ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ONONDAGA INDIAN NATION, N.Y.
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
Leon Shenandoah, leader of the Onondaga Indians, died Monday. He was 81.
Shenandoah was also the spiritual steward of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, once the greatest Indian power on the continent.
``Leon was a man who symbolized peace and unity. He was respected by everyone. We will miss him greatly,'' said Oneida Indian Nation leader Ray Halbritter, who often found himself at odds with the more traditional Shenandoah.
In 1969, Shenandoah was chosen as the chief of chiefs, or Tadadaho, of the confederacy, which consists of the Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca and Tuscarora.
The slight, white-haired Shenandoah believed fervently in a supreme being called ``The Creator,'' in reincarnation, in life everlasting and a judgment day.
He believed American Indian culture would rise again and Western society, sickened by pollution and greed, would turn to his people for answers.
``He was not a large man, but he will be remembered as a man of greatness, someone you could always turn to,'' said Phil Tarbell, a leader of the St. Regis Mohawk Nation in northern New York.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB