Congratulations!

Rachael (right) and Jessica Lackey (left), enrolled Cherokees, daughters of Jacquie Archambeau (CSGBA Assembly Member) and her husband Dan Lackey have something to celebrate. Rachael received her Associate Degree in Liberal Arts from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence Kansas on May 9th, 2008, she will be returning to Haskell in the fall to continue her studies in the American Indian Studies Bachelor Program. Jessie has just finished her Freshman Year at Haskell, achieving Honor Roll with a 4.0 GPA. She received a scholastic Scholarship from The American Indian College Fund.

Ken Harper, enrolled Cherokee and founding CSGBA Assemblyman received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religious Studies from UC Berkeley on May 21st, 2008!

Congratulations to Edward Dang, son of Kim Shuck, who just graduated from high school.

America Meredith received a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to study pre-20th century Cherokee painting techniques and give a presentation about her research at a CSGBA Meeting in 2009. She is  an enrolled Cherokee artist and founding  CSGBA Assemblywoman.

Officers

Bruce Dixon, General Meeting Facilitator
Bruce Dixon is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. He was born in Seaside, Oregon and came to the East Bay in 1975. After graduating from Albany High School he settled in Berkeley, where he still resides. His family came to the West Coast from Nycutt, Oklahoma during the Great Depression. Bruce is Contractor by trade and for the last 16 years has spent his free time working with a number of non-profits organizations. “I believe that the spirit of community is important if a nation is to maintain its identity. For the Cherokee Nation to continue to thrive we must come together where ever we are and connect with our Heritage. This is a unique opportunity to do just that. This is the place, the time is right and we are The People. Thank You.”

Ken Harper, Council Meeting Coordinator 
Ken is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, who was born and raised in San Francisco. Currently, Contracts Administrator for the San Francisco Study Center, he has worked in non-profit administration for over 11 years and attended UC Berkeley.  Ken is an award winning cook and enjoys sharing his love of food. Ken's grandmother, Ruby Rowe resided in Rose (formerly, Rowe's Prairie), Oklahoma, his great-grandmother was Lou Conseen.  Ken is lives in Berkeley, California.

Ben Ridge Goss, Recordskeeper
Ben Ridge Goss was born in Muskogee, OK, June 26, 1939. His family moved to Rainier OR in 1945, where he graduated high school, and then entered Oregon State. Brian entered the US Army in 1958, serving abroad in Germany and Turkey. He worked for Hughes Aircraft, operated a Jack-in the Box, and later operated an IHOP in Oakland. From that line of endeavor, he went into construction, which is his present line of trade. "My parents always made our family aware who our Cherokee ancestors were, and of the trials and tribulations that they and other Cherokees endured over the years. I have become more aware of, and have become more immersed in my Cherokee heritage as I grew older, and hope I can continue to expand my knowledge and participation in Tribal affairs."

Jacquie Archambeau, Treasurer
Jacquie is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She was born in Portland, Oregon (the first in her family to be born outside the Cherokee Nation), but her family moved to the East Bay not too long afterwards and have been here ever since. Jacquie is in the Healing Arts using Hypnotherapy and Energy Modalities with a practice in Lafayette . She has been married for 21 years and has two daughters, both of whom attend Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. “I’ve known nothing but being Cherokee all my life. There is nothing more important than to continue to pass our culture down to our children, the way it was passed down to me by my family and community.” In her spare time, she quilts, a skill she learned from her Cherokee grandmother.

Nanette Bradley Deetz, General Meeting Facilitator
Nanette is a granddaughter of Kenneth James Bradley, son of James Bradley, and the Bradley family enrolled with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She was born in Fullerton, California and received her BA and MA in Theater Arts and Dance from UCLA. She received a Rockefeller Scholarship in Performing Arts in order to attend graduate school. Nanette appeared in the original film version of "Carrie" and danced in the film "1941," in addition to numerous theater productions.  She is also a poet whose latest poetry has been published in an anthology entitled Alameda Island Theme Poems. In 1994 Nanette formed a contemporary Cherokee musical band, that combines music and poetry, called Redbird Giving. This band was formed as a tribute to her mother Carolyn, her daughter Jennifer, and her father David Deetz in gratitude for the many years of music, poetry, dance, theater arts and visual arts Nanette enjoys. Redbird Giving performed for the first "Electric Pow Wow" benefit concert for the Native American Health Center's College Scholarship fund in Oakland. Redbird Giving has performed numerous times for many benefit concerts supporting American Indian organizations here in the Bay Area. When not writing poetry or making music, Nanette works for the San Lorenzo Unified School District in Special Education and lives in Alameda, California. "I've always wanted to be involved in a Cherokee community here in the Bay Area that shares language, culture, heritage, arts, crafts, music, dance, traditional foods, friendship, fellowship and all the ingredients that continue community.  I want to learn more so that I can teach more to my daughter.  I can help to make our Nation stronger by learning more of our history and language, and in this way I can teach others."

Mary Jean Robertson, Community Relations
Mary Jean Robertson is an enrolled, registered, and voting member of the Cherokee Nation. She is a Superior Court Deputy Clerk in San Francisco, a job she took in order to pay for her radio habit. She has been a programmer on the Native American show on KPOO radio for 35 years. It used to be called “Red Voices” and now is called “Voices of the Native Nations.” The show is on the third, fourth and fifth Wednesday of every month from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. It is a magazine format show with interviews, announcements, music and pow wow information. If you cannot get KPOO on your radio at 89.5FM in San Francisco, you can listen online at www.KPOO.com. Mary Jean's father was David Conrad Robertson, who served in General Patton’s Third Army from Normandy to Berlin as a Signal Corps Officer (a Cherokee “Code Talker”). She is also descended from Evans Price Robertson, one of the first Cherokee Presbyterian circuit preachers, as well as from Hair Conrad who led the first Cherokee-guided contingent on the trail of tears. Mary Jean is the Community Relations Council woman and is hoping to get a Cherokee Nation Consular office officially recognized by the US State Department here in the San Francisco Bay Area to promote trade and travel with the Cherokee Nation and to promote the Cherokee Nations artists, writers, craftsmen and products.

Blake Hausman, At-Large Council Members
Blake Hausman lives with his family in Berkeley, where he is a graduate student in English at UC Berkeley and an English instructor at Berkeley City College. His mother's family is Cherokee and his father's family is Jewish. Blake is a musician and a writer, and he hopes to work with other people interested in the arts, kids, and language.

Sue Remick, At-Large Council Member
Though Sue Remick, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, was born in Upper State New York, she spent her formative years in Oregon and moved to the Bay Area when she was 10. She earned an MA in Psychological Research from UC Berkeley and worked for several years on a NIDA Grant that investigated the long-term effects on children of mothers who were addicted to drugs while pregnant. Sue then founded and ran a catering business and wrote restaurant guidebooks for the Bay Area. Currently she is an office manager for a Berkeley Landscape Architecture firm. Sue is also working on a narrative of her Cherokee roots based on the larger context of Cherokee history and culture. My great great grandparents, Callacah Smith and Rachel Kingfisher were Old Settlers, and my great-grandmother, Lizzie Smith Wood Moore lived in Estella near Vinita, OK.

America Meredith, At-Large Council Member
America is enrolled in the Cherokee Nation, and her great-great-uncle was Principal Chief J. B. Milam. She is a full time visual artist and assistant publisher of Noksi Press, producing Cherokee language reading material. She splits her time between San Francisco and Oklahoma.