Bartlesville Indian Summer announces 'Elder of the Year'

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Oklahoma Indian Summer and Executive Director Dee Ketchum are proud to honor Dolores "Dee" Theis, longtime community and Oklahoma Indian Summer volunteer, as OIS’s 2010 Elder of the Year.
"l was very humbled and honored," Dee said of the decision which will be in celebration of the 23rd season of the Native American festival.
While, Dee accepts the honor with deep pride she says she is most thankful she was able to be present for the first planning meeting for Oklahoma Indian Summer in 1988.
“I was at the very first meeting,” she says.
“Just to be a part of such a thing is humbling, but for Bartlesville to have this and to have it grow has been quite an experience.”
She says that the festival “bridges the gap between the Native American community and people that are not familiar with it; it’s a social event, a time to come out and experience a part of that Native American culture.”
An Osage-Cherokee, Dee’s great-grandfather Laban Miles was the last Osage Medicine Man the Tribe ever had and her brother is John D. Free, noted artist and owner of The Bronze[HAC1] [HAC1] Horse in Pawhuska. For the last 50 years Dee and her husband Raymond have made their home In Bartlesville and have served in a variety of capacities with Oklahoma Indian Summer over the years. Raymond served as chairman of the festival in 1995 and in recent years has served as Senior Vice-Chairman. He currently is on the Board of Directors of the festival.
Living in and around northeast Oklahoma most of her life, Dee attended St. Mary's Academy in Leavenworth, Kansas before graduating from Pawhuska High School In 1951. She also enjoyed working for 18 years as a volunteer at the Bartlesville Community Center.
Dee served as Hospitality Chairman for Oklahoma Indian Summer for 15 years. Realizing the need for expansion, Dee created a Hospitality Room to provide incoming artists a relaxing environment to take a break from their booth.
“Along with Annette Ketchum and the late Florian Griggs, I have been honored to participate in the selection and crowning of the Oklahoma Indian Summer Princess” she says.
Dee’s other volunteer positions over the years almost become too numerous to mention. She has been a member of the Bartlesville Indian Women's Club for 39-years and during that time held the offices of first vice-president, and treasure. She also served as delegate to the Allied Arts and Humanities Council, and was a board member of the Women's Club House, as well as being a member of the scholarship committee. Over the years with the BIWC Dee has assisted in presenting their traditional Indian women’s clothes in style shows around the country including stops in Washington D.C., San Antonio, the Governor's Mansion in Oklahoma City, Glicrease in Tulsa, Claremore and Coffeyville. Currently Dee is proud to serve as an Advisor to the BIWC Style Show.
With the plethora of volunteer work Dee continues to do, never far from her mind is the "Osage-French Cultural Exchange" and intercontinental exchange that she and Ray were instrumental in organizing in 1991.
Ray was founder of the exchange at the request of the Occitan President Jean-Claude Droullhet The exchange became so successful that a French group became guests of the Oklahoma Indian Summer as they toured Oklahoma.
“When we visited France I was able to participate in style shows for our hosts,” she says.
“Traditional dress of various tribes were shown to the French people and accepted with great passion and respect.”
The exchange continues today as the sister city exchange of Pawhuska and Montauban, France.
“We’ve entertained people about ten times and we have gone to France twice,” she says.
Through the years she says she has fond memories of the artists who have attended Oklahoma Indian Summer Festival and values the friendships she has made.
“I would like to express my gratitude to the Board of Directors for nominating me for this great honor as the 2010 Oklahoma Indian Summer Festival Elder of the Year. I’ve enjoyed it, I’ve had great joy with it,” she says. The Oklahoma Indian Summer Festival is held each fall in September in Bartlesville and features an American Indian art market that attracts regional artisans to a competitive show and sale. Besides the intertribal powwow, other festival highlights include American Indian storytelling, horse painting, a church service and gospel sing. Admission to the festival is free.
For more information contact Jenifer Pechonick, festival coordinator, at 918-331-0934 or visit www.okindiansummer.org.