Female Veteran Honoring Project planned at Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Museum
A rainbow shines in the sky above the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Museum.
By LORI ANN EDMO
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — Shoshone-Bannock female veterans are planning to build a gazebo and memorial next to the Tribal Museum for a Female Veteran Honoring Project and other veterans.
The funds are coming from a $10,000 private donation to the Tribes intended for female veterans. The group also was awarded a $10,000 Ifft Foundation grant.
DeRena Tuell, Francis Goli and Develynn Hall are working on the project but they also welcome other female veterans to help. Contact Develynn at halldevelynn@gmail.com
“We are not another group, we are just something to help those that weren’t included to feel as important because there’s a lot of female veterans a lot of people don’t even know existed around here,” Tuell said. The idea is not to be divisive even if other groups feel that way that’s not our intention, she continued.
Develynn Hall
She said Fort Hall Business Council member Russell Haskett advised them of the private donation that suggested including Sacajawea as a veteran. After some discussion among female veterans, they unanimously thought that nobody considered her a female veteran. If anything, they considered her a victim.
The intent of the Ifft grant is for beautification so they thought a meditation garden with cultural plants in planter boxes such as wild mint, sage, camas would be good. A rock memorial with veteran’s names is also being considered because the existing memorial along Highway 91 only goes through WWII. They don’t want to limit it.
It will go on the east side of the Tribal Museum. They want to have an ADA (American Disabilities Act) accessible sidewalk to it and a concrete pad. They would also like to get a set of flags but that would probably be an additional cost.
They’re hoping to find sponsors or more funding but that will be in the future. They also intend to work with the Tribes Language and Culture Preservation Department regarding the traditional plants.
They hope to get started right away do the sidewalk, a couple of ADA accessible benches, along with the beautification portion that includes the garden. The project will be done in phases so the gazebo and memorial will come later.
Goli said they’re really excited they received the Ifft Foundation grant because grants are really hard to get nowadays. “So, we’re thankful, we’re hoping to do something good, and this will open opportunities for future grants.”
Hall said, “And then I think the biggest thing about this project is that we wanted to create a space in the community that would not only be used, but would be welcoming, inviting, and just a safe space for anyone in the community, whether they're living here on the reservation or if they're just traveling through. We just really wanted a space where, like Frances said, be able to share our story and kind of emphasize that going back to Sacagawea, she was a young girl she was a teenager, but she was seen as a woman of sacrifice in our eyes. And we just wanted to emphasize the way that we see her, emphasize the way that we see her, and we want to acknowledge her obviously — acknowledge our female veterans in our community and in the region as women of sacrifice.”
