Happy birthday to a wonderful woman

Happy Birthday Mom! (July 14, 1943 – July 14, 2004)

Today would be my mother’s 66th birthday if she were alive. Sadly, G. Janet (Spotted Bear) Gunderson died five years ago July 14 in a car accident while driving to her home on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.

My family members and all my mother’s friends miss her dearly. And we are thinking of her today. G. Janet was the director of the Three Affiliated Tribes social services program at Fort Berthold. She dedicated her life to helping others. My mother had endless compassion for people. She worked continually for hundreds of women and children who miss her as much as we do.

I was thinking of my mother when I chose a name for this blog. She really liked tiger lilies. Just a few weeks before she died, I painted some tiger lilies on an old car in her yard. She asked me to. It was a fun day with Mom. After talking with my Aunt Alyce Spotted Bear, I decided to associate the blog with a memory of my mother. I opted for the Mandan language word for tiger lily, which translates as “the buffalo’s fire.”

Meanwhile, happy birthday Mom.

We’re keeping the fire burning for you.

Jodi Rave