Pictured above: President George Heron giving an interview in front of the Coldspring Longhouse. Circa 1964
On Friday, January 31st, 2025 the Jacobs School of Medicine/University of Buffalo honored two local community leaders on behalf of their new curriculum. George Heron, former Seneca Nation President, and Arthur Eve, former member of the NYS Assembly and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly were recognized for their public service, leadership roles and being change makers of their generation.
The new curriculum is a four-year program for medical students accepted through their competitive process. The program aims “to advance health and wellness across the life span for the people of New York and the world through the education of tomorrow’s leaders in health care and biomedical sciences, innovative research and outstanding clinical care.” More than 600 applicants applied but only 180 students were selected.
Students are split into two “neighborhoods.” One neighborhood will be named the Eve neighborhood in honor of Mr. Arthur Eve and the other neighborhood will be named the Heron neighborhood in honor of Mr. George Heron. The groups will be split into smaller pods and be referred to as “streets.” At end of the program, students will be well rounded physicians with hands on experience through community and non-profit organizations.
“We were honored to teach about President Heron’s principled stand for his nation in our Medicine and Society course this past summer, as we showed our students the letter of protest that he wrote to President Kennedy opposing the building of the Kinzua Dam. As physicians, we must at times be the strength that others need in difficult times and President Heron taught us that there’s honor and value in that role.” – Jacobs School of Medicine
The Heron family and the Eve family were graciously invited to attend a short commemoration with dinner, conversation, and educational insight. The families were joined by staff, faculty, and students of the program.
Tyler Heron, oldest son of George Heron, shared some words about the Seneca Nation President, father, and community leader he was:
Good evening! My name is Tyler. I’m the son of George. My sister Gloria is here along with both of our grandchildren and great grandchildren. It’s really an honor for the family and my father’s name to be associated with such an endeavor as this.
Our father was an activist, but he was community minded. His Seneca name was Hahsëhnögwas. That means “he helps people.” That’s what he did his whole life. He grew up during the depression and he had to help and work. He graduated from high school early; he served in the Navy in World War II. It’s ironic that he was a pharmacist mate, which today would be a physician’s assistant. So, he had a medical background.
He left the service, came home and began iron work, putting up steel for different structures, two of them that you might recognize as Vesta Hospital and also ECMC. I followed in his footsteps. I can look at Roswell, I oversaw steel there and different jobs. But my father, he was also politically minded. In our case, it is protecting our sovereignty, our land. Mr. Eve was a beacon of understanding for the Senecas, I want to put that on record. We’ve had our battles, protests, tax protests, but the Kinzua era in the 1960s and the early 60s and late 50s, they took our land, uprooted our communities, changed our way of life, but we persevered.
My father was a leader at that time, protector of our sovereignty. He was president for two different terms. In 1966, he went back to iron work and retired at the age of 62. Right on the day he turned 62, he quit. Then he went to work in a school teaching language and culture. But one of the things about this mind was community, community activism.
Don’t let that happen again. As a community, even though we were uprooted, we bonded together, and our language is coming back. In 1964, you could count on one hand the college graduates on both Cattaraugus and the Allegany territories, but after Kinzua, there was money set aside for education. My father saw that education was going to help us protect who we are.
My niece is a doctor in sociology and came back to help the Seneca Nation. My granddaughter is a graduate from Arizona State who works in public health and I have a grandson that graduated from Hobart that is an athlete and has coached. In 60 years, things have changed. It’s education, and this is a place of education. My father would be proud to have his name associated with that. One thing I’d like to say to young people is – keep moving forward.
Don’t forget where you come from, don’t forget who you are, but also remember this- this is the future right here. In our culture, we learn from our elders, and we respect our elders and respect people who help us.
In turn, we help each other and that protection, that thought of community spirit, binds us together. At a time sixty years ago when we lost our land, I watched my home get burned to the ground. We watched cemeteries relocated; schools burned to the ground. I have resentments against the federal government for what they did but the Seneca Nation is taking a proactive step to reclaim some of those lands that we lost and redevelop them.
Every year we have a Remember the Removal on last Saturday in September. It’s a reminder of how it used to be, and we teach our younger ones about what happened during the Kinzua era. Our strength is within our people, within the education that we have. We had to learn the rules of a dominant society. We don’t fight with bows and arrows anymore. We fight with legal briefs, lobbying and politicians like Mr. Eve.
Again, it’s truly an honor for our family to have my father’s name associated with such an endeavor. Just keep going, you know, one step at a time, one foot in front of the other. Nya:wëh again and we’ll see you somewhere, maybe…. I’ll be a patient!
