Week #14: The Not So Maiden Aunt.

In my family, we do not have any aunts that did not marry so this week, I am writing about grandpa's sister, Pearl Sixkiller Bried. Aunt Pearl was born October 11, 1913 in Bakersfield, California. She died Sept 2, 2001.  Pearl and Ruben (my grandpa) are the only two children of Myrtle and Glover Walter Sixkiller.

Glover died in 1923. Leaving Myrtle to raise two small children on her own. Ruben was 8 years old and Pearl was 10 years old. Both Ruben and Pearl attended Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in central Oklahoma. Ruben quit school in 7th grade and went to work to help put his sister through school and college.

Pearl married Theodore Bried (1915-1989) on February 9, 1941 in Cooke County Texas. Ted was in the military. Their family moved around as he was stationed around the world.  They had three children:  John, Michael Kerry, and Janie. Their family settled in Seattle, Washington.

Pearl passed away in Oklahoma. If I remember correctly, she was visiting her son John. He worked at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  Unlike Utah where we have a funeral about 3-4 days after passing, her family did not plan a service until about two weeks later.

On September 11, the  Twin Towers in NYC were attacked and were demolished when two planes flew into the towers. Another plane crash landed into the Pentagon.  A fourth plane crash landed in a field in Pennsylvania. After the fact, these horrific actions were planned out by the muslim terrorist group, Al-Queda.  This is the second time in history that the US was attacked on their own soil.

Because of these attacks, there was a ban on all planes, trains, buses and other forms of transport for about a month. Unfortunately, Janie was unable to make it to her mother's funeral services. Janie did not have her own car and all other forms of public transport were grounded.

Pearl's son John worked at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  He was out for training when the Federal Building was bombed by Timothy McVeigh in 1995.  McVeigh was later put to death for his actions.

Below is a picture of Aunt Pearly with Wilma Mankiller. Wilma was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation between 1985-1995.

Week #13: The Old Homestead

Mom was born in Ft. Duchesne in the old hospital on top of the hill south of town.  Ft. Duchesne was established by the US Calvary in 1885. It was abandoned in 1912. This is the home of the Ute Reservation.






The Sixkillers lived on the north end of the circle. The circle was a place where the tribal superintendent and other government workers lived.  The center of the circle was where the Utes would meet for celebrations such as the Pow Wow.  Today, there is a band stand, a community gym and baseball fields.





When mom was in about 6th grade, they moved to a home built a mile north of where Eagle View Elementary now sits.  On the left is a picture of Mom between the house and garage of my grandparents current home. The other picture is my mom's brother Rang (Ruben Jr.) standing in front of the house. The front door would be on his right side.