2
Francis (Faye) Carbini Sampson Born: January 20. 1939
One of my mother Faye's greatest influences in life was her Swinomish Indian
grandmother Susie Sampson Peters, who spoke only in her native language. Susie was
the mother ofFaye's father Martin. Susie was also a true Indian historian and teacher, as
well as a spiritual leader and healer. i 2
Faye recalls her grandmother's wonderful humor and many stories she shared
with her in the native tongue. Even though Faye never learned to speak the language, she
understood it easily as a child.
In the old Swinomish spiritualism the Indians believed in the Tamanowas spirit-
guides. The spirit-guides could be passed down from family to family member, and or be
obtained through fasting, and rigorous disciplines called "questing". A Tamanowas spirit
~ . was believed to help and guide and protect the inheritor in their life's journeys. The idea
ofa Tamanowas spirit-guide is not so different from what some Christians believe about
what guardian angels are and do.
Faye's grandmother passed on one of these Tamanowas spirit-guides to her when
she was a little girl, placing it on her hair. She then told Faye that no one should be
allowed to cut her hair, and if she did so, it needed to be her own idea. Faye's hair grew
to be real long, going down past her knees. Not until she was twelve years old did she cut
off her long hair, because she said, "it was just too hot in summer time, and too heavy,
and its weight gave me headaches."
Faye's Parents
Both ofFaye's parents, Martin and Cecelia, had been individually taken away
from their families, and homes and culture when they were small children. They were
2 Translated by Vi Hilbert and Jay Miller Aunt Susie Sampson Peters (Lushootseed Press, 1995) viii. 3
taken and placed into a world ofthe white man's Indian boarding schools. Boarding
schools aimed at assimilating the Indians into white society in the latter part ofthe 1800's
and early 1900' s. ii. Both were denied and stripped of everything they had ever known and
loved. They were both victims ofa cultural genocide at its peak. I am sure this was a
horrific and sad time for them. Martin had been forcibly taken at the young age of four
years old. He would attend boarding school until the age oftwelve and then would return
home, only to be sent away again, not by force, but by the insistence ofhis knowing and
wise mother Susie.
Susie took Martin to a crossroad sign on the reservation one day, and pointed
down one ofthe roads and said, "Martin go and conquer the white man's culture
(education) so our family can survive. We will not survive the white man's culture unless
,r- ', we conquer it." Martin would go on to attend and successfully graduate from the
Chemawa Indian Training School, in Chemawa, Oregon, in 1908. Achieving a
scholarship he would attend and graduate from the Hampton Normal and Agricultural
Institute in Virginia after two years. In 1918 he would join and serve in the military in the
Spruce Division during World War I.iii He then returned to the reservation in 1928 to
become deeply involved in the politics ofimproving the living conditions for Indian
people on the Swinomish Reservation. 3
The conditions at this time on the Swinomish Reservation were deplorable. There
was no running water, little or no electricity, and housing was terrible. People were living
on the backwater slough ofthe Skagit River, because that's where they fished.
Alcoholism and sickness affected every family~ infant mortality rate was very high.
These conditions were rapidly killing Indians off
3 Martin 1. Sampson Indians of Skagit County, (Skagit County Historical Society, USA, 1972) VII. 4
Martin would spend years fighting with the United States government to fulfill
their promises for housing and medical, educational help to the Indian people as
stipulated by the "Point Elliot Indian Treaty of 1855" in Article XIV4
Faye's mother Cecelia was a survivor ofthe tuberculosis epidemic ofthe early
part ofthe 1900's. Her mother's sanitarium experience was a lonely isolated time. It cut
Cecelia offfrom relatives and friends for many years. Cecelia became a devoted Catholic
and was a strong devoted wife to Martin.
Fortunately, both ofFaye's parents had come to terms with their own hard
experiences, which would give them both a sincere drive to give their two children, Ben
and Faye, a world that would be far more gracious and secure than what they themselves
had experienced. In 1942 Faye's parents moved from Swinomish to Tacoma,
,.------. Washington. They believed Tacoma would offer for Ben and Faye a better future for
opportunities in health and education. Faye's parents impressed unto her a strong sense
ofself-value, and positive attitudes that were enforced by their high expectations on her
and her brother Ben.
Growing up in a Red and White World
Growing up in a red and white world had its advantages. My mother and her
brother attended what was a predominately white elementary school in the 1940's.
(Roosevelt Elementary School, Tacoma, Washington) Here she recalls experiencing
small racial subtlety in words that hinted that she was not really considered an equal in
white society. My mother told me, "Some of my teachers used to say to me, 'you should
be proud to be an Indian'. I would just look at them and try to figure out why they were
4 Martin J. Sampson Indians of Skagit County. (Skagit County Historical Society, USA. 1972) 66-69. 5
I~ . saying this to me, was it because they thought I was not proud? So I would tell them, I
am."
My mother's connections to her cultural heritage came by way ofexperience. Her
grandmother and her parents exposed her to cultural and traditional ceremonies and
events on the Swinomish Reservation. The traditional Indians still readily practiced some
ofthe old spiritual and traditional ways on the Reservation in the early 1940' s and
1950's. My mother shared with me a story about this particular event that happened when
she was a young girl. An uncle ofhers called "Kid" had gone out to the fish traps to fish
on the Swinomish Reservation. He had unfortunately fallen offthe traps into the cold
water and drowned. People looked for his body but were not able to find it. So a
traditional Indian spiritual meeting was held at the old American Hall on the Swinomish
Reservation.
When the people came together to pray and to ask the spirits for assistance in
finding "Kids" body, it was done through the practice ofusing what is called the Squa
de-lich or Cedar Magic Boards. The Squa-de-lich consists oftwo oval shaped shields that
are believed to have the ability to be possessed by spiritual messengers. The messengers
would speak to an interpreter/s through supernatural movements made in the motion of
the boards. These boards when possessed with these spiritual powers would then begin to
move up and down while being held by the interpreter/so The interpreter/s knew how to
read the movements ofthe boards and related it to the people. In this particular event my
mother witnessed the power in the Squa-de-lich lifting two men right offthe floor as they
held on to the boards above their heads. The interpreter then named the time and date that
the body would come up and it happened just like it was told. 5 (See illustration 1.22)
5 Martin 1. Sampson, Indians of Skagit COlmty. (Skagit County Historical Society, USA, 1972.) pg. 60 6
Marriage and Family
My mother Faye married my father Robert W. La Pointe in 1957 at the age of
eighteen. Together my parents would raise fifteen children between them of which twelve
came out from my mother's union with my father. My father had brought three young
children into this marriage from a prior marriage. Instantly she was a mother not to one,
but to four children. My mother would stay with my dad for close to thirty years before
they divorced.
Faye would experience many life changes that would mold her heart and soul into
all that was mentioned in the introduction ofthis paper. Maybe I could have even added
some more to the list, but for now this list will have to do.
I watched my mother struggle, with some successes at being the ideal prefect
housewife/mother for years in her words, "I tried to fit the image ofthe perfect wife, that
the Mrs. June Cleaver, portrayed on the 1960's television (sitcom). It was the
Americanized version ofa perfect, doting, submissive, good little wife and mother on the
'Leave it to Beaver' sho~v .
I watched my mother clean and cook and center her life around my father and we
siblings for many years. I then watched her fall into a terrible bout with alcoholism and
then her struggle to recover. 1 watched her overcome alcoholism and be transformed into
the woman she always wanted to be.
During the early years, my mother would live, and feel pulled to participate in
social and racial struggles involving the Indian people. Something that seemed natural
and right considering her father's example living out much ofhis life fighting for the
rights, social justice, and economical stability ofIndian tribes. /"...... ----. 7
A Wake up Call
Faye experienced a wake-up call surrounding her stepson Robert Philip La Pointe
(Bobby), which would challenge her old beliefs and blind reliance concerning government and religious matters. The Vietnam War would forever change my mother into a skeptic and rightfully so, about blind-patriotism for any war the United States has entered or enters into, or initiates. Bobby was called into the United States military through draft orders sent to him in 1968. Bobby ran away from home, and become a
"Hippy" for a short time. But after street hardship and hunger he returned home.
At home our parents were very patriotic. Why? My mother' s dad served in the
Spruce Division in the U.S. Army, and her brother served in the United States Air Force, and her own husband (my Dad) served in the Korean War. It felt right for Faye to insist along with my Dad that my brother honor the draft orders and join the United States
Army.
It would not be long before Bobby was injured suffering the loss ofone ofhis legs in battle. My mother recalls this time with great regret that she did not know what she knows now. "When Bobby was sent by his commander to go up that hill that day in
Vietnam with another boy, and returning he steps unto a booby-trap ( explosive device).
Bobby saw the other boy next to him die from the blast." My mother realizes that here was this young man who was led to believe that if he only did what he was told, everything would be all right, but everything was not all right.
When Bobby first went into the Army, he thought he'd be getting a chance at an education, and or training for a trade. What he got instead were orders by commanding officers to do some ofthe most nonsensical things. Like, taking over a hill one day, and letting it go the next. My mother realized that they were training these young soldiers to 8
~ ' . '. take orders without even allowing them to use their own minds. Faye now calls the
Vietnam War "a stupid war." I am sure ifshe knew what she knows now she would have
fought to keep Bobby home.
Bobby returned home after spending a year in a Denver amputee hospital. But, he
didn't return, not like he was before. It seemed as ifhe, or his soul was still out there
wandering the jungles and hills ofVietnam trying to figure out why he was even there. Is
there a good reason? I don't think so. Bobby passed away December 23,2002 an
alcoholic, who drank from Vietnam to the grave.
More on Family and Social Issues
To me, my mother was and is an advocate for poor people in Tacoma, and a
supporter for some important Indian people here in the Tacoma and Seattle area. People
like Ramona Bennett with the Puyallup Tribe ofIndians and later with Bernie White Bear
ofthe Seattle's "United Indians". I recall her being very involved promoting Indian Self
Determination issues in helping to develop a strong Indian government for the Puyallup
Tribe. My mother Faye always believed in Indian Rights, and whenever she was able to
help, she would join into the action to help to make things right for the Indian people.
Faye was also very involved with the homeless, and handicapped drop-in centers
located here in Tacoma, Washington, that were Jesuit and Catholic affiliated. However,
the more my mother became involved with helping the community through Catholic
organizations, and with the Indian community and its problems ofpoverty and injustices,
the more these things seemed to pull her away from her family and her friends.
Or simply we wanted to hog her for ourselves. Many times at home these periods
.----. . of her social involvements led some of us to feel neglected and sore. I can attest to the
fact that many times some ofus in the family didn't even want to be reminded ofany of 9
,r-'" the social inequalities and poverty in the world around us. But something in my mother,
she for the life of her has never been able to shut her heart off from the poor, or from
children in need.
She did however successfully involve the family sometimes in helpful social
endeavors, not me in this particular case, but my younger siblings, yes. My mother and
dad operated a food bank out oftheir basement in the 1980's to assist Indian families of
the east Tacoma area. I recall her and dad driving out to Indian Bingo establishments to
collect donations for the food bank. The basement at my parents home was filled with a
lot offood. I even used it once for myself when I needed it.
Working with children
Probably one ofthe least things I understand about my mother is her insistent
drive to work with Indian children. Most ofmy mother's career has led her back to / "'-.
working with Indian children in the Social Services. For the life ofme, after all that she
experienced with her own, which is too much to explain now, why would she want to
choose to work with other Indian children, and troubled Indian children at that?
All of her children have experienced drug and or alcohol addiction, and most have
recovered. Three have perished. All of her children have had numerous problems from
domestic to personal problems that would in most cases make a parent want to give up.
Some ofus have even disowned her from days to years. She was an easy target
because she wasn't perfect. She was strict wasn't she? She was gone doing well for
people we didn't even know didn't she? She hung out with Jesuits and talked about social
injustices, when we were stuck at home feeling left out ofwhatever fun she must have
been having. Wasn't she to blame for all our maladjustments? And wasn't she the
spoilsport when it came to eating out opposed to packing our own lunch? 10
What have we accomplished in our years of struggling to make sense out ofany
of these social injustices in the world around us? And what is our part? Or what is not our
part? The 'part' being "erupting situations" that seem to never subside. 1 once asked my
mother how and why she did what she did concerning trying to raise all my siblings and
I? And why at times had she become so angry during many ofthe early years? She would
comment, "You don't have to look very far back, our history is filled with social
oppressions that damn near killed us all offi"
My mother has done well all in all. All ofher surviving children have grown up
personally and socially confident. Some have been successful in achieving higher
educations, and others successful in their personal family lives. All of her surviving
children know that they have choices in life available to them, ofwhat they want from r-. . life. She has always advocated, and insisted that her children and other children be given
a high enough expectation, to always give them something to reach for.
My mother's education in addition to her personal academic achievements came
by way of fifteen close teachers in her life: her fifteen children that she helped raise. The
most heartbreaking lessons came by the realization of her powerless to stop their
struggles and personal pains when finding their own way. It had to be hard to say "no"
when her heart would say, "yes" at dysfunctional behaviors that could no longer be
tolerated in relation to alcoholism and or drug addiction.
Who knows the magic word, or the right things to do to make our loved ones
suddenly well, and healthy and happy again? Personally 1 do not think 1 could carry such
a reality as hers. 1 say "WOW', 1 could not have done what she has done, nor try to love
as extensively as her love for her children as a mother, and a social worker. r--' 11
Trail ofSelfDetermination
In the summer of 1975 my parents sent three ofmy sisters and I to Washington
D.C. under the care ofRamona Bennett, along with a group ofabout sixty American
Indians. We traveled caravan style in a school bus, and a van and several cars. We were
all going to a national demonstration for the re-affIrming ofthe policy ofSelf
Determinationv for the Indian people. This particular event was called the "Trail ofSelf-
Determination. "
I believe my parents wanted us to experience what was really going on with the
Indian people. I was fifteen-years old. I was both excited and frightened. I did not sense
any real danger until someone had fired a gun at the bus, leaving some bullet holes in the
side ofit. We spent three or four days traveling in the old bus. I recall thinking the bus f' just wasn't going to make it over this one big moun. but it did, very slowly.
My sisters from youngest to oldest are Joan, Bridget, and myself (Cecelia) and
Kathy. We got to meet, and be a part ofthis wonderful group ofIndian people. I really
felt proud to be an Indian. I would raise my right hand in a fist and yell, "Red Power! Red
Power! Just like everyone else. When we arrived in Washington D.C. we all attended
several uneventful demonstrations. But, one in particular changed the way I felt about
Indian people and white government forever.
Kathy and I went with Ramona Bennett, and Larry La Pointe and forty-eight
others to protest against the fact that mostly white people ran and controlled the Bureau
oflndian Affairs (B.I.A.) in Washington D.C.
Ramona went up to these really big doors ofthe building and knocked and yelled,
"Hey, hello I want in, I am an Indian and this is my building, is it not?" No one answered
her call, so we all went to the back doors. No one would answer there either. But we 12 could see people wandering around inside, but no one was coming out. So, for four hours in the hot sun, we sat waiting for someone to come and invite us into the building. A few policemen stood on the outskirts ofthe back parking lot where we were demonstrating.
Just when I began to question why we were there, and feeling like we weren't accomplishing anything. Suddenly the back doors flew open and out came a swarm of riot police wearing helmets, face-shields, holding riot sticks, wearing heavy black boots, and wearing guns, running after us! I then heard my cousin Larry La Pointe yelling, "Do not fight them, do not fight them, they will really hurt you!" So I laid facedown on the cement, and three or more ofriot police held me down. One had put his foot on the back ofmy neck, and the others held my arms and put six plastic straps on my wrists. As they were pressing me down to the ground I turned my head and saw four or five riot police jump onto Ramona Bennett. One ofthe policemen started to stomp on top ofher legs. I could see her screaming and wrenching as they kicked her and held her down.
My sister Kathy was handcuffed, and nine ofus were then put into one ofthe paddy wagons. I was crying because the straps were so tight on my wrists. My sister
Kathy with her petite hands slipped right out ofher handcuffs. She had a fingernail clipper in her pocket, and with it she cut me free, and seven others. When we arrived at the police station we got out ofthe paddy wagon and none ofus were tied. The police officers noted this but made no move to replace the restraints. It is here that I began to realize that Indians and white government are not usually in agreement. And that Indians will probably always have to insist on being heard.
These experiences imbedded in us a new sense ofwhat it really means to be an
Indian. And what it means to live in a white world without fearing it. Our mother Faye 13
has always told us that it is her deepest desire to ensure that we know that we are capable
and free to do anything we want in life.
My mother inherited a great responsibility from her grandmother Susie and her
parents. .This responsibility is to ensure that each ofus learn to care for each other's
freedom to choose, and freedom to live healthy and safe. And it is important that we do
not forget where we came from, so we do not lose our way in life's journey.
Called to be Human
My mother was one never to brag, or even seek after personal praise. I think ifall
her own children weren't doing well, she didn't feel she was doing well either. As co
dependant as this may sound, I think it came to her by personal choice. After the many
years my mother spent with the missionary workers in the Catholic Church, and then with
, ~-. the Indian Rights issues here in Tacoma and Seattle, she seemed to conclude that these
battles are only won "one day at a time." Yesterday's victories will go only as far as we
allow them to go. My mother often said, "We're called to fight a losing battle. Even ifit
means that by tomorrow all the wrongs that has been righted would reappear again. There
will always be injustice, and poor people, and racial tensions in the world. It is not our
human responsibility to make sure these never happen again, because they will happen.
However, it is our human responsibility to try healing each other ofthe harms that has
been affiicted unto all ofus. We're not called to be superhuman; we're simply called to
be human. When we become human we realize it really is enough."
Losing Children to Death
Every death ofa young life is untimely. My mother would experience what no
loving parent would ever want to experience, the death ofa child. My mother lost a
daughter, Marianne Elizabeth La Pointe, on January 2000. Marianne was twenty-six 14
years old. Marianne would leave behind two daughters Ariel and Neva, and a husband
Michael Hall. My mother offered to raise these two girls with the help ofher present
husband Robert C. Bates. Marianne's death was unexpected. Although Marianne had
gotten AIDS when she was a teenager, her heath was for the most part okay. Until she
had gotten the pneumoniaVi so bad, the medical staffwould put her into incubation to help
her fight offinfections. She unfortunately died ofan aneurysm while being brought out of
incubation.
My Mother then lost stepson Robert Philip La Pointe (Bobby) to alcoholism
December 23, 2002. Bobby was fifty-three years old. Bobby had never fully recovered
from the Vietnam War and alcoholism. He would live thirty-four years in heavy drinking.
At the time ofhis death he had a liver at least four or five times its normal size.
Then on September 9, 2005 mother lost her youngest child Julian Boyd
La Pointe to a tragic and senseless accident. Julian had spent most ofhis life living here
in Tacoma, Washington with father Robert W. La Pointe. After our father passed away
on October 13,2001, our mother Faye moved from Seattle to Tacoma, in hope to
reestablish her relationship and renew her love for her son Julian. Julian and mother did
become very close and spent a lot oftime together. Julian would leave behind a pregnant
girl friend named Kiowah. Month's later on Faye's birthday, January 20, 2006, little
Juliann was born. And when our mother Faye went to visit the new mother and child,
Kiowah said, "Happy Birthday Faye."
Conclusion
Faye's belief is that our aim and hope for a better future is for our elders and our
.-- / children. We must honor the history ofour elders, and by this, we will ensure a strong
sense ofbelonging and valuable place in the world to our children. We must make sure 15
/--'. / . our elders and children are secure and safe. We must let our children know they are
intelligent and creative. We must let our children know we expect the best out ofthem,
and then they will strive to do their best. It isn't hard to realize that we have a great
responsibility to fulfill when thinking about our elders and our children. It is a good day
if we are able to love them better today, than we did yesterday.
i Susie Sampson Peters was to be trained to be an Indian Shaman or Indian Doctor. Even though it was not common for a woman to be an Indian Doctor her father seeing the gift to doctor in her, trained her to be one."
ii Termination sought to destroy Native American societies by assimilating American Indians into the mainstream ofwhite culture by education, indoctrination to turn the children a way from the cultural heritage, and denying them to speak their language etc. Boarding schools aimed at separating the children from all the influences oftheir families.
iii In support ofthe WWI, the Pacific Northwest ofUnited States became an important supplier for high quality airplane wood for Great Britain, France and Italy. These countries requested their order of preference for the following wood: Western Sitka spruce and cedar, and the New England and Southern spruce and the Douglas fir. In Spruce Soldier Camps scattered around the Pacific Northwest these soldier worked in production of1umber for the WWI. Cited from: Gerald W. Williams The Spruce Production Division, Forest History Today, (amp Murray, Washington March 30, ]984.) pg. 1]6-] 17
iVLeave It to Beaver An American television show (sitcom) that was produced from 1957-1963. It was a show that protrayed a moral lesson ofthe ideal American family. The family consisted of Ward Cleaver, an ideal hard working father and finanical supporter ofJune Cleaver, the prefect doting archetypal suburban wife and mother to two young boys, Wally the oldest and Beaver the youngest.
v "Self-Determination" supports tribal identities and the opportunities for American Indians to manage their own affairs. It promotes American Indians running their own government, and their own affairs in social and political matters.
vi Pneumonia is a serious infection and/or inflammation ofthe lungs. The air sacs in the lungs fill with pus and other liquids, and oxygen has trouble getting into the bloodstream. Ifthere is too little oxygen in the blood, the body cells cannot work properly. Because ofthis, infection can quickly spread throughout the body and can eventually lead to death.