Post by blackcrowheart on Feb 14, 2008 14:43:02 GMT -5
Tulalip elder worked to keep tribal members employed
By Julie Muhlstein
Herald Writer
Shortly before she died, Bernita Lewis voiced as firmly as she could
a request to one manager with the Tulalip Tribes.
"She could barely talk," said Teri Gobin, manager of the Tribal
Employment Rights Office. "She was really weak, but she said, 'Teri,
come here. Make sure and get this person a job.'
"I said, 'OK, I'll work on it.' We'll miss her," Gobin said last week.
Getting jobs for tribal members was Lewis' calling.
A Tulalip tribal elder, Lewis was an elected commissioner with the
agency that monitors and enforces the Tribal Employment Rights
Ordinance. The law requires businesses and contractors to use preference
in hiring qualified tribal workers while doing business on the Tulalip
reservation.
"It was started in the '70s to help with high unemployment," said Gobin,
who added that tribal members elect five TERO commissioners who answer
to the Tulalip Board of Directors.
"Basically what she did was supply people with the proper tools, proper
boots and clothes, and send them to education to help them get working,"
said Bill Lewis, Bernita's husband. "She later retired and ran for the
TERO commission."
"I don't know how many times she tried to retire. That work was very
important to her," said Sharon Petersen, a friend so close she
considered Bernita Lewis to be her sister.
Bernita Louise (Brown) Lewis died May 30 at her Tulalip home. She was
69.
Born Oct. 13, 1937, in Bremerton to Allen and Louise (Sheldon) Ledford,
Bernita is survived by her husband, Bill Lewis; children Natasha
DeWolfe, Seattle; Richard Miller, Lynn Parker and Gail Miller, of
Tulalip; and Kenneth Wells, of Lynden; her children's spouses; five
stepchildren; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. She is
also survived by siblings Alan, Dean and Vern Ledford; by her Aunt
Bernice, Aunt Kate and Uncle Charles "Red" Sheldon; and many nieces,
nephews and cousins.
Shortly before she died of mesothelioma, a disease often linked to
asbestos exposure, she was recognized nationally as the TERO
Commissioner of the Year. Gobin was at Lewis' home when John Navarro,
president of the Council on Tribal Employment Rights, came from Arizona
to present the award. "She was so tickled," Gobin said.
In July, the Tulalip Tribes will send Bill Lewis to a convention hosted
by the Seneca Nation at Niagara Falls, N.Y., where his late wife will be
honored.
Although they met decades ago, Bill and Bernita were married only six
years. She married Lewis after her husband Robert Brown had died.
"I met Bernita in 1952 when I was in the Navy. I knew her only four
months before I caught a ship that went to Korea," said Lewis, 73. After
his Navy duty, he returned to his native Ohio.
Nearly 30 years later, after a divorce, he set out to find Bernita.
After Brown died, their relationship blossomed. They reunited in Las
Vegas, married in Ohio, and came back to the only place Bernita
considered home - Tulalip.
"She loved big get-togethers, big Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners,"
he said.
"My mom was a very social person," said Lynn Parker, Bernita's daughter.
"She loved family dinners with her aunts and uncles, and getting all the
kids together. She kept remodeling the house to accommodate everybody.
"She was always busy. She liked going to Reno. She liked traveling, she
had gone to Europe. But this was home," Parker said.
Sharon Petersen first met Bernita in grade school. Bernita's family was
living in Marysville at the time.
"We certainly did become best friends. We had so much in common,"
Petersen said. What they didn't have in common was Bernita's tribal
heritage.
"We didn't have television, but we used to read all these comics,"
Petersen said. "One day, we decided that if cowboys and Indians could
become blood brothers, why can't we be blood sisters? We snuck a paring
knife outside and cut our wrists.
"We could have bled to death, but we put them together and were as happy
as two peas in a pod. She had some white, I had some Indian. We believed
this to the utmost," said Petersen. She was with her friend when she
died.
"She knew every tribal member, and I believe she knew all their phone
numbers," Bill Lewis said. "She was unbelievable."
"She's the queen bee of the family," daughter Lynn Parker said.
By Julie Muhlstein
Herald Writer
Shortly before she died, Bernita Lewis voiced as firmly as she could
a request to one manager with the Tulalip Tribes.
"She could barely talk," said Teri Gobin, manager of the Tribal
Employment Rights Office. "She was really weak, but she said, 'Teri,
come here. Make sure and get this person a job.'
"I said, 'OK, I'll work on it.' We'll miss her," Gobin said last week.
Getting jobs for tribal members was Lewis' calling.
A Tulalip tribal elder, Lewis was an elected commissioner with the
agency that monitors and enforces the Tribal Employment Rights
Ordinance. The law requires businesses and contractors to use preference
in hiring qualified tribal workers while doing business on the Tulalip
reservation.
"It was started in the '70s to help with high unemployment," said Gobin,
who added that tribal members elect five TERO commissioners who answer
to the Tulalip Board of Directors.
"Basically what she did was supply people with the proper tools, proper
boots and clothes, and send them to education to help them get working,"
said Bill Lewis, Bernita's husband. "She later retired and ran for the
TERO commission."
"I don't know how many times she tried to retire. That work was very
important to her," said Sharon Petersen, a friend so close she
considered Bernita Lewis to be her sister.
Bernita Louise (Brown) Lewis died May 30 at her Tulalip home. She was
69.
Born Oct. 13, 1937, in Bremerton to Allen and Louise (Sheldon) Ledford,
Bernita is survived by her husband, Bill Lewis; children Natasha
DeWolfe, Seattle; Richard Miller, Lynn Parker and Gail Miller, of
Tulalip; and Kenneth Wells, of Lynden; her children's spouses; five
stepchildren; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. She is
also survived by siblings Alan, Dean and Vern Ledford; by her Aunt
Bernice, Aunt Kate and Uncle Charles "Red" Sheldon; and many nieces,
nephews and cousins.
Shortly before she died of mesothelioma, a disease often linked to
asbestos exposure, she was recognized nationally as the TERO
Commissioner of the Year. Gobin was at Lewis' home when John Navarro,
president of the Council on Tribal Employment Rights, came from Arizona
to present the award. "She was so tickled," Gobin said.
In July, the Tulalip Tribes will send Bill Lewis to a convention hosted
by the Seneca Nation at Niagara Falls, N.Y., where his late wife will be
honored.
Although they met decades ago, Bill and Bernita were married only six
years. She married Lewis after her husband Robert Brown had died.
"I met Bernita in 1952 when I was in the Navy. I knew her only four
months before I caught a ship that went to Korea," said Lewis, 73. After
his Navy duty, he returned to his native Ohio.
Nearly 30 years later, after a divorce, he set out to find Bernita.
After Brown died, their relationship blossomed. They reunited in Las
Vegas, married in Ohio, and came back to the only place Bernita
considered home - Tulalip.
"She loved big get-togethers, big Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners,"
he said.
"My mom was a very social person," said Lynn Parker, Bernita's daughter.
"She loved family dinners with her aunts and uncles, and getting all the
kids together. She kept remodeling the house to accommodate everybody.
"She was always busy. She liked going to Reno. She liked traveling, she
had gone to Europe. But this was home," Parker said.
Sharon Petersen first met Bernita in grade school. Bernita's family was
living in Marysville at the time.
"We certainly did become best friends. We had so much in common,"
Petersen said. What they didn't have in common was Bernita's tribal
heritage.
"We didn't have television, but we used to read all these comics,"
Petersen said. "One day, we decided that if cowboys and Indians could
become blood brothers, why can't we be blood sisters? We snuck a paring
knife outside and cut our wrists.
"We could have bled to death, but we put them together and were as happy
as two peas in a pod. She had some white, I had some Indian. We believed
this to the utmost," said Petersen. She was with her friend when she
died.
"She knew every tribal member, and I believe she knew all their phone
numbers," Bill Lewis said. "She was unbelievable."
"She's the queen bee of the family," daughter Lynn Parker said.