Betty Mae 'Potackee' Tiger Jumper, 88, of Hollywood passed away Friday - January 14, 2011. Born on April 27, 1923 in Indiantown,(Martin County), Florida to a French trapper and her Seminole mother, Ada Tiger, Betty was given her Indian name "Potackee" by her grandmother, Mary Tiger. Betty and her cousin were the first Seminoles to graduate from high school-an Indian boarding school in Cherokee, North Carolina. She continued her education in Nursing at the Kiowa Indian Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma for a year; she came back and helped her people start the Indian Health Program. She launched a tribal newsletter called "The Seminole News" (which later became "The Seminole Tribune") in 1956. Betty was instrumental in the organization of the Tribal Government and was on the first council that helped establish Federal recognition of the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 1957. She rose to prominence as the first female chairperson (1967-1971) of the Seminole Tribe. In 1970, she was one of two women appointed by then- President Richard Nixon to the National Congress on Indian Opportunity. She was a founder of the United South and Eastern Tribes, which became a powerful lobbying force for Indian interests.
"Because she was mixed race — she was half-Caucasian, she was half-Seminole — they told her they couldn't do those things. She went against the taboos of the tribe," her son said. "It gave her more willpower and more energy."
A tribal storyteller, she was the author of the books, "And with the Wagon Came God's Word" and "Legends of the Seminoles," and narrator of the video, "The Corn Lady." Betty also received an honorary Doctorate degree from Florida State University in 1994. As the last surviving matriarch of the Snake Clan, she was predeceased by her husband Moses Jumper Sr. and is survived by children, Moses Jumper Jr. and his wife Laquita, Scarlett Jumper-Young-Lievowitz and husband Arthur, Boettner Jumper and partner Rhonda Griffin; two brothers and one sister; nine grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren. Friends may visit from 10 a.m., Monday at House Of Prayer, 6200 Stirling Rd., Hollywood, FL with Funeral Service at 11 a.m., Monday, January 17, Followed by Interment at The New Seminole Cemetery. Boyd-Panciera Family Funeral Care, 6400 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood FL.
"Because she was mixed race — she was half-Caucasian, she was half-Seminole — they told her they couldn't do those things. She went against the taboos of the tribe," her son said. "It gave her more willpower and more energy."
A tribal storyteller, she was the author of the books, "And with the Wagon Came God's Word" and "Legends of the Seminoles," and narrator of the video, "The Corn Lady." Betty also received an honorary Doctorate degree from Florida State University in 1994. As the last surviving matriarch of the Snake Clan, she was predeceased by her husband Moses Jumper Sr. and is survived by children, Moses Jumper Jr. and his wife Laquita, Scarlett Jumper-Young-Lievowitz and husband Arthur, Boettner Jumper and partner Rhonda Griffin; two brothers and one sister; nine grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren. Friends may visit from 10 a.m., Monday at House Of Prayer, 6200 Stirling Rd., Hollywood, FL with Funeral Service at 11 a.m., Monday, January 17, Followed by Interment at The New Seminole Cemetery. Boyd-Panciera Family Funeral Care, 6400 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood FL.
Betty Mae 'Potackee' Tiger Jumper, 88, of Hollywood passed away Friday - January 14, 2011. Born on April 27, 1923 in Indiantown,(Martin County), Florida to a French trapper and her Seminole mother, Ada Tiger, Betty was given her Indian name "Potackee" by her grandmother, Mary Tiger. Betty and her cousin were the first Seminoles to graduate from high school-an Indian boarding school in Cherokee, North Carolina. She continued her education in Nursing at the Kiowa Indian Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma for a year; she came back and helped her people start the Indian Health Program. She launched a tribal newsletter called "The Seminole News" (which later became "The Seminole Tribune") in 1956. Betty was instrumental in the organization of the Tribal Government and was on the first council that helped establish Federal recognition of the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 1957. She rose to prominence as the first female chairperson (1967-1971) of the Seminole Tribe. In 1970, she was one of two women appointed by then- President Richard Nixon to the National Congress on Indian Opportunity. She was a founder of the United South and Eastern Tribes, which became a powerful lobbying force for Indian interests.
"Because she was mixed race — she was half-Caucasian, she was half-Seminole — they told her they couldn't do those things. She went against the taboos of the tribe," her son said. "It gave her more willpower and more energy."
A tribal storyteller, she was the author of the books, "And with the Wagon Came God's Word" and "Legends of the Seminoles," and narrator of the video, "The Corn Lady." Betty also received an honorary Doctorate degree from Florida State University in 1994. As the last surviving matriarch of the Snake Clan, she was predeceased by her husband Moses Jumper Sr. and is survived by children, Moses Jumper Jr. and his wife Laquita, Scarlett Jumper-Young-Lievowitz and husband Arthur, Boettner Jumper and partner Rhonda Griffin; two brothers and one sister; nine grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren. Friends may visit from 10 a.m., Monday at House Of Prayer, 6200 Stirling Rd., Hollywood, FL with Funeral Service at 11 a.m., Monday, January 17, Followed by Interment at The New Seminole Cemetery. Boyd-Panciera Family Funeral Care, 6400 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood FL.
"Because she was mixed race — she was half-Caucasian, she was half-Seminole — they told her they couldn't do those things. She went against the taboos of the tribe," her son said. "It gave her more willpower and more energy."
A tribal storyteller, she was the author of the books, "And with the Wagon Came God's Word" and "Legends of the Seminoles," and narrator of the video, "The Corn Lady." Betty also received an honorary Doctorate degree from Florida State University in 1994. As the last surviving matriarch of the Snake Clan, she was predeceased by her husband Moses Jumper Sr. and is survived by children, Moses Jumper Jr. and his wife Laquita, Scarlett Jumper-Young-Lievowitz and husband Arthur, Boettner Jumper and partner Rhonda Griffin; two brothers and one sister; nine grandchildren; 36 great-grandchildren. Friends may visit from 10 a.m., Monday at House Of Prayer, 6200 Stirling Rd., Hollywood, FL with Funeral Service at 11 a.m., Monday, January 17, Followed by Interment at The New Seminole Cemetery. Boyd-Panciera Family Funeral Care, 6400 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood FL.
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
