http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/aphillerman10-28-08.htm

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Navajos, Hillerman Shared Affection

By Felicia Fonseca
Associated Press

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - In the Navajo Nation where tribal members sometimes
hesitate to open up to outsiders, they embraced Tony Hillerman as an honest
and genuine man who wanted to learn about their culture and get the details
right.

Hillerman, who died Sunday of pulmonary failure at age 83, was author of
the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels. His books in the Navajo
series were characterized by vivid descriptions of Navajo rituals and of
the vast reservation in the Four Corners region.

But Hillerman's relationship with the Navajo Nation stretched far beyond
the pages of those books, which featured two of the unlikeliest of literary
heroes - Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. He shed light on
Navajo culture, his books becoming a bridge to the reservation for tribal
members who moved elsewhere, and encouraged Navajo youth to ask elders
about traditions and ceremonies.

"The people spilled their guts to him," said James Peshlakai, who is
characterized as a Navajo shaman in one of Hillerman's books, "The Wailing
Wind." "The elders, they told him stories about things their own children
never asked about."

Hillerman returned the blessings he received from Navajos by donating money
for a water delivery program at St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School
in Thoreau, New Mexico, to the Little Sisters of the Poor in Gallup, New
Mexico, and to put up lights at a football stadium in Monument Valley,
Utah.

Staff at the Thoreau mission, where a murder takes place in Hillerman's
"Sacred Clowns," "have already been saying Mass for him and saying
prayers," executive director Chris Halter said Monday.

Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman, said the Navajo values of family,
community, generosity and enjoying the beauty of the world, resonated with
her father's own Catholic values. He felt blessed in his life and saw the
needs of the Navajo Nation and responded, she said.

"He was a storyteller at heart, and so when people started buying his books
and he didn't have to struggle so hard financially, he felt it was a good
way to share the blessings," she said.

Joe Silversmith regards Hillerman as an idol. An avid reader, Silversmith
often takes Hillerman's books out with him while he herds sheep in Thoreau,
New Mexico. His daughter would pick up the novels from the library and give
them to her father to read.

His admiration stems from Hillerman's seemingly inside-out knowledge of
Navajo life, said Silversmith's wife, Ramona.

"He seems to know what he's talking about; he's very accurate about it,"
she said. "He's an outsider, but really knew something about the Navajo
life."

Some Navajos were offended that Hillerman would write about the culture and
was seen as an expert in it, said Adam Teller, a tour guide at Canyon de
Chelly National Monument in Chinle.

"They would rather see a Navajo scholar being given credit as an expert in
that subject," he said.

Teller, whose grandmother, Mae Thompson, was consulted for one of
Hillerman's most acclaimed books, "Talking God," said she believed the
Navajo way was a beautiful teaching that needed to be shared with the world
but was criticized for giving Hillerman too much sacred information.

Hillerman's books are popular buys for tourists, some of whom visit the
reservation after reading his books and feel like they have already been
there, said Tina Lowe, a National Park Service ranger at the Hubbell
Trading Post in Ganado.

His books in the Navajo series are used at schools across the Navajo Nation
to teach vocabulary and cultural relevance.

"The young people that read his books would ask the elders, 'Is it true?'"
Peshlakai said. "And then when they're interested, we tell these stories."

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