Fwd: Passing of Vine

[Susan Penfield]

----- Forwarded message from andrekar at ncidc.org -----
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 09:35:25 -0800
From: Andre Cramblit <andrekar at ncidc.org>
Reply-To: Andre Cramblit <andrekar at ncidc.org>
Subject: Passing of Vine

Friends: Vine Deloria, Jr., passed away yesterday. Here is the Colorado
AIM Blog site. And below is my note to the Iliff faculty last night.
Apologies to those who got my email last night, but I wanted you all to
see the Colorado AIM Blog about Vine.

http://www.coloradoaim.org/blog/2005/11/in-honor-of-vine-deloria-jr
-1933-2005.html

Dear colleagues:

At six am this morning I lost a mentor and a friend who was also a
friend of Iliff School of Theology. The American Indian world lost a
great champion. Professor Vine Deloria, Jr., had been struggling, as
many of you know, with colon surgery from more than a month ago. About
two weeks ago that was complicated with an abdominal aneurysm and
underwent surgery for that. He died of complication from the latter
after a couple of follow-up surgeries this past week. He was a giant
among American Indian intellectuals, teachers, and writers. He will be
terribly missed by much more than myself.

Since this has just transpired and I have just this evening returned
from Palestine, I do not know what the arrangements are. Indeed,
Barbara will not be able to contact a funeral home until tomorrow,
since Vine passed on a Sunday. She has asked that we give her another
day or two in personal retreat before we begin to contact her with
condolences, etc. Their children have already gathered around her. For
those who are interested, I will pass on the information as it becomes
available.

I know I do not need to rehearse the multitude of his accomplishments
for most of you. I was told in 1985 when I was first hired at Iliff
that it was his letter of recommendation that pushed my name to the top
of the stack. He was not on my list of referees. At that point in my
career, I would not have dreamed of even asking him. But Iliff had its
own relationship with Vine and approached him unbeknownst to me. In a
curious turn-about, the University of Colorado asked me for a letter of
reference on his behalf in the process leading to their offering a
position to him a few years later.

He had retired as an emeritus professor from CU only about three or
four years ago. I believe he was 73 years old. I was not prepared to
lose such an important discourse partner.

The American Indian world is hurt by this loss. He was not yet done
writing.

Tink

Dr. Tink Tinker (Osage Nation)

Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions

Iliff School of Theology

----- End forwarded message -----




--
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836
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