GRAND Magazine - January 2009 - (Page 28)

A family shrine to Army spc. Lori Piestewa of the 507th Army Maintenance Company, who was killed in an ambush in iraq four days after the 2003 u.s. invasion. Casualties By BeTsey Bruner The children and parents of Lori Ann Piestewa mourn— and heal—together 28 GRAND JANUARY 2009 PhoTos By BeTsey Bruner A genTLe wind ouT of The wesT blows low across a high desert landscape of rabbit brush, yucca and rolling tumbleweed in a far corner of the Hopi Reservation, located within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation, in northeastern Arizona. At the site of a simple, rock-piled grave, two children place bright, new plastic flowers and tiny American flags. Buried there is Army Spc. Lori Ann Piestewa. Lori, who died at the age of 23 on March 23, 2003, on the fourth day of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, was the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military on foreign soil. And Lori was their mother. As Brandon Whiterock, 10, and Carla Piestewa, 8, scatter sacred white cornmeal (homa) on Lori’s grave, they say private prayers under the loving eyes of their grandparents, Terry and Priscilla (“Percy”) Piestewa, who have cared for the children since their mother’s death. “We give the homa into the grave so they can live a good afterlife,” says Brandon, whose Hopi name is Sus-wu-pa (“the tallest bamboo”). Praying with the sacred homa is a daily part of the children’s lives. “They greet the sun and ask for a good day,” says Terry. “They give the homa out toward the sun because the Hopi believe the sun is our creator.” Terry is full Hopi. Percy is Mexican; her real mother died when she was 5, and her stepmother was Hopi—“I got the best of both worlds,” she says. The Piestewas bring the two children to Lori’s grave, about an hour and a half from their home in Timberline, a suburb on the east side of Flagstaff, whenever they ask to go. “The Native American way is not to visit the grave,” says Terry. “You’re not supposed to even mention her name anymore. We tell people, ‘Lori is different.’ She became a person who will probably end up in history books. And we don’t keep the children from going to visit the grave site. It helps with the healing.” Although it is also the Hopi way for only men to bury the dead, both Percy and Carla, whose Hopi name is Wu-pa-ho-mana (“longest arrow girl”), attended Lori’s burial when her body was returned to the United States. They also attended the community memorial service at the Warrior Pavilion at the high school in Tuba City, the town on the Navajo Nation where Lori was raised and played on the girl’s softball team. Despite generations of disagreement over land and grazing rights, the Hopi and Navajo

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - January 2009

GRAND�Magazine - January 2009
Grand View
Contents
Isn't it Grand?
Grand Central
Tips on Teens
Grand Gestures
Toddler Town
Help! My Grandson's Being Raised Vegan!
Cover Story: Casualties
Leader of the Pack
Reunions
Together Time
Resources
Grand Finale

GRAND Magazine - January 2009