faces now in some notebook, in a filing drawer about Indian education, but this place was much more than that there is nothing to mark this spot. It is time to go and so I step into my ride and drive away and see there is nothing, nothing left, it is gone forever... [email protected]: I grew up going to a Catholic school. The nuns where great at teaching fear and good behavior Jolene Catron, ouia@yahoo: about Albuquerque Indian school and old hospital: I remember attending the early beginnings of the Gathering of Nations powwow when it was at the old indian school campus. That was a while ago, and I was just a little girl with bugger nose and chizzy knees. Now I am a big girl...hahahaha. Anyway, my mother was born in the old hospital that used to be part of the indian school campus. The building burned down about 4 or 5 years ago, and my mother was visiting me that morning the old nurses quarters burned down. I lived downtown at the time, and my mother and I drove by the burning building. She was very, very sad to see that building burn, and that was the first time she told me that was where she was born. I am sure there are lots of memories that are kept alive when former students pass by that empty field. Jolene Nathan, nredhouse@aol: old Fort Lewis school : I can relate to your feelings since I have experienced the same thing myself and I saw it through the eyes of my Grandfather Sam Ahkeah out of Cudei. My cousin and I were going to school at Ignacio and Sam came by to take us back to school one Sunday after a holiday when we were allowed to go home. Sam came by with his son and I recall his visit with my mother, his niece. We went toward Farmington out of Shiprock, but instead of going into town, he took the LaPlata road toward Durango. Somewhere between the turnoff and route 160, I awoke after dozing and found Sam had stopped and was standing out in a field looking into the afternoon sun. With his off-white fedora blowing in the wind, he called us over but his son would not go and I went on alone to where he was standing. He took me by the shoulder and he lamented his childhood of how he was brought to this site where a school once stood. It was called Fort Lewis, he said. This is after he had completed his term of being Chairman of the Tribe. When we got to Ignacio he gave a wooden #2 pencil and told me that the pencil was not much but what came off the end was more important than the value. I go to Ignacio now and I stand among the trees next to the flagpole and look at the dormitories and think of all the youth who have passed through and think, my my, how young we all were. Nathan LD: about Lower Kaibeto boarding school: Totally understand the feeling. I attending the Lower Kaibeto Boarding School from K thru 4th grade. The trading post was just over the wash. There was a wooden foot bridge that spanned the wash. When the wash was flowing after a storm, we would stand on the bridge and watch the water rush under the bridge. The dorm aids would always chase us off the bridge, and some of us would get in trouble and be punished by standing in line in front of everyone else bent over with the legs straight and touching our toes for what seemed to be forever. After my 4th grade year (I think) the upper campus was built and moved up there. The trading post moved up some years later. Now all you see is chipped concrete floor and foundations where the dormitories, Gymnasium, teachers quarters and cafeteria once stood. Some good memories and some not so good ones. But as you said, when you stand there, theres an empty feeling where so many young lives were formed and molded. LD waterlogged_30@yahhocom: about Shonto boarding school: I remember boarding school, even though it seems like it was ages ago. I attended Shonto Boarding school for about eight years of my life. A small price to pay for what I deem the end results of a well fulfilled life. I remember having to walk in two single file lines everywhere we went, boy, girl, boy, girl... To the gym, the library, the cafeteria. Just about everywhere. Even to the restrooms. But not into, thank God. Having to stand at the head of the table in the cafeteria to recite, Girrs may si down and boyz may si down. Who can forget those awesome Monday and Thursday night movies? Was it Bruce Lee again tonight or might it be Rooster Cogburn? Slush and popcorn for .50 cents. Wow. Am I telling my age here? What about those Wednesday evening canteen runs to the Bears Den for frybread, Navajo Tacos, a game of pool or Space Invaders. Spending the money that your Grandma had given you the last time you saw her when they dropped you off at the dorm. Dont forget to give some to your sister, echoing in your mind as you try to rid the world of the invasion of Galaga. Once in a while there was a dance held in the gym. Or as I remember, two or three dancers, 60 - 70 wallflowers. At least for about the first hour or so. Till some of the dorm aids start threatening that we will all go back to the dorm if nobody starts dancing. Which means everybody would get off there side of the bleachers and slowly migrate to the other side. The boys would still be on one side and the girls on the other. Every once in a while, the whole gym would be racked by cries of ohh-ohh in discoesque fashion trying to emulate the latest warblings of the likes of KC and the Sunshine Band. Now this is getting pretty scary. Then the day would finally arrive. Friday, check out day. Will this be the week that Mom and Dad will show up and take us home for the weekend? Or will I be stuck here again for another clean up day around the school campus? One by one, others are being checked out by relatives and family, freed from the daily regiment of details and such. Any minute, someone will be coming for me too. I hope. Sometimes they did, most times not. But, such was life in the ole Boarding school. I rather quite enjoyed this little walk down memory lane. I thank you for resurrecting some of those moments that will live on, at least in my mind. In your minds also. They may be pictures in a filing cabinet somewhere of the BIA Boarding School System. But as for me, each is a cherished memory of my youth. Apart of history that I played a small, maybe forgetable, but nevertheless, precious role in. 2K:about Richfield dorm Reminiscencing about the old days spend at boarding schools can bring back alot of memories, rather they are good or bad. It is sad that some of these schools are history with nothing, not even a plaque, to commemorate it with. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the last dinner with the class of 99 and other former students of Richfield Dorm. Alot has changed since I was there, but I remember vividly, and picture myself and my friends, what we did. I remember the stereo with its speakers blarring country music which you can hear all the way downtown. The bucking barrel that was on the east side of the dorm. The study halls, family dinners, doing our own laundries. I remember the stories we used to tell about ghosts and skinwalkers. Then, I wonder what happened to these students and friends that I knew...where are they? How did they turn out? What are they doing now? You wonder why you didnt keep in touch and regret getting an address. These are the good old days, the good and bad, when life wasnt as hectic. The staff that I still remember; Mr. Charles, Mr. Addison, Mrs. Waters, the principal, Mr. LeFlore, the night aid walking down the hall. I could go on and on, but when I stepped out of my car, and set my eyes on the dorm and campus, I choked up knowing that this will all be history. What good memories this history would be. k Kay: more about Richfield dorm In response to 2k, i am only 1 of those hundreds of students that went to Richfield Dormitory. I visited back to the dorm in January or so, and they did mentioned that this would be the last year for the dorm to be opened. I regret not going to the last dinner in May. I just couldnt make it. In my last visit I had a chance to visit w/ Mr. Lee and Mona Lee Petersen. I still love to EAT, so i remember the kitchen the best, Mr. Lee cooking up fry bread, & mutton stew. It seems I was always in there for K P duty, working off hrs, or was hungry. The ghost stories fit the picture, wasnt the dorm built on an old, old graveyard or something like that, on the girls side? I use to hear anyway. I still will go back and visit. Thanks for the memories...rustywire
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 07:09:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015