Mary's obituary was written by her loving daughter and below is an edited version, omitting names of the living for privacy concerns.
=======================================
Mary Sophia Dodds Schlick, 94, slipped away peacefully on March 17, 2020, comforted by family.
She was a long-time resident of the Columbia River Gorge, writer, weaver and expert on the basketry of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Born in 1925 on Halloween in Ames, Iowa, to Josephine Hungerford Dodds and John Simpson Dodds, Mary was the youngest of four children. Her father was a civil engineering professor at Iowa State. Among her fondest childhood memories were the summers she spent on Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota, where her father ran a surveying camp for Iowa State engineering students.
At the camp, Mary was often on her own and happily occupied with nature and making things with her hands. Those summers fed her great curiosity and ultimately led to her interest and expertise in basketry. Throughout her life, Mary collected bits of twigs, feathers or objects to re-purpose into baskets and other creations.
Mary met William T. (Bud) Schlick, in seventh grade in Ames. While he was in the Army Air Corps, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in household equipment and technical journalism from Iowa State, and later a Master's in human development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Mary and Bud married in 1949 and soon left Iowa for good when Bud took a job as a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on the Colville Reservation in Washington.
There they welcomed three children: Bill in 1951, a daughter in 1952, and a son in 1953.
Mary and Bud didn't know then, that they would spend the rest of their lives working with and living among and near Native people. Mary wrote of those experiences in her memoir, "Coming to Stay: A Columbia River Journey" (Oregon Historical Society, 2006).
Their family moved many times between reservations in Washington (Colville and Yakima) or Oregon (Warm Springs) and Bud's work at BIA headquarters in Washington, DC. Mary found meaningful volunteer and paid work in each location.
As examples: she became active in a cooperative preschool program in Virginia, then started a similar program on the Warm Springs Reservation.; on the Yakima Reservation, Mary developed and trained educators on culture-based curriculum; she wrote newspaper features and a column for the Toppenish Review; and from 1985-2000, the weekly column "Mountain Musings" in the Hood River News.
Mary's interactions with Tribal members sparked her enduring passion and respect for the Native arts of the Columbia Plateau. Mary had a drive to learn all she could about traditional basket techniques, materials and styles. She also cared deeply about recognizing and documenting the basket-making families and individuals, their works and their tribes.
On this many-year journey, Mary conducted both formal and independent research. She studied at the Smithsonian Institution and museums across the US and Canada. Mary talked with and observed traditional weavers as they worked and then learned to weave on her own. Among her proudest accomplishments was a grant from the Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 1990 to help three weavers revive their traditional Wasco twining techniques.
Mary consulted on and curated many exhibitions on Native arts, wrote numerous articles for magazines and presented papers at Native arts organizations. She served as adjunct curator of Native American arts at Maryhill Museum of Art.
In 1995, Mary published "Columbia River Basketry: Gifts of the Ancestors, Gifts of the Earth", an award-winning book on the history, makers, materials, and techniques of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Mary and Bud built their forest home near the community of Mount Hood in the upper Hood River Valley in 1978 and lived there until his death in 1992. Mary continued to love living in the woods and to write, teach, weave, and maintain the close relationships she treasured.
In 2014, she moved to Rock Cove Assisted Living in Stevenson, Wash., near her son and his wife. Mary's daugther and her husband now live in the Mount Hood house Mary called home for so many years.
Mary is survived by her daughter and son; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and numerous nephews, nieces, cousins and dear friends near and far.
In addition to Bud, Mary was predeceased by their oldest son William (Bill) C. Schlick in 1972, her parents and siblings Robert H. Dodds, John Parry Dodds and Katherine D. Fletcher.
A celebration of life will be held at a time when people can gather again.
=======================================
Mary Sophia Dodds Schlick, 94, slipped away peacefully on March 17, 2020, comforted by family.
She was a long-time resident of the Columbia River Gorge, writer, weaver and expert on the basketry of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Born in 1925 on Halloween in Ames, Iowa, to Josephine Hungerford Dodds and John Simpson Dodds, Mary was the youngest of four children. Her father was a civil engineering professor at Iowa State. Among her fondest childhood memories were the summers she spent on Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota, where her father ran a surveying camp for Iowa State engineering students.
At the camp, Mary was often on her own and happily occupied with nature and making things with her hands. Those summers fed her great curiosity and ultimately led to her interest and expertise in basketry. Throughout her life, Mary collected bits of twigs, feathers or objects to re-purpose into baskets and other creations.
Mary met William T. (Bud) Schlick, in seventh grade in Ames. While he was in the Army Air Corps, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in household equipment and technical journalism from Iowa State, and later a Master's in human development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Mary and Bud married in 1949 and soon left Iowa for good when Bud took a job as a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on the Colville Reservation in Washington.
There they welcomed three children: Bill in 1951, a daughter in 1952, and a son in 1953.
Mary and Bud didn't know then, that they would spend the rest of their lives working with and living among and near Native people. Mary wrote of those experiences in her memoir, "Coming to Stay: A Columbia River Journey" (Oregon Historical Society, 2006).
Their family moved many times between reservations in Washington (Colville and Yakima) or Oregon (Warm Springs) and Bud's work at BIA headquarters in Washington, DC. Mary found meaningful volunteer and paid work in each location.
As examples: she became active in a cooperative preschool program in Virginia, then started a similar program on the Warm Springs Reservation.; on the Yakima Reservation, Mary developed and trained educators on culture-based curriculum; she wrote newspaper features and a column for the Toppenish Review; and from 1985-2000, the weekly column "Mountain Musings" in the Hood River News.
Mary's interactions with Tribal members sparked her enduring passion and respect for the Native arts of the Columbia Plateau. Mary had a drive to learn all she could about traditional basket techniques, materials and styles. She also cared deeply about recognizing and documenting the basket-making families and individuals, their works and their tribes.
On this many-year journey, Mary conducted both formal and independent research. She studied at the Smithsonian Institution and museums across the US and Canada. Mary talked with and observed traditional weavers as they worked and then learned to weave on her own. Among her proudest accomplishments was a grant from the Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 1990 to help three weavers revive their traditional Wasco twining techniques.
Mary consulted on and curated many exhibitions on Native arts, wrote numerous articles for magazines and presented papers at Native arts organizations. She served as adjunct curator of Native American arts at Maryhill Museum of Art.
In 1995, Mary published "Columbia River Basketry: Gifts of the Ancestors, Gifts of the Earth", an award-winning book on the history, makers, materials, and techniques of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Mary and Bud built their forest home near the community of Mount Hood in the upper Hood River Valley in 1978 and lived there until his death in 1992. Mary continued to love living in the woods and to write, teach, weave, and maintain the close relationships she treasured.
In 2014, she moved to Rock Cove Assisted Living in Stevenson, Wash., near her son and his wife. Mary's daugther and her husband now live in the Mount Hood house Mary called home for so many years.
Mary is survived by her daughter and son; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and numerous nephews, nieces, cousins and dear friends near and far.
In addition to Bud, Mary was predeceased by their oldest son William (Bill) C. Schlick in 1972, her parents and siblings Robert H. Dodds, John Parry Dodds and Katherine D. Fletcher.
A celebration of life will be held at a time when people can gather again.
Mary's obituary was written by her loving daughter and below is an edited version, omitting names of the living for privacy concerns.
=======================================
Mary Sophia Dodds Schlick, 94, slipped away peacefully on March 17, 2020, comforted by family.
She was a long-time resident of the Columbia River Gorge, writer, weaver and expert on the basketry of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Born in 1925 on Halloween in Ames, Iowa, to Josephine Hungerford Dodds and John Simpson Dodds, Mary was the youngest of four children. Her father was a civil engineering professor at Iowa State. Among her fondest childhood memories were the summers she spent on Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota, where her father ran a surveying camp for Iowa State engineering students.
At the camp, Mary was often on her own and happily occupied with nature and making things with her hands. Those summers fed her great curiosity and ultimately led to her interest and expertise in basketry. Throughout her life, Mary collected bits of twigs, feathers or objects to re-purpose into baskets and other creations.
Mary met William T. (Bud) Schlick, in seventh grade in Ames. While he was in the Army Air Corps, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in household equipment and technical journalism from Iowa State, and later a Master's in human development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Mary and Bud married in 1949 and soon left Iowa for good when Bud took a job as a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on the Colville Reservation in Washington.
There they welcomed three children: Bill in 1951, a daughter in 1952, and a son in 1953.
Mary and Bud didn't know then, that they would spend the rest of their lives working with and living among and near Native people. Mary wrote of those experiences in her memoir, "Coming to Stay: A Columbia River Journey" (Oregon Historical Society, 2006).
Their family moved many times between reservations in Washington (Colville and Yakima) or Oregon (Warm Springs) and Bud's work at BIA headquarters in Washington, DC. Mary found meaningful volunteer and paid work in each location.
As examples: she became active in a cooperative preschool program in Virginia, then started a similar program on the Warm Springs Reservation.; on the Yakima Reservation, Mary developed and trained educators on culture-based curriculum; she wrote newspaper features and a column for the Toppenish Review; and from 1985-2000, the weekly column "Mountain Musings" in the Hood River News.
Mary's interactions with Tribal members sparked her enduring passion and respect for the Native arts of the Columbia Plateau. Mary had a drive to learn all she could about traditional basket techniques, materials and styles. She also cared deeply about recognizing and documenting the basket-making families and individuals, their works and their tribes.
On this many-year journey, Mary conducted both formal and independent research. She studied at the Smithsonian Institution and museums across the US and Canada. Mary talked with and observed traditional weavers as they worked and then learned to weave on her own. Among her proudest accomplishments was a grant from the Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 1990 to help three weavers revive their traditional Wasco twining techniques.
Mary consulted on and curated many exhibitions on Native arts, wrote numerous articles for magazines and presented papers at Native arts organizations. She served as adjunct curator of Native American arts at Maryhill Museum of Art.
In 1995, Mary published "Columbia River Basketry: Gifts of the Ancestors, Gifts of the Earth", an award-winning book on the history, makers, materials, and techniques of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Mary and Bud built their forest home near the community of Mount Hood in the upper Hood River Valley in 1978 and lived there until his death in 1992. Mary continued to love living in the woods and to write, teach, weave, and maintain the close relationships she treasured.
In 2014, she moved to Rock Cove Assisted Living in Stevenson, Wash., near her son and his wife. Mary's daugther and her husband now live in the Mount Hood house Mary called home for so many years.
Mary is survived by her daughter and son; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and numerous nephews, nieces, cousins and dear friends near and far.
In addition to Bud, Mary was predeceased by their oldest son William (Bill) C. Schlick in 1972, her parents and siblings Robert H. Dodds, John Parry Dodds and Katherine D. Fletcher.
A celebration of life will be held at a time when people can gather again.
=======================================
Mary Sophia Dodds Schlick, 94, slipped away peacefully on March 17, 2020, comforted by family.
She was a long-time resident of the Columbia River Gorge, writer, weaver and expert on the basketry of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Born in 1925 on Halloween in Ames, Iowa, to Josephine Hungerford Dodds and John Simpson Dodds, Mary was the youngest of four children. Her father was a civil engineering professor at Iowa State. Among her fondest childhood memories were the summers she spent on Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota, where her father ran a surveying camp for Iowa State engineering students.
At the camp, Mary was often on her own and happily occupied with nature and making things with her hands. Those summers fed her great curiosity and ultimately led to her interest and expertise in basketry. Throughout her life, Mary collected bits of twigs, feathers or objects to re-purpose into baskets and other creations.
Mary met William T. (Bud) Schlick, in seventh grade in Ames. While he was in the Army Air Corps, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in household equipment and technical journalism from Iowa State, and later a Master's in human development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Mary and Bud married in 1949 and soon left Iowa for good when Bud took a job as a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on the Colville Reservation in Washington.
There they welcomed three children: Bill in 1951, a daughter in 1952, and a son in 1953.
Mary and Bud didn't know then, that they would spend the rest of their lives working with and living among and near Native people. Mary wrote of those experiences in her memoir, "Coming to Stay: A Columbia River Journey" (Oregon Historical Society, 2006).
Their family moved many times between reservations in Washington (Colville and Yakima) or Oregon (Warm Springs) and Bud's work at BIA headquarters in Washington, DC. Mary found meaningful volunteer and paid work in each location.
As examples: she became active in a cooperative preschool program in Virginia, then started a similar program on the Warm Springs Reservation.; on the Yakima Reservation, Mary developed and trained educators on culture-based curriculum; she wrote newspaper features and a column for the Toppenish Review; and from 1985-2000, the weekly column "Mountain Musings" in the Hood River News.
Mary's interactions with Tribal members sparked her enduring passion and respect for the Native arts of the Columbia Plateau. Mary had a drive to learn all she could about traditional basket techniques, materials and styles. She also cared deeply about recognizing and documenting the basket-making families and individuals, their works and their tribes.
On this many-year journey, Mary conducted both formal and independent research. She studied at the Smithsonian Institution and museums across the US and Canada. Mary talked with and observed traditional weavers as they worked and then learned to weave on her own. Among her proudest accomplishments was a grant from the Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 1990 to help three weavers revive their traditional Wasco twining techniques.
Mary consulted on and curated many exhibitions on Native arts, wrote numerous articles for magazines and presented papers at Native arts organizations. She served as adjunct curator of Native American arts at Maryhill Museum of Art.
In 1995, Mary published "Columbia River Basketry: Gifts of the Ancestors, Gifts of the Earth", an award-winning book on the history, makers, materials, and techniques of the Native peoples of the Columbia Plateau.
Mary and Bud built their forest home near the community of Mount Hood in the upper Hood River Valley in 1978 and lived there until his death in 1992. Mary continued to love living in the woods and to write, teach, weave, and maintain the close relationships she treasured.
In 2014, she moved to Rock Cove Assisted Living in Stevenson, Wash., near her son and his wife. Mary's daugther and her husband now live in the Mount Hood house Mary called home for so many years.
Mary is survived by her daughter and son; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and numerous nephews, nieces, cousins and dear friends near and far.
In addition to Bud, Mary was predeceased by their oldest son William (Bill) C. Schlick in 1972, her parents and siblings Robert H. Dodds, John Parry Dodds and Katherine D. Fletcher.
A celebration of life will be held at a time when people can gather again.
