This summer, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is hosting events on the last Tuesday of each month in June, July, August and September. The series launched with a bang as four beloved Community elders were joined by Assistant Community Manager Lena Jackson-Eckert on June 24 in the packed Council Chambers. 

After a meal and some mingling, the panelists — former Council member Tom Largo Sr., former SRPMIC President Delbert Ray Sr., Patricia (Patsy) Enos King and Sharon Selestewa — joined Jackson-Eckert in prayer before discussing their memories and hopes for the Community. What came after was a lot of laughter, freckled with few somber reflections, as each took turns sharing their perspectives. 

Following introductions, each shared a little about their family and upbringing, all touching on the importance of faith in their younger years and how it has endured over time, often switching between speaking in English and O’odham. The Council Chambers was soon filled with laughter as the group recalled hard-learned lessons about following directions and how far a quarter used to take you. As Jackson-Eckert posed questions to each elder, themes emerged on the role of faith and of connecting, especially in understanding what it means to be O’odham as individuals and as a Community. 

The panel opened discussions to the audience, where attendees, both in-person and online, asked questions and received feedback from the respected panelists. The elders encouraged people to seek volunteer opportunities within the Community to build and maintain those connections and to honor the sacrifices of those who came before, making specific mention of military service. 

A full recording of the evening’s presentation is available on the Community’s Facebook page, where it was live-streamed. The next event is scheduled for July 29 and will feature Salt River youth sharing their stories and perspectives. The series is open to all and includes a light meal before each presentation.

Meet The Panel

SHARON SELESTEWA

Sharon Selestewa was born August 4, 1945, in Phoenix and raised in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. She has always followed her grandfather’s advice: learn as many skills as you can. She attended Salt River Day School, Carson Junior High School and Mesa High School. Over the years, she wore many hats, working in the realty office, housing, and the Johnson O’Malley Program. She also worked with the Indian Development District of Arizona, supporting small businesses from tribal communities statewide. A series of dreams and a nudge from a colleague led her to theological studies at Charles Cook, which took her to Israel and various states within the U.S. Ultimately, her studies led her to the University of Dubuque in Iowa, where she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She later returned home to teach language and was recruited by the O’odham-Piipaash Language program in 2004, which she still helps today. She’s a proud mom of three, grandmother to eight and a great-grandmother to 21.

“But if you love the reservation, and you care about the reservation, you care about the future of your children, your grandchildren, great grandchildren, you’ll do anything to make that a success and show that there will be a future.”

“…It was those days when you didn’t have to worry about it, you’re leaving your doors open, we didn’t even have locks on our doors. So it was a safe place for us kids to hang around in the roads and wander around everywhere, and there’s so many times like that.”

“People were helpful and always there when there was a loss in the family. I remember we’d get stuff loaded up and go to a person’s house, and there would be other people there chopping wood or cleaning the yard, helping however they could. There was that closeness, the empathy that was there for the family and bringing them supplies that they would need eventually and showing them that you care for them. Today we still will help each other some, but not as much as they did then.”

PATRICIA ENOS KING

Miss Patricia Enos King, or Miss Patsy, was born on September 1, 1948, in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Miss Patsy is the daughter of Eulah Enos and Philip George King. She attended schools across Arizona, including the Salt River Day School, Mesa High School, Cortez High School, and even Ganado Mission High School. She lived in Oklahoma for seven years in the 90s, where her favorite job was working as a clerk. Most of her career was in retail, including a stint at Walmart in Oklahoma and Salt River. She also worked as a Child Protective Services investigator for the tribe and later shared her love of culture at the Early Childhood Education Center at Salt River Schools. A proud mom of two daughters and a grandma to five, Miss Patsy grew up in the church and is proud to share her culture with others.

“There’s things going on that it’s really hard for me to hear where we’re hurting each other. Whether it’s through words or gossip, or whether it’s through the guns, the lifestyle our young people have, or other people have in their lifestyle that they’re using. I don’t know how we got there. Like Sharon said when we were little, we didn’t have any fear of a lot of these things. I think we were more protective of each other. Now it’s a lot different and I think it’s because we don’t reach out or just touch someone else in talking to them. That’s what I have hope for.”

“Our adventures were going down to the pumps barefoot in the summertime and swimming with our cousins. Now a lot of people don’t know their relatives and it’s sad. That’s sad. Yet if we look into each other’s families, we are probably all related somehow or some way.”

“I barely started connecting with some of my relatives. I should be running over to Sharon’s house and seeing her all the time, or Miss Ruth, I promised her I would come read to her, I haven’t done that yet, and shame on me. There’s a lot of things that we hold back on, but we should just do it. There’s something that holds us back.”

TOM LARGO

Mr. Tom Largo, Sr., was born May 24, 1940, at the old Indian School in Phoenix. Largo is a proud Army veteran; he served in the 82nd Airborne and spent time in Germany after enlisting in 1959. A lifelong sports fan and gym-goer, Tom is a self-proclaimed renegade Who gives all credit to a merciful God. He worked as an ironworker, eventually becoming a union assistant business agent, and served 24 years in that role. After retiring, he joined the SRPMIC as a Compliance Officer during freeway construction and then went on to serve over 20 years on the Council. Invited to church by a coworker while commuting between Phoenix and Tucson, Tom found faith and has been teaching the Bible and serving in jail ministry for 22 years. Something he still loves and does to this day. He is the proud father of five and a grandfather and great-grandfather to many.

“I can remember downtown there used to be at theater called the Fox Theater. It only cost a dime to get in, and my mother would give me a quarter. Because the candy and everything was so expensive, you didn’t want to spend your money getting in, so we’d have somebody go into the theater and pay, and then he would go in and go to the back door and open it and we’d all go in like a club of quail running in. Having them chase you was the fun part about it, seeing if you could get away. That was the fun right there… part of it, anyway.”

“When I moved out here… everything opened with prayer, and I think we’re getting away from that. I’m not trying to say that prayer is something you can overlook, because it’s not. That’s what this community is, it’s a major part of starting anything. It had to be with prayer, and I think we’re getting away from that.”

“I have lived on this reservation for probably 22 years…I have come to find that we are a caring people, a loving people, that when somebody is down, somebody will pick you up. You know, and that’s just the way we are… Nobody knew that before I came here, that I was actually an alcoholic. But when I came here, it was after I had accepted the Lord. And when I did, it was over. It’s been, I’m going to say, 39 years since I’ve had a drink.”

DELBERT RAY

Delbert Ray Sr. was born on April 7, 1948, in Phoenix and raised in Salt River. Ray began attending boarding school at the age of 12 and graduated from Sherman High School in Riverside, California, in 1967. He studied business at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas before joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1969, where he served for three years, including serving a year in Vietnam as a heavy equipment operator and engineer. He married his wife, June, in 1972, and they shared 49 years. They raised three kids, and Ray now enjoys a growing family with nine kids and four grandchildren. Delbert spent his high school summers working music camps in California, then went on to a career in tribal justice, serving as an adult probation officer, juvenile judge, and eventually the chief judge for multiple tribes, including his own. In 2014, he was elected president of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian community, serving one term and solidifying a lifetime of service to his people.

“There’s just so much that I’m thankful for today. …I’m going through a lot of things right now, but you know what? My my mind is still there. This is the best part of it, you know, every night, when I pray and every morning, when I wake up, I swing my feet to the ground, and if I feel the floor, I say, “Hey, thank you!”

“Let me just tell you that… We need to talk to each other. How can we make life better? I’ll reach out to people and say let’s talk about [O’odham]. Let’s talk about [O’odham]. Let’s talk about skovk cemait, all these things. Let’s go eat…. This is good, you know, I really appreciate this gathering, I like to reach out to people… These are things that are really important. I’ve been retired now for seven years or something. I have time for people. Let’s make some cemait. Let’s go.”

“Right now, talking about AI, I don’t know what the heck that is. But you know, you try to get on the phone and talk to somebody, you can’t talk to nobody. I don’t like to talk on the phone. I’d rather just go and see your face and say, “[O’odham greeting and chatter]”. Let’s learn from each other.”

Salt River Day School – Beginner Class of 1955

TOP ROW: Bradford Dale Sampson, Linda Sebahe (Webster), Patricia Smith (Wadena), Roberta J. Williams (Jaramillo), Gerald Williams, Nadine Waters (Rhoades), Ray Lewis Jr., Guthrie Dick, Lawrence Robinson, Darice Enos, Etheleen Brown (Osif), Lois Ferguson (Smith), Rebecca Collins (Doka), Carmen Juan

MIDDLE ROW: Delbert Ray, Eardine Richards, Diane Richards (Howard), Jenelle Johnson (Lovelace), Francisco Carlos, Angelo Martinez, Corrida Osif (Brown), Cora Lee Butler (Moore), Lavenda Manuel, Sharon Chiago, Gilman Card, Bruno Howard, Jerome Lewis

BOTTOM ROW: Alexander Stanley, Richard Burton Jr., Jerry Manuel, Bennett Chiago, Juan Wilson Jr., Sylvia Brown (Sinoloa), Patricia King, Gilland Fulwilder, Linda Antone, Nadine Miles (Hernandez), Narin Howard, Gary Rivers, Betty Lou Vest, Victor Santo