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| Carrie Dann by Brenda Norrell, Western Shoshone Gathering 2009 |
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| Carrie and Mary Dann photo by Ilka Hartmann 1979 |
Remembering Carrie
The sun was setting over Eureka, Nevada, and the roads were icy and treacherous. It was February and I worried over Carrie Dann, in her seventies, making the long drive back to her ranch alone. I walked her out to her white truck, trying not to slip on the sidewalk which was a sheet of ice. With a smile, she assured me she would be just fine.
Carrie traveled the world and was a global force, traveling to the Mother Earth Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2010. Ultimately, however, she was a rancher, a tough working rancher, fighting to protect her horses and the land, air and water.
Carrie passed to the Spirit World on Jan. 2, 2021. Carrie's sister Mary passed in 2005.
Simon J. Ortiz, Acoma Pueblo poet-author, Retired Regents Professor, Arizona State University, honored Carrie.
"What a grandmother, mother, daughter, sister, Carrie Dann was," Ortiz wrote today.
"A force of life."
"Life of life."
"Generation after generation before, after."
"We -- all people all beings -- are with her always. And she will always be with us."
"She will always be with all peoples -- even those who mislead and are destructive -- because that is the way of the original knowledge -- who are bound by the Sacred Way of life to be responsible for life to be sustainable forever."
