Sigh. Difficult phone call achieved. Untreated mental illness can be a pretty ghastly thing - friend from the past came to a really bad end. 😢 Part of that horrible end involved aggressively pushing away anyone who might have helped her or remembered her kindly, so at a distance of some 20 years or so, I’ll say a few things about what she was like when I knew her. My friend was, as I remember it, a member of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, from Alabama. She identified as a lesbian when I knew her in grad school and she was funny, talented and brilliant. She helped organize a Native American artists conference at the U. of Iowa in 1994. It was, as I recall, a big success. She got us to be community hosts for Two Spirit artist and author Richard LaFortune, which involved him sleeping in our living room and making friends with our new rescue kitten. Richard was the best of house guests! On another memorable occasion, she and I went to the Amanas to drive the back roads looking for a family named “Miller” (one of the most common last names out there) because she wanted to buy some plucked ducks so she could put them on ice and drive them down to her parents in Alabama for the holidays. Hilarity ensued. We did eventually find the right farm and between her accent and my semi-shaved head/lots of black leather look at the time, we were the most fascinating things anyone had seen for weeks. There were so many women and children in that farmhouse, they must have sent up a bat signal to the surrounding farms. She was charming and gracious about it and we giggled all the way back to Iowa City. We had a few other adventures, but lost touch with each after multiple moves. When next I heard about her, she was already ill and not inclined to talk to anyone. Rest in peace, Debbie. We’ll miss believing that you were out there doing brilliant things and being a shining star.
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