Last fluent speaker of Wampanoag language dies (fwd)

[Phil CashCash]

Last fluent speaker of Wampanoag language dies;
his life is celebrated

R.J. HALLIDAY                         ,                                
Gazette Staff Writer
11/23/2003
http://www.tauntongazette.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10558379&BRD=1711&PAG=461&dept_id=24232&rfi=6
                                                                 
FREETOWN -- Hundreds of Native Americans traveled from across New
England to the Watuppa Wampanoag Reservation here Friday to celebrate
the life of Clinton Neakeahamuck Wixon (Lightning Foot), who passed
away Nov. 9 at the age of 72.

Known throughout the region as perhaps the last fluent speaker of the
native Wampanoag language, Wixon dedicated his life to educating
Wampanoag and Ponkapoag youths about tribal traditions, culture and
language.

He also kept Native American awareness alive by organizing Pow Wows and
demonstrations throughout the state in towns such as Brockton,
Lakeville, Middleboro, New Bedford, Taunton, Mashpee and on the Boston
Common.

>From sunrise to sunset yesterday Native Americans from various tribes,
many dressed in full regalia, stood in a circle around a Vigil Fire
that had been burning in Wixon’s honor for four days. Women stood on
one side, men on the other, as they passed around a wooden talking pipe
and each eulogized Wixon.

Later, his ashes were spread over the Watuppa Reservation and at
Ponkapoag Indian Plantation in Canton, the homes of his beloved
ancestors.

Wixon’s nephew, Darrel of the Nemasket Band, who led a procession of
chants and drumming in his uncle’s honor, called Wixon "a legend in his
own time."

Darrel’s father, Wixon’s only brother, the late Clarence Wixon, Jr.
(Chief Red Blanket), was proclaimed by then-Gov. Michael Dukakis as
"one of the greatest losses amongst the Native American community in
the last 50 years" following his 1990 death.

Wind Song, chief of the Assonet Band, said he and Wixon worked to clean
up the Watuppa Reservation and make it a place again for Native
American services and celebrations.

"When this place was a dump, we cleaned it up," he recalled. "Now we
have someplace for our ceremonies."

Born in Middleboro in 1931, Wixon was an 11th generation direct
descendent of the powerful chieftain, Massasoit, the supreme sachem who
befriended the Pilgrims in 1620.

After serving in the Korean War, Wixon founded perhaps the first modern
day nonprofit Indian organization in Massachusetts, the Algonquin
Indian Association, anda few years later formed the United Indian
Tribes of America. During the 1960s Wixon joined forces with Indian
tribes from Maine to Florida to form the Federated Eastern Indian
League.

Wixon was also a strong voice behind the organization of the National
Day of Mourning at Plymouth in 1970, which today is still a stage for
Native American awareness and unity during the Thanksgiving holiday.

"He was well-respected in his community for always standing his ground
with everyone about who he was and where he came from," said Maurice L.
Foxx, representative of the state Commission on Indian Affairs. "It’s
always tough to lose our elders because they are the ones who teach our
culture and language."

                ©The Taunton Gazette 2003