Weaving in Beauty

Keith Little is at the right in this picture, taken in August 2007. Also in the picture from left are Barbara Spelman, Jennie Slick, Code Talker Samuel Tso and Judy Sutton.

Tempe, AZ   I’m very sad to report that Code Talker Keith Little has passed away at the age of 87.  Mr. Little was the president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association and you can see and hear him speaking on the Code Talker web site (warning: music plays when you go to the site).   He joined the Marines in 1943 and served in the Marshall Islands, Saipan and Iwo Jima.  In order to qualify as a Code Talker, a recruit had to be able to read and write both English and Navajo, a rare skill even today.  Although the code was based on the Navajo language, it was refined with cyphers so that not even a person who understood Navajo would be able to decode it.   The code was never broken. 

Keith Little became a wonderful and articulate spokesman for his fellow Code Talkers and especially worked to communicate to young people the need to strive for excellence and to answer the call of duty.  He was proud of the Navajo culture and traditions, believing that they are a firm foundation for generations to come as they were for him as a young man going to war.  

It might seem weaving has very little to do with the Code Talkers, but weaving is a large part of the way of life that Keith Little went to war to protect.  There is a Code Talker mural by Be Sargent in Gallup that depicts these brave men in present and past, framed within the Four Sacred Mountains and  the familiar rhythms of life in their homeland.  You can see it in a panorama below.  There’s a weaver teaching the craft to her grandchildren in the left hand corner.  The inscription in Navajo reads “Niha áłchíní nołinígíí Diné bizaad bee ałdasiibaa yéę nihaa doolyoół.  Éí ‘akót’éego ha’oodzil Dinék eh yáti éí bee ách’ąąh neelyéego hinii’ná.”   To you, our children, we bring home the Navajo Code.  It is our way of saying speak Navajo and defend our way of life.

It is this way of life that Keith Little defended until yesterday evening.  Nizhónígo naniná doo, Mr. Little.  May you walk in beauty. 

The Code Talker Mural in Gallup, NM. Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

A portrait of Clara Sherman playing her harmonica woven by Pamela Brown

Window Rock, Navajo Nation Roy Kady  posted a message on Facebook today saying that Two Grey Hills master weaver and national treasure Clara Sherman has passed away at the age of 96.  Although she has been in declining health in the last couple of years, she continued to weave until she was 94.  She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts in 2004 and the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2006. You can gain an appreciation of Grandma Clara’s vibrant energy and joy in sharing her craft in the video below, embedded from Youtube and provided by Wolf Creek Productions.

Ahé’hee (thank you from the bottom of our hearts), Clara, for the way you lived your life and the example that you set for us.  Nizhónígo naníná doo (may you walk in beauty).

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Here’s Jennie with a small weaving that she finished last month

Happy birthday to master weaver Jennie Slick!  Ashdla’diin dóó ba’aan náhást’éí binááhai.  Just try to Google that!  It’s Jennie’s age in Navajo.  Jennie doesn’t have email, but you can send her a card at P.O. Box 321, Houck, AZ 86506.