Two local men helped honor the legacy of treaty rights advocate Billy Frank Jr. during a ceremony at Washington State University April 18.
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Senator J.J. Wilbur, who also serves on the La Conner School Board and Skagit County Fire District 13 Board of Commissioners, was one of three panelists who discussed fishing rights and resource enhancement during an April 18 public forum in the WSU Terrell Library atrium.
WSU history professor Ryan Booth, a member of the Upper Skagit Tribe who grew up on the Swinomish Reservation, transported a half-scale model of Billy Frank Jr.’s statue from Olympia to Pullman for last week’s program. The maquette will remain on display at Terrell Library through May 3.
A bronze statue of Frank will be installed in Washington, D.C. as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, which honors historically important figures. Another Frank statue will be placed at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia.
Booth was honored to have been selected to bring the maquette to WSU as he had met Frank in the early 2000s at a Swinomish “First Salmon Ceremony.”
“When the statue made it into the van that day,” Booth told WSU Insider, “it felt almost like carrying an honored loved one. It wasn’t the feeling of a funeral. It was more like an honoring or celebration.”
The model of the Frank statue now at WSU is being showcased on a statewide tour sponsored by ArtsWA and the Nisqually Indian Tribe. Washington State University’s Department of History, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and WSU Libraries arranged for the maquette’s stop in Pullman.
Bill Reynolds: bill@laconnercommunitynews.org. Bill is a general assignment reporter who covers Town government, schools, and spot news.
