https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/cb2d33f162bcbcf5802ab75c80c35622.pdf 649a64a41547d9e01836a48f25089f8e PDF Text Text '1 '1 '1 '1 'l '1 'l J 'l i ) ) i EDITH SHOSHONE BURCH "Since my parents both died when I was 3 years old, the only things I know about them came from my oldest sister, May. I was born June 6, 1907 in the Pine Valley across the river from Ignacio, probably in a tepee. The Indians often moved into their tepees during the warm months, partly because they were easy to move when they got restless and partly because they reminded them of an earlier time. My father, Harry Shoshone, Sr. was a tribal policeman. Death came early and unexpectedly for him. He was sent to patrol a fair in Durango and in the course of his duty he chased some unruly drunks, stepped in a hole while running and broke his leg. Infection set in. The leg was amputated and he died from loss of blood. A few months later my mother, Laura, died also. I do not know the cause of her death." J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) } J ) ) J .J J .J _) ...J _) J ...J J J J J J J J J "I was placed in the Indian School Dormitory north of Ignacio. Since I was so young, I was placed with the cook, Mrs. Simpson, (Jessie Hott's mother) who had an apartment in the dorm. Later she married and became Mrs. Stauffer. She was like a mother to me and took a special interest in me until I left the Ignacio School at the age of 11. The dormitory I lived in is now the boy's dorm. At that time one end was for boys and the other for girls. Some of the other original buildings are gone and the water tower which gave us so much fun is now gone. We were not supposed to climb it, so of course, we did. I tried it once but got so scared half way up, I came back down. None of us went home for the holidays. We stayed at school all year until summer vacation. I spent summers with my sister, May." "At the age of 11, I was sent to school at Towaoc for a year. Then I went to Santa Fe where I finished the 8th grade. I could have gone to Albuquerque to finish high school, but instead I took a job working in a Sanitarium at Dulce. Later I worked for a Presbyterian missionary in the Dulce area. When he moved to Albuquerque, I came back to Ignacio. Ernest Burch went to school w ith me, but I never paid any attention to him until I moved back to Ignacio. He built dams and irrigation ditches for the Pine River Project. He had bought an old Ford car with a crank start. It was fun to go on dates in a car. We got married in 1927. At first we lived with my sister Jane Bird in an old adobe house located near the present site of the Tribal maintenance shop. Soon we moved into a two room frame house with a living room-kitchen and one bedroom. It had a wood-burning cook stove and no other improvements. Later we got Louis Valdez to build us a 4 room adobe house. It still stands south of Graves Gunn's house. We had running water in a spring down near the river bank. We fenced the spring to keep dogs and cows from spoiling the clean water. Fortunately, I knew how to ride a horse, because Ernest needed me to help round up his cattle and sheep for many years. After several years we built a house up on the hill east of Ignacio. It was a special house since it was our first one with modern plumbing and lights." "My husband was a singer and dancer in the old tradition of the tribe. He was often the first one up the valley to sing and play the drum while the Sun Dancers held up their arms to pray. He knew the Bear Dance songs and often helped with that. All the Indian 19 �ways and ceremonials were very important to him. He followed the Indian ways until he died in 1977." "We had 10 children in all. The ones still living are Homer, Ernestine, LaVarra, Nova Dene, Robert, Dennis and Cynthia. Franklin died when he was 18. The others died when they were babies." "We moved out of Ignacio in April of 1977. Ernest died in November. His funeral was at Sacred Heart Church in Durango where we were married 50 years before. When I think about the days when we were young, I remember how active we were. We baked our own bread and made quilts. If we needed something from the store, we walked to town with packs on our backs to carry the canned goods. I think we have gotten too lazy." "The important thing for me today is to go to church. I like to go twice on Sunday. I enjoy it and I enjoy going to Worker's Conference in other towns. I try to get my Indian friends to go to church regularly. It helps me and I think it would help them, too." March, 1979 -- by Shelby Smith 20 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Edith Shoshone Burch Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1979-03 Subject The topic of the resource Burch, Edith Shoshone; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Edith Shoshone Burch based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the March, 1979 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Burch, Edith Shoshone Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby