Lawrence Nicodemus, 94, tribal-language expert
Mr. Nicodemus, who died Saturday, was considered a hero within the Northern Idaho tribe for his efforts to preserve Snchitsu'umshtsn, as the language is called.
"We will be closing tribal offices on the day of his funeral to remember our past and to pay our respects for this tribal elder," Chief J. Allan, tribal vice chairman, said in a news release. Mr. Nicodemus will be buried today.
He wrote a self-study course on the language that was published in 1975. It included a primer, two-volume dictionary and audio cassette tape delivered to every tribal family on the reservation. The course remains in use today, the tribe said.
Mr. Nicodemus also wrote an account of tribal family and historical names in the old language and compiled a list of place names in the original territory of the tribe.
Mr. Nicodemus was part of a long family legacy of preserving the language, an effort that started in the 1870s when Jesuit missionaries required all Indian children to learn English.
Cyprian Kwaruutus Nicodemus, his paternal grandfather, was a principal consultant to ethnologist James Teit in the production of Teit's important 19th-century account of the tribe, which included much information on the language.
When Columbia University professor Gladys Reichard began working with tribal elders in the 1920s to help save the Coeur d'Alene language, she developed a working relationship with Dorothy Nicodemus, widow of Cyprian.
Lawrence Nicodemus was born on July 21, 1909, to a family that farmed on the reservation near the Washington-Idaho border. He entered boarding school at age 9, a time when he spoke only the Coeur d'Alene language.
In 1935, he went to Columbia University with Reichard and spent 13 months working there. The result was a grammar of the tribal language, published in 1938.
During World War II, he wrote a newsletter for members of the tribe both at home and serving in the armed forces.
"Letters home to Lawrence became, essentially, dispatches from the European and Pacific theaters," said Raymond Brinkman, a student of Mr. Nicodemus who is now director of the tribe's Language Department.
After World War II, Mr. Nicodemus was appointed a judge of the Coeur d'Alene Tribal Court and was a member of the tribal council in the 1950s. By the 1990s, the tribe was making enough money from gambling revenues to begin new efforts to preserve its language.
Although in his 80s, Mr. Nicodemus helped the tribe create both a high-school and college course in the language.
He continued teaching language classes until his 94th birthday last year.