JARS v64n3 - The White Rhododendron

The White Rhododendron
Merilee Mulvey
Florence, Oregon
Reprinted from the Macrophyllum, the October 2009 newsletter of the Siuslaw Chapter

"You ask me who I am? I? I am the Chieftain's daughter - my name is Oreawna. You ask me where my home is? My home! There! On that mountain where the sunlight lingers. There! Where the river meets the sea.

There! Far, far in the distance where the earth meets the sky. Here! On this ground! Wherever my foot treads, wherever a bird sings for me, wherever a flower blooms for my eye, there is my home.

"Years, years my fathers lived here. That orb of light that beams for you, shone for them. For them the ocean sang, for them the starlight gleamed in the beauty of the midnight sky - for them bloomed on these hills the flower you have named the Rhododendron.

The Great Father had said "Be there sunshine, be there flowers to gladden the hearts of my children! And then the beautiful blossoms came - symbols of the Father's love for his children, and every flower was white to signify the purity of his children's hearts.

"Years, years went by. Many a cloud came, many a storm, many a wicked hand! Many a flower was crushed, its purity was soiled and its color changed. But search! And you shall yet find a White Rhododendron."

Note: This poem was given as an oration at the Rhododendron Festival in Florence in 1909 by a little Indian girl named Katherine Reed. It was written especially for her by her teacher, Laura Dahlin. Katherine attended grade school in Florence, finishing at Chemawa Indian school. She entered a training hospital and became a graduate nurse. She finally became head nurse at Tohatchi Hospital, Window Rock, Arizona, from which position she resigned in June, 1944.

Merilee's comments: I've been deep in genealogy research lately and came upon this beautiful poem in a copy of the 1947 Siuslaw Pioneer Booklet.