Joe Redthunder Championed Nez Perce' Traditions, Values

Like his proud, legendary great-granduncle Chief Joseph, Joe Redthunder fought to preserve the Nez Perce way of life.

Not the way Chief Joseph had with battles against the U.S. Army in the 1870s, but certainly in the same spirit.

Instead of weapons of war, Mr. Redthunder, spiritual adviser for the Joseph band of the Nez Perce, championed Native-American beliefs and ideals with outspoken words addressed to tribal councils and the U.S. Congress.

Ill for several months, Mr. Redthunder died Monday at 87 of natural causes at his Nespelem home on the Colville Reservation in north-central Washington. He was buried yesterday in the Chief Joseph Cemetery just outside Nespelem, where his great-granduncle's gravesite is located.

"Joe was truly a leader of his people," said Dale Kohler, a tribal-council member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. He had known Mr. Redthunder for about 25 years.

"Joe was a leader in the religious and cultural aspects of his tribe. He wanted very strongly for the contributions that the Joseph band made in history to be noted, and he made a good job of that. He'll be long remembered."

His great-granduncle, with his band of warriors, in 1877 befuddled the Army in a desperate dash for freedom through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana before surrendering just miles short of the Canadian border. Today the Nez Perce National Historic Trail commemorates that blazing path.

Mr. Redthunder, who served as a National Park Service adviser on additions to the Nez Perce National Historic Park and on the trail, made trips to Congress to testify on the history of the 1,200 miles that Chief Joseph and his warriors cut while fighting the Army, Kohler said.

"He just wanted it done right," he said. "He just wanted history to be remembered correctly. Joe could tell you exactly how Chief Joseph fought, who got killed where and what took place. He just rattled that off."

Mr. Redthunder also successfully lobbied Congress to include Chief Joseph's grave in the Nez Perce park.

Mr. Redthunder was as determined in preserving Nez Perce traditions.

At a time in the past when Congress considered divvying up reservation lands to sell and when tribal members wanted to abandon certain traditional ceremonies in favor of going "mainstream," Kohler said, Mr. Redthunder stood fast against such actions.

Mr. Redthunder helped keep such old traditions as the 10-day Circle Celebration and old religions as the Seven Drums alive, Kohler said.

"He drew attention to everyone that this is part of ourselves, and we're not going to abandon this."

Mr. Redthunder's survivors include five sons, Keith "Soy" Redthunder of Elmer City, Okanogan County, Wilford "Sabe" Redthunder of Nespelem, Jack Redthunder of Nespelem, Kenneth Redthunder of Wapato, Yakima County, and Norman Redthunder of Nespelem; three daughters, Dorothy Camarena of Yakima, Jeannie Moon of Nespelem and Joanne Redthunder of Nespelem; and 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Services included a Seven Drums ceremony, which involves traditional drumming, dancing and singing - the way Mr. Redthunder would have wanted it, Kohler said.