Inductees into the 17th annual Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame have been announced.

This year, 13 recipients are being honored. There are two Legacy Awards being presented this year. They will be announced in next week’s Times.

Those named from Fountain Hills are Arthur Ammon, Stephenie Bjorkman, Boe James, Merita Kraya, Henry Leger, Dr. Bill Myhr, William “Bill” Pape, Paul Perreault, Jenny Willigrod and Judi Yates. Rio Verde’s inductees are Greg Harvey and Dennis Meyers. Kate Austin from Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation also will be honored.

The inductees will be installed at a banquet set for Wednesday, March 25. That is the regularly scheduled March dinner meeting for the Fountain Hills and Lower Verde Valley Historical Society, which initiated the Hall of Fame.

The inductees were selected by the Hall of Fame Committee, headed by Barb Hansen. Committee members include Vicki Beseke, Sandy Davis, Tina Duffy, Don Lawrence, Jean Linzer, Joanne Meehan, Peter O’Reilly, Tony Pistilli, Roger Riggert, Mike Scharnow, Jay Schlum, Debbie Skehen, Val Stasik, Sandi Thompson, Robert Thomson, and Dori Wittrig.

The public is invited to nominate area individuals who have contributed to the betterment of their communities. There currently are 167 members, including Legacy Award winners, who have been inducted since the Hall of Fame was initiated in 2004.

Biographies of this year’s honorees follow:

Fountain Hills

Arthur Ammon

Art has a BS in Business Administration from Widener University, MS Advanced Management, Pace University.

For 40 years, he worked in the telecommunications industry, 34 of which were with AT&T Network Services organization. He moved to Fountain Hills in 2003 from Orinda, Calif.

He is past president of Rotary Club of Fountain Hills. Art chaired the Rotary project to raise $15,000 for the purchase of 1,400 wheelchairs. Given the FH sister city affiliation with Ataco, El Salvador, that country was selected as the recipient of the wheelchairs. He traveled to El Salvador in 2009 with a container of wheelchairs, which with the local Rotary Club, were distributed to the handicapped. In 2013, he acquired $2,000 in Rotary grant money to re-landscape the vegetation in front of the Middle School which had been neglected due to budget problems. He organized and managed the implementation of the work. For many years, he actively participated in the mentoring program at the FH Middle School and was a volunteer annually to teach Junior Achievement classes at the Middle School.

He organized and managed the annual Salvation Army Bell Ringing campaign in the community for many years. During the first five years, more than $61,000 in donations was collected. These funds are utilized to help needy families with short-term emergencies.

Allocation of the fund was managed by the Extended Hands Food Bank with oversight from the local Salvation Army administrators. Art worked many years with Roy Kinsey and the Fountain Hills Sonoran Conservancy trail-building group to build and maintain hiking trails in the Fountain Hills Preserve.

He assisted the Fountain Hills Greening Committee with the planting work in Fountain Park.

Art served as Vice President of the North Heights Property Owners Association and served on its board. Art participated in assisting the local Boys and Girls Club with flag football, their painting project, and assisted in refurbishing the raised garden planter and participated in career discussions with student members. In 2015, Art assisted the Golden Eagle Foundation with the selection of scholarship recipients from the list of high school applicants. Art applied for and received a Rotary Grant to purchase a golf cart for the Extended Hands Food Bank to use at the two local art fairs.

Art is an annual volunteer for the Make-A-Difference Day. He has served in several responsible positions in the Rotary Club including Secretary, Programs, Service Projects, and Membership.

He also applied for grants for the Boys and Girls Club for kitchen refurbishments and for the Salvation Army Youth Camp.

Stephenie Bjorkman

Stephenie is like the jewelry she sells -- distinct, bold, highly regarded and always evolving. Born and raised in Arizona, Stephenie is a second-generation jeweler. She has worked side by side with her mother, Sami Jack, since 1997. In 2013, Sami retired and Stephenie became the CEO and president of Sami Fine Jewelry. Stephenie continues to build Sami Fine Jewelry’s reputation for original jewelry, exciting events, crazy marketing, and superior customer service.

Even though Stephenie was raised on the floor of the jewelry store, she never expected to sell jewelry, much less run a store ranked among the top 5 cool jewelry stores in the country.

Since childhood, Stephenie has always been a western girl to the core. In 1997, she had to quit her job at Saba’s Western Wear to help her mom at the jewelry store. Her parents were getting a divorce, and two weeks after they moved out, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mom couldn’t do it on her own, and that is when Stephenie officially started working in jewelry. At first Stephenie thought it was just going to be a year or so to help her mom -- who knew that 22 years later, she would follow in her mother’s footsteps and jewelry would become and be part of her passion.

Stephenie is known for her creativity with events and marketing. Her promotions and in-store events have earned her the title “Queen of Marketing” from InDesign, a magazine covering high-end American designer jewelry retainers. Instore, the industry’s leading trade publication, named Sami Fine Jewelry one of America’s Coolest Stores in 2008.

In 2012, Stephenie was one of four nominees for Fountain Hills Businessperson of the Year. In 2019, she was named Fountain Hills Businessperson of the Year.

Stephenie maintains the blue-ribbon standards that have distinguished Sami Fine Jewelry for years. She works hard at setting her jewelry store apart and actively promoting her American Gem Collection (featuring gemstones only mined in America) along with putting on amazing local community-focused events.

Stephenie is the organizer of Halloween in the Hills (Arizona’s only free Halloween carnival) and is the mastermind behind Love in the Hills (third largest wedding vow renewal ceremony in the world). She also works with tons of local charities and is always looking for new ways to keep things unexpected and exciting.

Boe James

Having moved to Fountain Hills on a part time basis in 2004, Boe immediately became semi-active in the local community by joining and serving on the board of the Fountain Hills Republican Club. After moving from Norfolk, Va., in 2008 to Fountain Hills full time, he became a more active volunteer in the community in several diverse areas.

In 2009, he was elected president of the Fountain Hills Republican Club, serving two, two-year terms. During his tenure, the club was twice recognized by the governor and by the Arizona Republican Party Chair as the best Republican Club or organization in the state. He has since served for four years as secretary and currently serves as the first vice president and as the program chair.

The club honored Boe, naming him the 2016 Republican of the Year. He was a precinct committeeman, state committeeman and the second vice chair and program chair for Legislative District 8/23 Republican Committee.

Boe has worked to ensure fair and honest elections by serving as an election official/poll worker on election days and by hand count/auditing of ballots after the election.

Having served overseas in a combat zone during his 28-year Navy career, he joined the local Fountain Hills Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 7507 and served as junior vice commander, senior vice commander and then as post commander. During his tenure as post commander, the post was recognized as an “All State” Post and he was an “All State” Commander. He then served three years as a trustee. Since then he has served as the post sdjutant, an office in which he still serves.

Having served in several positions, including as an ambassador and/or a board member with chambers of commerce in Virginia (Norfolk and Hampton), Boe became an ambassador and a board member with the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce. He still serves in both positions. He has served on the membership committee, the building committee, the nominating committee and the public policy committee, of which he is currently the chair.

The L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum caught Boe’s interest, and he soon became a board member and contributor. While on the board, he served on several committees and chaired the programs committee and the publicity committee.

Since moving into SunRidge Canyon, he has served almost continuously as the voting member/neighborhood representative of the HOA. For six years, he served on the board of directors as either vice president or secretary.

Outside of Fountain Hills, Boe serves on the board of trustees of the Marine Military Academy, a private military boarding school for seventh grade to one-year post graduate students, in Harlingen, Texas. He is also the secretary of a private philanthropic trust headquartered in Prescott.

He is a member of the Naval Institute, the Naval Academy Alumni Association, the Surface Warfare Officer Association and the Military Officers Association of America, among others. He is an alumnus of the Norfolk Neighborhood University, the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute, the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program, the US Naval Academy and Tucson High School, among other groups.

Prior to moving to Fountain Hills, Boe served in the US Navy in various ship and shore assignments both overseas and in the continental US in positions as diverse as combat information center officer on a Guided Missile Cruiser, to engineer officer of a warship, to amphibious plans officer for a NATO command headquartered in Plymouth, England, to secretary to the staff at a four-star NATO command in Naples, Italy, to commanding officer of an amphibious warship and to chief of staff for the Surface Warfare Development Group headquartered in Virginia Beach, Va.

After retiring from the Navy, Boe was senior vice president of a Maritime consulting company and as president and general manager of its subsidy, a passenger ferry boat company – a joint venture with Hornblower Marine Services.

Merita Kraya

Merita was born and raised in Albania.

Although she loved her life, she knew from a very young age that she could not live in communism and planned a long time to leave the country.

This was one of the hardest decisions Merita had to make, not knowing when she was going back, left behind her mother and two brothers.

Merita's first stop was Rome, Italy; with only $50 she quickly started looking for work. Fortunately she spoke two languages and was employed with the US Embassy and IRC (International Rescue Committee) and as a nanny.It gave her great joy to help refugees and people in need who had suffered from oppressive regimes.

After all the paperwork was done, Merita moved to Chicago where her aunt lived, as a political refugee. She returned to Italy to marry her longtime boyfriend. The couple returned together to New York City.

After almost two years, Merita and her husband decided to move to Arizona where it was more suitable to raise a family. All her four children were born in Arizona.

She got a second degree and taught at Glendale Community College and later found a job as a civil engineer for the new light rail project.

To this day Merita still translates for the state department and has continued to work with the IRC and refugee resettlement programs. It was one of her great joys to welcome the new citizens some years back as an honoree guest speaker.

With her engineering experience, Merita started building restaurants and bars, so she found the perfect location for her client. Plaza Fountainside was just starting to be built. Halfway through the project, the client pulled back, and Merita had to make a hard decision to open and operate the restaurant herself. The restaurant gave her flexibility to be with her children and her mother who came to live with her.

First day of business, St Patrick’s Day 2001. It was the busiest day, but they didn't know and they were not prepared. Everything went wrong. They brought a friend who was a chef from Italy who taught them everything. Merita learned how to run a restaurant, and she has owned and operated Euro Pizza Cafe successfully for 19 years now.

She has hired and mentored high school students to help them grow and learn.

She has been heavily involved in the community, providing funding for numerous projects including OktoberFest, Mountain to Fountain race, the Balloon Glow and Fourth of July activities. She has served on the Chamber of Commerce board and sponsored events for VFW, the Marine Corps League, Fountain Hills Theater, taught at the Community Garden and helped with the Concours car show each February.

One of her happiest moments of her life was when her 78-year-old mother became a U.S. citizen. Her brother now lives in Peoria, as well.

Today Merita is a single mother with four talented children. Her oldest daughter, Leila, moved two years ago to Albania to model and became a sportscaster for one of the biggest TV station in Tirana.

Her older son, Ahmet, is a U.S. Marine studying neuroscience at the University of San Diego.

Miriam she was an elite gymnast for 13 years, graduated Summa Cum Laude from ASU, and works and lives now in Dallas, Texas.

Bekim, her youngest is currently in EMT tech school in the Air Force in Texas.

Her greatest pride is her children.

Merita says that family values are the most important no matter where you live.

Merita is a woman of great strength, faith and determination. She certainly has realized the American dream.

Henry J. Leger

Originally from Massachusetts, Henry moved to Arizona in 1970 to attend the University of Arizona where he received his Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology.

Professionally, he worked in the field of leadership and organizational development for 30 years. Throughout his career, he held a number of leadership positions in education and government work settings and worked as an internal consultant for several Fortune 500 companies.

As a resident of Fountain Hills for 28 years, Henry has served the community as a member of Town Council for 12-1/2 years with a focus on planning, fiscal responsibility, public safety, infrastructure improvements, business vitality, maintaining small town character and stewardship of the environment.

He has played a key role, working collectively with others, in bringing a number of projects to fruition such as The Fountain Hills Strategic Plan; Annexation of the State Trust Land; Relocation of Fire Station #2; Improvements to Fountain Park and Avenue of the Fountains; The Adero Canyon Trailhead; single trash hauler; and Dark Skies.

In addition, Henry has served on the following boards and committees: board member for Senior Services Inc.; the Chamber’s Business Advisory Committee; Strategic Planning and Visioning Technical Advisory Committee; president of Shepherd of the Hills Church Council; HOA board member; and Fountain Hills Unified School District classroom volunteer.

Currently he is a member of the Fountain Hills Civic and Cultural Association, Sister Cities and a Dark Skies volunteer.

Henry is passionate about living in Fountain Hills and cherishes spending time with his family and friends, hiking, gardening, and the arts. He and his wife, Janet, have two daughters, Kristin and Marisa, both graduates of Fountain Hills High School and the University of Arizona.

Janet is an active volunteer in the community and enjoys her long-standing professional career at CVS Health. Their older daughter, Kristin, is currently pursuing her graduate degree in Conservation Management at the University of Colorado in Ft. Collins. Marisa is working at a global humanitarian aid non-profit organization called GAIN in Plano, Texas.

Dr. Bill Myhr

Bill has an outstanding resume of professional work as well as community service. He has served both the Fountain Hills community and the Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation.

In July 2007, the community of Fountain Hills welcomed Bill and his wife, Sandy, to Fountain Hills. He became superintendent of the Fountain Hills Unified School District at that time. He worked for FHUSD until June 30, 2012.

The list of his superintendent duties is numerous. He and his wife also became very involved in the community.

After leaving FHUSD, he became assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at the Humboldt County School District in Winnemucca, Nev. While he held this position, Sandy, remained in Fountain Hills, hoping for a position for Bill to bring him back to the community.

In December 2012 to present day, he has been the Education Division Director for the Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation. He has been responsible for the general efficiency and effectiveness of the educational programs by overseeing the use of all facilities, departments, resources and staff.

He is responsible for the professional development of staff and for the educational growth and welfare of students. He also supervises the activities of all educational programs and staff in accordance with the policies of the Tribal Council and applicable laws.

He represents FMYM as educational liaison between the educational system and the Ft. McDowell community and maintains positive public relations. The list of his responsibilities and his commitment to this position are long.

Over his many years in education, he has held the titles of superintendent, high school principal, assistant principal, athletic director and English teacher. Bill was also an exchange teacher for the Washington State-Sichuan Province Teacher Exchange Program. He was in the People’s Republic of China from 1985-1986.

Bill’s education started with an associate’s degree in liberal arts from Grays Harbor College to his Ph.D. in education leadership for K-12 programs from Capella University.

Bill has a lifetime of achievement in the field of education.

Bill’s honors and distinctions include but are not limited to East Maricopa “First Things First” regional board, 2013-present; Sunset Kiwanis board, 2015-present; L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum board 2013-present; Sunset Kiwanis president, 2015-2016; Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce board of directors, 2009-2012; Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce chair-elect, 2011-2012; “Greening of Fountain Hills” committee, 2009-2012; Northeast Valley “First Things First” inaugural board, 2008-2010; North Valley Education Consortium president, 2009-2010; member of Arizona Business and Education Coalition, 2008-2012; member of Greater Phoenix Education Management Council, 2007-2012; Arizona School Public Relations Award for District Print Materials 2009; Noon Kiwanis member, 2007-2012.

Bill also served in a number of capacities of education in Washington State before moving to Arizona. Bill was listed in the International Who’s Who of Professionals in 1998 and Who’s Who in American Education, 1990.

Bill Pape

During his many years as a Fountain Hills resident, Bill has consistently been involved in service organizations for the betterment of the community.

He has served with distinction on the board of Four Peaks Rotary and led that organization’s efforts to create the popular Musical Instrument Park.

In addition to his contributions through Rotary, Bill has served for many years as a delegate and on the board of the NPOA (Neighborhood Property Owners’ Association) and currently serves on the board of the Fountain Hills Cultural and Civic Association. He has been an active volunteer for the L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum. He currently serves on the board of directors of Fountain Hills Community Foundation. He also is a member of the HUB Website promotion committee.

There is scarcely a community-improvement project within the past couple of decades in which Bill hasn’t been involved, often in a leadership role.

Bill, along with his wife Gail, has also served the community by volunteering for many years in training service dogs for the blind.

Fountain Hills has been fortunate to benefit from Bill’s talents and commitment to our town.

Paul Perreault, Jr.

Paul first got involved in doing various activities starting in 1992 when he took on the summer project of going through and repairing hundreds of sets of holiday lights that would be used on the Avenue of the Fountains.

He soon got involved with the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and has served three terms on the Chamber board. He recently served as board chair for two years.

He has been actively involved with Rotary and was active as a founding member of the Four Peaks Rotary Club. He also served as the club’s foundation chair for more than 10 consecutive years. He is now chairing a Rotary Navajo Water Project (2019-2020) providing a sustainable water system for 90 families in the Arizona Navajo Nation.

Paul has two sons who both have earned Eagle Scout Awards. He has been involved with the local troops for more than 16 years. He worked tirelessly to raise funds for the troop by collecting scrap metal and selling it.

Paul and his wife, Gena, are also active in the Fountain Hills Automobile Club, and he has served as president and past president of the organization.

Paul is also involved with Fountain Hills Unified School District. For the past six years, he has served on the high school Insight committee. He has worked as a mentor for the McDowell Mountain Elementary School and recently received the Mentor of the Year (2018-2019) school year.

Paul is a vice president and financial advisor with First Financial Equity Corporation with nearly three decades of experience in the financial services industry.

At the heart of Paul’s philosophy is a passion to build enduring client relationships through his commitment to providing outstanding guidance and service.

Jenny Willigrod

Jenny’s family moved to Chandler in 1996 and decided to rent for a year while they scoped out the valley. They fell in love with Fountain Hills and bought their first home in 1997 when their daughter was a year old.

Jenny immediately became involved in the Moms’ Club and met many people. The Moms’ Club was her first act of volunteering as she oversaw children’s activities for years.

When her daughter started kindergarten, Jenny became PTA vice president and eventually served as president of the PTO.

Her professional background is in graphic design and art, so there were numerous times she created the backdrops for the elementary school performances and helped with the high school art programs and murals at Fountain Park.

In 2005, Jenny became a member of the Fountain Hills Civic Association. Later, the Association merged with the Public Art Committee and became the Fountain Hills Cultural and Civic Association (FHCCA).

In 2009, after the Town Council and the Chamber of Commerce developed a strategic plan created for the town, Jenny, along with Jerry Butler, began the “Greening of Downtown” program which had a strategic goal of adding green elements to the downtown to make the parks and the Avenue of the Fountains more pedestrian friendly.

The program was a huge success, raising more than $300,000 in donations, allowing the committee to plant 165 trees in the park, add various other gardens, add landscaping to the Musical Park and help with two Eagle Scout projects.

Jenny and Jerry received the Legacy Award from the Hall of Fame for the “Greening of Downtown” project.

The recent success which stemmed from the “Greening of Downtown” was the Community Garden. Jenny served on the Garden board for the first two years to help the group obtain donations and implement the vision.

Throughout the last decade, Jenny served as FHCCA vice president and eventually became its president. During her tenure, the FHCCA added several programs to the 50l(c)3 umbrella. The programs include the Community Garden, Vision Fountain Hills, Leadership Academy, Munch and Music and Dark Skies.

She retired as president of FHCCA in May 2019 but remains as a board director.

Her new endeavors include serving as secretary for the newly-invigorated Fountain Hills Community Foundation and is co-chair of the Public Art Committee. She is currently serves as art coordinator on the “Fountain at 50” committee.

In addition to her volunteering in the community, Jenny is known for her outstanding artwork. She is one of 40+ artists who own and operate the Fountain Hills Artists’ Gallery on the Avenue of the Fountain as a cooperative.

Jenny said, “I enjoy volunteering in this community of so many dedicated individuals who truly love this town. The sense of purpose that I have achieved through giving back to my community has been very fulfilling. The opportunity to have met so many wonderful people along the journey is the true gift.”

Judi Yates

Judi Yates has been a leader in the community for years. She was owner, with her husband, Jim, of the Yates Gallery, which was located on the Avenue of the Fountains.

After she and Jim operated the store for years, it became a co-op art gallery under Yates and other Fountain Hills Art League members. The Fountain Hills Artists’ Gallery operates to this day on the Avenue of the Fountains with 40+ artists.

Judi has promoted the growth of the town since coming here more than 25 years ago. She has served on the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce board for two terms and was president for a year.

She founded the Downtown Improvement Committee and followed through with several activities with artist Paul Kolwaite and town employee Tom Ward.

Judi was active on the Downtown Consensus Team that developed the original plans for The Avenue of the Fountains. She was a member of the Public Arts Committee, which brought to Fountain Hills many of the art pieces gracing the Community Center Plaza.

Judi has donated hundreds of dollars’ worth of jewelry to various charity events in town which benefit members of the community. She was the chamber’s 2005 Businessperson of the Year.

She was a member of the Swaback Planning Committee. She was instrumental in bringing “flags” to the Downtown Avenue of the Fountains. Judi served on the Interior Design committee for Town Hall. She has also served on the committee for Signs in Fountain Hills.

One of her greatest feats was starting Art on the Avenue and Farmers Market 10 years ago. The event has brought foot traffic into the downtown area. Merchants in the area note that these Thursdays represent one of their best days of the week.

Yates established Art on the Avenue to provide artists an opportunity to share and promote their one-of-a-kind pieces in an outdoor gallery.

She remarked that she “enjoys hearing from visitors on how they love bringing their guests to the event and spending their day in our beautiful town. It is a perfect opportunity to show off our Fountain, our park amenities, retail stores and our restaurants. It has become a destination spot for many people throughout the valley.”

Each year, she has added new artists to the venue. Many artists have been with her from the beginning. As a local business person, she has helped herself, but above all, she has done everything she could to make the Avenue come alive. She has helped not only the local artists but has given the residents of Fountain Hills a farmers market and Art on the Avenue everyone can be proud of.

The Verdes

Greg Harvey

Greg Harvey first set his eyes on the Lower Verde Valley when his parents, Don and Mickey Harvey, purchased a vacation home on East Poco Vista in the early years of Rio Verde development in 1977.

Over the ensuing years, he became captivated by the beauty and charm of the area, and in 2004, he and his wife, Sally, purchased their own home in the Verdes. Although Greg had become the managing partner of SCV Management, an industrial real estate management partnership headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. They gradually found themselves drawn to this area.

Greg gradually learned that with frequent trips, he could manage eight family partnerships and their 800,000-square-feet of office and warehouse space and still spend his time living primarily in the Verdes.

The Minnesota management firm continued to prosper at Greg’s direction, and he found himself taking on additional responsibilities in his adopted home environment: In 2009, he was elected to the Rio Verde Community Association board of directors, serving two three-year terms. During this period, he was appointed to Streets and Drainage Committee chairman in 2010. He and the committee adopted new ideas and procedures. Greg served in that capacity through 2019.

He actively served on the Town Center Planning committee from 2011 to 2018 and the Community Strategic Planning committee from 2014 to 2016.

He served as president of the Association board for this unique active adult community for the 2014-2015 year, all in his energetic, ambitious style.

Aside from Greg’s involvement with the Association board, Greg found time to serve on the RVCC Golf Committee, and along with Sally, chaired the Couples Golf Committee from 2009 to 2011.

One of his most significant accomplishments for the Community of Rio Verde is the establishment of a permanent system to rehabilitate and replace the extensive private road surfaces in a timely and ongoing program. He also assisted in starting and currently serves on the board of the Rio Verde Community Foundation, which was recently approved by the IRS as a 501(c)3 organization for accepting tax deductible donations.

Dennis Meyers

Dennis began work for Alexander Homes in 1983 as a master plumber. He and his wife, Terri, lived in Fountain Hills at the time.

They moved to Tonto Verde in 1996 and in 2016, they moved to Rio Verde. After retiring from Alexander Homes, Dennis formed his own plumbing company serving the Verde communities. He retired in 2009 after turning the company over to his son.

Since his retirement, he has been active in offering his services to organizations serving the Verdes.

Dennis has been a volunteer with the fire department for the past 10 years and is currently in charge of the Resource Specialists for the department. He has been involved in the Habitat for Humanity for the past five years.

He currently works with Eb Scheuing on the Firewise program and has served as a driver for the Verde Cares program for several years. He has served on the board of directors for St. Dominic’s Church and currently serves on several committees for the Community Church.

Dennis has had an important role in the construction and development of the Verde communities and continues to serve the area in several capacities.

Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation

Kate B. Austin

Kate was born in 1904 in the area called Calva, located on the San Carlos Apache reservation. Kate was the eldest daughter of Mike and Hattie Burns and would be one of five siblings.

Kate’s early childhood was spent near the San Carlos Apache reservation. Her playground was the spacious, undisturbed hills and valleys of the area. Kate grew to truly understand and respect nature, as her mother, Hattie, also a Yavapai Basket weaver, would pass on her love of nature, weaving knowledge and skills, to her daughters.

Yavapai baskets were often constructed for various purposes, such as food storage, hauling water, shifting seeds, drying foods and for bartering. Kate and her sister Josephine would soon learn the various techniques and patterns of weaving.

Weaving baskets included gathering materials that could include splitting willow shoots, cottonwood branches and bark, devil’s claw, mesquite pitch and handling small metal tools.

Kate learned quickly the delicate but sturdy weaving skills; due to the laborious efforts of collecting the material, it was prudent to use the materials correctly.

As one can imagine, Kate’s initial baskets were not exactly round or held together.

Kate Austin, along with her sisters and brothers, were sent to the Phoenix Indian School. Kate was able to acquire the basic elementary skills however her desire and security was to return to the Fort McDowell Yavapai community. Kate returned to family and the familiarity of her home place. She possessed the patient, natural talent to master the skills, as Yavapai women were known for their unique, small and tight weave design, as well as the aptitude to maintain the design, shape and maintenance of the materials.

Kate, along with her younger sister, Josephine, was among several master weavers from the Fort McDowell Yavapai.

Kate Austin married twice; she spent time with her sisters and relatives in Fort McDowell. She did not have her own children but took care of her many nieces and nephews. She loved to laugh, joke and loved orange soda pop.

Kate Austin passed on in 1991.