Janice Murray To Speak At NCC Women’s Fellowship Breakfast

Janice Murray, a unit coordinator of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) at Ashlar of Newtown, has a special relationship with the Lakota Native Americans at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She will be speaking to the members of Newtown Congregational Church Women’s Fellowship on Saturday, October 25, at 8:30 am, at My Place Restaurant.

The Lakotas are the descendants of the tribe that was massacred at Wounded Knee as chronicled by Dee Brown in his book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Ultimately the survivors were sent to the reservation at Pine Ridge, about 150 miles from Rapid City. They were hunters forced to become farmers in a “wasteland” with temperatures ranging from 115 to minus 140 degrees. The red clay soil is like gumbo, according to Ms Murray. The reservation is about the size of Connecticut and has a population of about 30,000.

Ms Murray became involved about ten years ago when she satisfied her lifelong interest in Native Americans and visited Pine Ridge and took a tour of the area. She was struck by the poverty and openness of the people. She kept in touch with the tour guide, a Mohegan who is married to a Lakota, and now visits there three or four times a year. In June she will be taken in as a member of the tribe, a high honor and quite rare.

She never visits without bringing household items, tools, and whatever else she might collect for her adopted families. Last year two 18-wheelers carried needed items to South Dakota.

On her next trip Ms Murray, who lives in Naugatuck, will be taking her 16-year-old grandson D.J. for his second visit. Ms Murray has three daughters, all in the area, who help her with her collections. The trucking agency she uses is William B. Meyer, who picks up the goods directly from Westy’s in Milford.

There are many stories Ms Murray will tell, including the one of the live baby, Little Bird, found among the bodies of the women and children massacred at Wounded Knee and lying in an open trench. She will also be telling the Fellowship how, when, and where they can help the Lakota people by contributing to her truckloads of care.

Seating is limited for Saturday’s breakfast. Reservations should be made by calling Charlotte Kalley at 426-0231.