SPEAKER_00
Good afternoon school board members and ladies and gentlemen in the audience.
I am Thomas R. Eaglestaff, a Medicoja Lakota and member of the Cheyenne River Indian tribes.
I was given my la la's or grandfather's enrollment name of Wambliwapaha as my Lakota name.
I am a retired federal civil servant and a U.S.
Navy veteran with a Vietnam service medal.
I am the oldest of six children born to Esau and Margaret Annis Eaglestaff.
I wish to take this opportunity to extend our family's sincere appreciation to the Seattle School Board and community members for extending this honor to Robert Bob Eaglestaff.
My brother Bob was a true educator.
He did not view his position as his job, but rather as his dream, his passion, and a journey.
A journey to inspire young minds and to lead other educators to educate those young minds.
Bob had completed the requirements of his doctorate degree to further validate his goal of being the best educator he could be and formally validate his leadership goals.
Robert Bob Eagle Staff is the third oldest child of six children.
My siblings are my next oldest sister Donna, then Bob, Darryl, Bill and our baby sister Suzanne.
Donna, Bill and Suzanne work in the education field and Darryl is a realty specialist for the federal government.
Our father, who is deceased, was a World War II Navy veteran and then survived a German U-boat attack and sinking of his ship in the North Atlantic.
Our dad's uncle is buried in a mass grave at Wounded Knee, and dad was considered a descendant of a survivor of the Wounded Knee massacre.
Our mother is a retired elementary teacher of 35 years and resides in the Cheyenne River Indian Agency community at East South Dakota.
Our parents emphasized the importance of education and putting forth our best effort in every endeavor.
As such, we realize what a great honor you, the Seattle School Board, have bestowed upon Bob and our family by voting to recognize Bob's efforts with the Inherited School and Seattle School System by naming this new school in his honor.
We as Bob's family still find it difficult to fathom the fact that a young man born in a two-room community hospital on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation could earn this prestigious honor.
He did not have to work at gaining the respect of the community he served.
It was his belief and the values of the Lakota culture that carried him through this endeavor.
His desire to extend the education opportunities of the Seattle school system with an alternative education program to enhance the graduation rate of Native American students and or other displaced students was his passion.
His dedication and the work ethics gained from his personal academic and athletic accomplishments made his efforts to establish the Indian Heritage School his journey.
As Bob was able to successfully convince a much larger Seattle school system, and could lead a team of educators toward believing they could enhance the graduation rate of the Native American community.
Our friends and relatives here in South and North Dakota still wonder what he could have accomplished in a smaller reservation school system.
As for me, I cannot express how proud I am of my brother, a young man whose life began on a small Cheyenne Rivers Reservation community of Red Scaffold, South Dakota, and a high school grad affairs high school.
I can also imagine this former Fort Yates North Dakota resident and graduate of the Standing Rock Community High School class of 1971 smiling ear to ear knowing that I had to publicly state my pride and love for him until we meet each other again.
Speaking for my mother, Bob's siblings, relatives, friends, and his fellow Standing Rock High School graduates, all 35 of them, I extend Awopila Tonka, a big heartfelt thank you.
Thank you so very much for honoring Bob and his family, relatives and friends in this manner.
In return, we, family and friends, plan to honor the community that worked so diligently to make this honor a reality.
We will plan for a giveaway of Bob's honor prior to the opening of the school.
We would also like to present star quilts to the new school with the school's colors and or mascot theme.
A special thank you to Mr. Thomas Redman, Ms. Judy Simon and Ms. Michelle Mansfield for making this presentation possible.
Again, Wopila, Wopila Tonka.
To the Seattle School Board and the local community members for making this possible.
You shall be in our prayers and I shall offer prayer tithes for you all at the Sundance Bob was returning to South Dakota to attend all those years ago.
With our sincere appreciation, thank you.