Elder Vincent Randall Receives 2013 Verde Pride Lifetime Achiever Award





Erie Randall, Mayor Diane Joens
and Apache Elder Vincent Randall
at the Chamber of Commerce
Verde Pride Awards ceremony.
Mayor Joens nominated Elder Randall
for the Lifetime Achiever Award.

 



Verde Pride Awards 2013   Your Name:  Diane Joens

Name of nominee:  Apache Elder Vincent Randall Nomination Category: Lifetime Achiever Award

Provide as much history/background information as possible about the nominee.   Vincent Randall,  Apache Elder, Historian, former Yavapai-Apache Chairman, and Manager of the Apache Cultural Resource Center, was born in Clarkdale, Arizona. Elder Randall lives on the same property on which he was born. Apache culture says that a baby's umbilical cord should be buried where he or she is born, and they will always return. Elder Randall says his is buried on the property where he lives, and his bedroom is about 30 yards from where he was born. When his family came back from the San Carlos Reservation back in early 1900s, they tried to move where they originally   lived, but found that other people had moved there, and the Forest Service had taken over the property  in 1905. Originally his Clan was from "over the Rim in Pine Country." His mother said the family moved to the property in Clarkdale in 1911. Elder Randall has a bachelor of science in education from Northern Arizona University, which was the Arizona State Teachers' College when he graduated in 1963. Elder Randall taught in Clarkdale school system for 28 years. Mr. Robert DeVault, longtime teacher and principal in Clarkdale, who had been his teacher, always told him he could come home. Before he graduated he did student teaching in Clarkdale. It just happened that the math a nd science teacher moved to Kingman, the job opened up and Mr. DeVault gave him the job.   He served as the boys' basketball coach, receiving accolades with  five state championships. He also coached girls basketball at Mingus Union High School when his  daughter played basketball. He coached the freshman team for a year, Junior Varsity for two years, and then was the assistant Varsity Coach when the team went to the final four in 2008/09. The reason he got into girls basketball coaching was because his wife, Erie, said to him one day, "You devoted 30-some years to coaching boys' basketball, it's about time you coached your daughter." Elder Randall said he never regretted it, and he had a lot of fun. He was a board member of the Association of American Indian Affairs from 1969 to 1989 and also served on the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Elder Randall is fluent in Apache and an acknowledged Apache historian, ethno-botanist and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) expert. He was also instrumental in the decommissioning of the dam in Fossil Creek. He and his wife, Erie, raised two daughters.

List specific activities in which this person or organization has played an instrumental role.   Elder Randall inspired the community's children for several decades when he taught school in Clarkdale, coached boys basketball with five state wins, served as a tribal chairman for the Yavapai-Apache Nation, and continues his service to community today speaking in many venues about tribal history and water issues from a historical perspective.

Write up to 300 words telling us why your nominee should receive a Verde Pride Award.

A few weeks ago I interviewed Vincent Randall for the Inside Cottonwood show. After completing two episodes I read about the Verde Pride Awards in the Verde Independent, and thought to myself, "Vincent Randall should be nominated for the Lifetime Achiever Award." Elder Randall is an amazing historian. During the interviews we talked about the Verde Valley as the 800-acre Rio Verde Reservation in 1873. Headquarters were near present day Cottonwood. An irrigation ditch was built and 56 acres of crops were cultivated in 1874.

In 1875, all of the American Indians in the Rio Verde Reservation were marched to the San Carlos Indian Reservation. In exile for 25 years, they were determined to return home, which they did, a few families at a time. By 1901 nearly all had returned. A federally recognized Native American Tribe in the Verde Valley, the Yavapai-Apache Nation shares two culturally distinct backgrounds and speaks two indigenous languages, the Yavapai language and the Apache language. Elder Randall is fluent in Apache, and is interested in keeping the language alive through programs that teach it to the Nation's children. He also speaks Spanish. It is enlightening to see how much Elder Randal has accomplished for his community through hard work, determination and tenacity. He is a great mentor and example for all of us to follow.

Elder Randall was instrumental in working with APS to decommission the Childs and Irving Power Plants to return Fossil Creek to its full flow. Indian workers had helped build the dam in 1908 and 1909. Most of the power went to the booming copper mines in Jerome and to the gold and silver mines and rough and tumble mining camps in the Bradshaw Mountains. By the end of 1914, World War I increased demand for minerals, and more power was needed at the mines. This spurred construction of the nearby Irving plant, completed in 1916. Through the '20s and '30s, the tiny power plants also provided power to light the communities of Prescott and Phoenix. (Per APS Web site.) I attended the ceremony when full flow was returned to Fossil Creek, and Elder Randall participated in a very emotional ceremony as the waters returned as nature had intended. There were many tears of joy shed that day.

 

After listening to Elder Randall talk about his years of coaching, learning about his extensive historical knowledge of the Verde Valley and the Apache people, learning about his coaching and inspiration to Verde Valley children for many years, I decided to nominate him as a well-deserved candidate for the Verde Pride Awards: Lifetime Achievement. The interviews are available on You Tube and verdevalleytv.com. I cannot think of anyone more deserving to be honored with this award.

Mayor Diane Joens interviews Elder Vincent Randall on the Inside Cottonwood Show in two episodes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuHD1JS3wRs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNfNB4SGl-E
Verde Independent @ verdenews.com

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