Thanks, John Oyler. We've had "Jess" among our acquaintances in the Order, not to diminish any of the uniqueness of yours. I light a candle in his memory this day! And TY for cleaning up my mess in Nigeria when the malaria in Ijede put an end to my traveling. I do get a lot of mileage from the Nigerian at the Shenyang Aerospace U when they find out I knew where Kano, Abeokuta, and Lagos was. Regards to Marilyn. But for now, it is Jess. May his tribe flourish and multiply! Jaime Vergara j'aime la vie earthrise consciousness, earthbound commitment, my choice yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: via Dialogue <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> To: dialogue <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Thu, Nov 19, 2015 4:09 am Subject: Dialogue Digest, Vol 44, Issue 11 Send Dialogue mailing list submissions to dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to dialogue-request@lists.wedgeblade.net You can reach the person managing the list at dialogue-owner@lists.wedgeblade.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Dialogue digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Celebrating the Life of Jess Sixkiller (Marilyn Oyler via Dialogue) 2. Re: Celebrating the Life of Jess Sixkiller (Sunny Walker via Dialogue) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2015 14:28:34 -0700 From: Marilyn Oyler via Dialogue <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> To: "dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net" <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: [Dialogue] Celebrating the Life of Jess Sixkiller Message-ID: <BLU184-W42E83EB93DC5381B3292A4DD1D0@phx.gbl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" On Sept 25th Jess Sixkiller was murdered in his home in west Phoenix at the age of 78 by an intruder. Police have apparently not made progress investigating. Jess was of the Cherokee community in Oklahoma and lived most of his life in AZ with his wife,Tammy, and family. His contributions within Indian Country and beyond were immense, including with ICA. In his early career he was the first Native American police officer and,subsequently, detective in the Chicago P.D. I came to know him as the director of Action for AZ. Jess first came into contact with ICA through an advocate of the Cannonball Human Development Project in N.Dakota. He gradually became a staunch supporter of the Pisinemo HDP in So Arizona and, through Action, enlisted auxiliary staff there in Vista, thus enabling the sustenance and credibility of the project. He was a valued colleague, advocate and adviser in AZ and nationally, for example with the IERD. I paid many visits to his office in the old federal building downtown (and actually still remember its telephone #) and was fortunate to have co-facilitated and co-trained with him, as well as making several road trips to different tribal headquarters. I cannot claim to know of even a fraction of his contributions outside of ICA, but judging by the presence of several hundred people at his burial service in the remote Blackwater district of the Gila River Community and the testimonies I heard there, he must have touched thousands of lives. For myself, it occurred to me that Jess was a mentor to me more than any other human being, from navigating Indian Country to being a slightly less stupid white man to swinging a golf club a little better. He once gave me a sand wedge with the remark, "It's a Ping, but you still have to hit the ball." This became a guidance for me professionally--you can have the best methods in the world, but you still have to connect with the group. Jess deserves to be remembered by all of us who knew him and knew of him. John OylerPartners in Participation602-468-0605 or 602-460-8843 (cell)www.partnersinparticipation.com