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It is a dream to watch you grow! We love you tons sweet baby!

Love Mom & Dad

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A beloved mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. Suzi passed away one year ago and due to the pandemic we were unable to hold a funeral. Please join Suzi’s family for an outdoor dinner and remembrance gathering in her honor.

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To my Beautiful, Sweet, Intelligent Daughter: Gina Marie Roselli

I am sooooo proud of you and this greatest accomplishment you’ve completed in your life. You did it!!! You’ve pushed yourself to reach the goals that you set for yourself and never gave up. I’m so happy for you and that I’m able to see you receive your diploma and throw your cap in the air with the rest of your classmates.

Best Wishes for all your future endeavors…It’s truly a Memorable Day!!!

Love You Always,
Mom

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She was recognized during Alfred State College’ 37th Annual Student Honors Convocation Virtual Ceremony (April 19, 2021)

Submitted by Lori Quigley

Alfred State College recently celebrated the achievements of hundreds of students virtually during the 37th annual Honors Convocation.

ASC President Dr. Skip Sullivan presented the Distinguished Alumni Award to 1956 graduate B. Marlene (Bennett) Johnson (executive secretarial science) “In recognition for your significant accomplishments in your personal and professional lives & for distinguished service in your community.”

Below is a copy of the speech that President Sullivan read:

B. Marlene (Bennett) Johnson graduated from Alfred State in 1956 with an Executive Secretarial Science degree. While a student at Alfred, Marlene worked as a clerk and typist for the Registrar in order to pay her tuition and room and board. Additional spending money was earned babysitting for faculty and staff. While a student, Marlene lived at the Alpha Beta Chi (ABX) sorority and served as their chaplain.

As a young child, Marlene was placed in foster care and was eventually transferred to the Thomas Indian School, a residential boarding school for orphaned and destitute Native American children. Considered a “survivor” of the Thomas Indian School, having lived there from 1942-1952, at age 15 Marlene was placed in a wage home and worked as a live-in maid. Today, that home is the residence for the SUNY Fredonia college president.

After graduating from Alfred and getting married, Marlene returned to the Seneca Nation and Allegany territory community. Marlene’s first job with the Seneca Nation was as a tribal advocate. Her responsibilities focused on assisting families in their adjustment to new homes built in the Jimersontown and Steamburg relocation areas following the construction of the Kinzua Dam. During this time, Marlene worked with the elder faithkeepers to secure HUD grant funding to build the community center that would be used to support longhouse activities, as well as assisting the Nation in procuring the funding to support the building of the two Seneca Nation libraries and the Seneca Iroquois Museum. She was also the Allegany territory newsletter (the Ohi:yo’) editor for many years, and also served as an elected tribal councillor. As tribal councillor, Marlene was selected to serve on the Salamanca lease negotiation team and represented the Seneca Nation as it lobbied Congress for funding owed to the nation. Today, her congressional testimony is used in native studies college courses.

Marlene later worked as the first director of the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) at St. Bonaventure University establishing several initiatives that specifically targeted Native American college students. One was called “Bridging Two Worlds,” and became an annual gathering for Native college students to share experiences and gain more insights and support to improve their graduation success. To this day, many Native graduates credit Marlene for providing the support they needed to achieve their college degrees.

In the early 1990s, Marlene was chosen by her peers in Indian education from across New York State to serve as a delegate on the first White House Initiative on Indian Education. Later, she collaborated with the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) to garner their support in establishing the Native American Indian Education Association of New York and was recognized as a founding member in 2018.

Post-retirement, she worked as a long-term guidance counselor substitute for Randolph Union Free Academy, whose goal was to provide education to children that other districts could not or would not work with due to behavioral challenges.

Marlene married Gordy in 1956. Gordy is also an Alfred State graduate (1958). Marlene continues to share her wisdom and knowledge of her heritage with five daughters and several grand and great-grandchildren.

View Marlene’s portion during the virtual Honors Convocation at https://www.alfredstate.edu/honors – hers starts at 37:56.

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For this Agwadeyësta’ Do:gë:h installment we want to share this wonderful story about a real experience of a FKS teacher and her student. We hope you enjoy it.

This year has been hard for all of us. Here at the Faithkeepers School we have managed to figure out how to keep pushing forward, for that we are all grateful. We are also grateful to our children and their families for trusting us in continuing to move forward during this pandemic.

Although we face the everyday obstacles of the ‘new normal’ our language learning and use has been flourishing. As a teacher I can feel myself growing and my ears getting stronger in tune with hearing and understanding the language. Through the Esther Martinez Initiative grant we have been given the opportunity to teach children in the Montessori classroom in the mornings and have Seneca Language classes in the afternoon. We have two great instructors working with the FKS staff on strengthening our Seneca language skills. Our goal is to be able to speak to each other and the students only in the Seneca language here at the school.

Sara Droney and John Block, who are also FKS staff, are doing an amazing job as our language instructors. Sara focuses on daily conversation language and John focuses on the cultural language, stories, and protocol that coincides with our ceremonial cycle.

We have been studying each ceremony along with the appropriate time frames in which they happen according to our seasonal cycle. We recently have gone over Wasa:se’ in our class with John. Wasa:se’ is the ceremony that gives thanks to the Thunders. We include them in Ganönyök (Thanksgiving Address) and talk about their duties with the children. We teach them not to fear them because they help take care of us and the earth. We teach them that they bring the rain and how important water is to keep our bodies and the earth well.

A testimony of how I can see the growth in ourselves as teachers is, while at the actual Wasa:se’ ceremony I could follow along with John as he was speaking. He went through everything he was going to say with us in class before the day of the ceremony. Hearing the words and understanding them hits you harder in your heart. It resonates deep down.

You can feel the strength of the words and of all the spirits happy to see us continuing. It makes me feel more connected to what these ceremonies really mean and why we must keep them and the language alive.

I saw one of my students at Wasa:se’. She was happy to see me and immediately came over to sit next to me. This particular student has a very good amount of Seneca language in her repertoire. Her mother is also a language learner and teacher. She uses strictly Seneca with her at home and it really shows. When she came to sit next to me she spoke to me in all Seneca and I could follow and respond back to her. This child is completely bi-lingual and at times her Seneca vocabulary is better than mine. For this little girl to come up to me and use exclusively Seneca with me at the longhouse gave me chills. This is our goal coming to fruition right before our eyes and it can only get better. We’re only in our first year of afternoon classes and I feel my brain “thinking in Seneca” and it becoming easier to respond and pull the words out. The child using all Seneca with me tells me she herself can see the growth within her teachers and that our confidence is growing. I left with my heart full and knowing that I am where I am meant to be; on this path to help keep our language and culture alive. Little stories like this keep the motivation strong. We will not let our language die. These kids give me hope.

Nya:wëh, Courtney Crouse

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By Leatha Jimerson

Photo from: https://www.iroquoisgenealogysociety.org/

Spring is here, time to get outside and enjoy the weather! This is the time of year that I like to visit the cemeteries since you can see the area better. Be sure to wear good shoes and long pants and shirt since deer ticks are out.

We had a good zoom meeting in April. Jare Cardinal did an excellent job describing the early maps on our website. The maps consisted of 1798, 1842 and 1878. There was plenty of discussion too. There were zoom attendees and also some people on Facebook live. The presentation is recorded so you can go back and check it out on our FB page. We have many other maps on the website that we hope to cover at a later date.

We have a new feature on the website named ‘Ask the Researcher’. This is a way for people to submit genealogy questions. When submitting a question, please be specific, eg. Provide a name, birth date or a year and location of where the person was born, died or lived. We will point you in the right direction. We have some great researchers amongst us that will be helping to answer your questions.

Our next IGS Monthly Meeting will be held on May 13, 2021 at 6:30pm via zoom. The meeting will cover another area of our website – SCHOOL RECORDS! We will show you how get more information regarding Iroquois students who attended: Thomas Indian School, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Hampton Institute, and Tunesassa (Quaker) School. We will show you how to access other school that students attended.

Please find the event announcement with directions on our webpage by going to the menu and choosing ZOOM MEETING. A link for the meeting will be provided. We will be on Facebook Live (Iroquois Genealogy Society) also. In this format, you can watch and listen to the meeting with no interaction. However, we will have a person monitoring the meeting and you can post a question that will be relayed to us.

We hope to see you! Please stay safe and healthy!

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Photos from:

We had our first Bible study on Wednesday, 4/21/21 and discussed Moses and Exodus. The pandemic interrupted our studies and worship services and so we are happy to be getting back to “normal”. We will have Bible study every Wednesday night at 6:30pm. Everyone is welcome to join us for a lively discussion and fellowship.

Watch the newsletter for the start date of our Caregivers Support Group. We realize that caregivers need to share their stories of helping their loved ones. A caregiver is a family member who regularly looks after a child or a sick, elderly, or disabled family member. Being a caregiver requires patience, compassion, and love. Being a caregiver is stressful and talking with others in a similar situation can be therapeutic. If you are a caregiver, please join us for a confidential hour of sharing.

Please continue to pray for those in our communities who are affected by drug or alcohol abuse, those who are struggling with illness and those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. Pray for their families. We all need healing.

Everyone is invited to join us at Four Corners on Sunday morning 8:30 a.m. for fellowship. Worship service begins at 9 a.m. We look forward to seeing you! Peace.

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By Hunter Skoczylas | April 12, 2021 | ubspectrum.com, SPORTS

Sports history is full of “famous firsts.”

Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the major leagues, in 1947.

Brazilian soccer player Pelé became the first player to score 1,000 career goals, in 1969.

And the UConn women’s basketball team became the first club in sports history to win 90 straight games, in 2010.

But when UB graduate student and women’s basketball player Summer Hemphill became the first member of the Seneca Nation to receive a full Division I athletic scholarship back in 2016, she made history in her own right.

Hemphill, who is half-Black and half-Native American, is a member of the Seneca Nation, a sect of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy and the largest of six Native American nations in New York State. She says that while she loves playing basketball, her biggest source of pride is being able to represent her community on a bigger stage.

“I play to represent my family and myself, the university that gave me this opportunity, and this city where I’m from,” Hemphill said. “And to just be a great player. I’m thankful to be in this position today and I’m going to continue to get better.”

As a freshman in 2016, Hemphill says she didn’t have much exposure to Native American studies or students at UB, so she went to the Native American Resource Center in Rochester to learn more about her heritage.

But now, in her sixth year at UB, she says she is seeing “progress” — albeit slowly — from the school and was finally able to enroll in a Native American course, AMS 197, about the Seneca language.

“This semester, I’m actually enrolled in a Seneca language learning course through UB,” Hemphill said. “I feel like UB has made some progress since I first came here, and I feel like we aren’t done yet. As a university in Western New York, I feel like we have a long way to go to honor the tribes that live here.”

UB operates on land that originally belonged to the Seneca Nation and is covered by The Dish with One Spoon Treaty of Peace and Friendship, a compact to share and care for the Great Lake resources. The region is still home to the Haudenosaunee people to this day.

Hemphill’s grandfather was a fluent Seneca speaker. The traditions flow through the elders, and her grandfather’s passing in 2012 inspired her to educate herself of her heritage and pass it on to younger generations.

Since 2018, the number of enrolled Native American students at UB has hardly increased — from 12 in 2018 to 15 in 2019 to 16 in 2020 — but Hemphill is glad to have the chance to see fellow Native Americans on campus.

“You go to campus and see all types of different people, and with Native Americans being such a small minority, I feel like we’re often ignored,” Hemphill said. “If I could see another Native while on campus, I would feel joyful, especially because of my major.”

Hemphill, a graduate student, majored in sociology for her undergraduate studies and has learned extensively about racial and ethnic disparities. She says disparities exist in all facets of life for minorities, but especially when it comes to quality education.

“I see so many disparities with schooling regarding minorities,” Hemphill said. “Our chances of being college and high school graduates is not the highest, and to see the progress that we’ve made and UB has made, it’s amazing and means the most to me.”

Native Americans often have to deal with negative racial stereotypes and myths. Hemphill says she has never felt ostracized for being a member of the Seneca Nation, but that she prides herself in educating others on her heritage every chance she gets.

“I take it upon myself to educate others on who I am and where I come from,” Hemphill said. “People don’t really know what’s offensive to us or what isn’t. I take pride in that and for the people who choose to ignore us still, that’s on them. I can’t blame people for something they don’t know.”

Hemphill, a six-foot-one forward, had an interesting path to the sport.

She didn’t play competitive basketball until she was 12 but dabbled in nearly everything else, including tee-ball, softball, volleyball and track and field.

As a kid, she even begged her father to let her play football and was able to play quarterback in the neighborhood streets with her brothers.

But, once she picked up a basketball, everything changed. The more she practiced, the better she got, both offensively and defensively. In her senior year of high school, Hemphill averaged a double-double — 16 points and 10 rebounds — to go along with 3.1 steals per contest. She led Tonawanda’s Cardinal O’Hara Hawks to a 23-3 record and the Monsignor Martin Association Championship.

Hemphill was named All-Catholic Player of the Year and the Pastor Cooper Tournament MVP for her efforts. Coming out of high school, she was rated a three-star recruit with an 88 scout grade by ESPN, which caught the attention of UB women’s basketball head coach Felisha Legette-Jack.

“I saw her in the gym while I was watching my son finish up his game and I just stopped and stared,” Legette-Jack said. “You could just tell she was an athlete. There was something about her focus that drew me in and I’m blessed to be the recipient of her blessing and that we were able to offer a scholarship.”

After committing to UB, Hemphill had a big decision to make: what jersey number she would wear. Jersey numbers stick and people tend to remember the legacy associated with that number.

Hemphill, long an underdog, chose the number ‘zero’.

“When I got out of high school, zero was not a popular number. The only major athlete at the time was [NBA star] Russell Westbrook, but I didn’t wear it because of him,” Hemphill said. “I liked zero because no one really cared about it. People always forget the fact that when you start counting, you never mention zero. It’s always ‘1-2-3’ not ‘0-1-2-3.’”

Legette-Jack says Hemphill is the ultimate teammate and that her duties as head coach are lighter when Hemphill is on the floor.

“She’s a great teammate,” Jack said. “She’s like a mother hen that sits back and watches her babies. If someone around her needs help, she’s there. She’s the caretaker and if someone needs somebody to talk to, it’s her.”

It’s easy to lose focus in big moments, even for Hemphill. But Legette-Jack believes her passion and fire makes her a stellar teammate and a terrific competitor.

“She has this calm tone where everyone knows she’s locked in,” Legette-Jack said. “She plays with so much passion and ferocity. She wants to win and will call out any areas of improvement the team can make. But when you get someone like her out there on a consistent basis, winning is inevitable and that’s what we’ve done these past few seasons.”

Source: https://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2021/04/i-play-to-represent-my-family-and-myself

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