Award, Genealogy, History, Nisqually, PLU, Religion

Local author to receive PLU Honorary Doctorate

Posted by Lincoln on

By Marianne Lincoln

Hope Cecilia Svinth Carpenter wrote several books about the experience and lives of the Nisqually people, When I met her, she was part of the Descendants of Fort Nisqually Employees Association. Her maternal great-great grandparents were Charles and Isabella Ross, who came to the Pacific Northwest to work with the Hudson Bay Company. Ross Bay in Victoria was named for Isabella Ross, years after her husband passed away at Fort Victoria.

Cecilia’s great grandmother, Catherine Tumalt Ross was a Nisqually woman who married Charles Ross Jr. Their daughter Cecilia Ross married John Binder. They had a property on 192nd Street in Spanaway and a log building from that property is now at the Prairie House Museum in Spanaway.

Mary Binder married Danish Lutheran pastor, Hans Svinth, Hans, who was born in Denmark, attended school in Parkland, and was part of the early development of Pacific Lutheran University along with Bjug Harstad. Pastor Svinth was a circuit pastor to several area churches in the early 1900’s. The existence of Bethany Lutheran is attributed to his work. The family still owns adjacent property and Ms. Carpenter is buried at the Bethany Cemetery. From her birth in 1924 to her death in 2010 Cecilia provided many stories of life of the indigenous Nisqually people and the early years of Fort Nisqually.

Cecilia was a strong advocate for the exoneration of Chief Leschi and pushed, with Senator Marilyn Rasmussen, to get State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander to hold a Historical Court, which subsequently exonerated the Tribal leader. Nisqually Tribal elder Cynthis Iyall was also part of the advocacy group for Leschi as she is a descendant of his sister.

I have my own memories of Cecilia, when I visited her home just outside the boundary of Tacoma. Her dining table and chairs were piled high with notes, books and research. She didn’t use a computer, the yellow tablet paper was inmingles with other copies of materials from the library and various archives where she drew her information. I always wondered if she had any inside scoop on where her distant Ross cousin, Maude Wren, left her family documents. When I went to search the archives in the British Museum in Victoria, all that was left was half a bankers box. Cecilia gave me a copy of her book on The Treaty Tree. When I paddled up McAllister (Medicine) Creek on Christmas 2004, I gave her a copy of my video. That was 15 days after the exoneration trial and exactly 150 years after the Treaty.

On September 26, 2024, at the 14th Annual Lutheran Studies Conference, Hope Cecilia Svinth Carpenter, a PLU graduate, will be presented with a posthumous Honorary Doctorate at a ceremony around 3:45 p.m. The Conference, titled Where the Waters Begin: Indigenous Education, Tribal Sovereignty, and the Legacy of Cecelia Svinth Carpenter will be held at the Anderson University Center, PLU.

According to records, Carpenter has won other awards during her career, including the Washington State Governor’s Ethnic Heritage Award in 1990, an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Puget Sound in 1993, the Pacific Lutheran University Distinguished Alumnus Award for achievement of professional distinction through sustained dedication and service in 1994, a Murray Morgan award from the Tacoma Historical Society in 1994, and the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History in 2003.

The event shows an effort by PLU to highlight the legacies of the indigenous people of the region. The PLU campus itself used to have Clover Creek flowing through it at the bottom of the hill below the Anderson University Center until about 1965, when it was redirected along Tule Lake Road. The local native people had a summer camp on the ground that became the campus golf course.

Here is the itinerary and list of speakers for the honorary event.

1:15-1:35pm – Welcome & Introductory comments, Regency Room, AUC

Dr. Marit A. Trelstad, PLU Chair of Lutheran Studies and Professor of Constructive and Lutheran Theologies at PLU

1:35-1:45pm – Healing Song, Regency Room, AUC

Cynthia Savini (Makah, Jamestown S’Klallam and Quileute), PLU Alumna and PLU Indigenous Community Advisory Board, UW Indigenous Education Advisory Board and WA State Native American Education Advisory Board

1:45-2:45pm – Indigenous Education, Since Time Immemorial curriculum, and the Legacy of Cecelia Svinth Carpenter, Regency Room, AUC

We welcome a panel of Indigenous educators working at the forefront of teaching and learning in Washington State.
Facilitator: Dr. Suzanne Crawford-O’Brien, PLU Religion Department and Native American and Indigenous Studies Program

  • Jerad Koepp (Wukchumni), Washington State Educator of the Year, Native Student Program Specialist North Thurston Public Schools
  • Hweqwidi (Hanford) McCloud (Nisqually), Nisqually Tribal Council member, artist and cultural educator
  • Dr. Amy McFarland (Puyallup) World Cup 2026 Director for the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Educational Consultant and Culture Educator at Chief Leschi Schools
  • Cynthia Savini (Makah, Jamestown S’Klallam and Quileute), PLU Alumna and PLU Indigenous Community Advisory Board, UW Indigenous Education Advisory Board and WA State Native American Education Advisory Board
  • Jennifer Vasilez (Puyallup), Kapowsin Elementary School Principal
2:45-3:40pm – Open Time: Interactive Kiosks, Resources and Native Plant Walk
3:45-4:15pm – Presentations in Honor of Cecelia Svinth Carpenter, Chris Knutzen Hall, AUC

Conferral of Posthumous Honorary Doctorate for Cecelia Svinth Carpenter, portrait, and updates on PLU’s native and indigenous history website and more.

4:15-5:15pm – Keynote Panel: The Legacy and Work of Cecelia Svinth Carpenter and Her Activism, Chris Knutzen Hall, AUC
  • Cynthia Iyall, (Nisqually) Leschi Descendant and Center Administrator for Nisqually’s Equine Assisted Services
  • Annette Bullchild, Nisqually Tribal Historic Preservation Officer
  • Chris Gerber, Cecelia Carpenter portrait artist

Leave a comment