Former Cowlitz Indian Tribe chairman and spiritual leader Roy Wilson died early Tuesday morning at age 97, just days before the 25th anniversary of the tribe’s federal recognition on Thursday.
Cowlitz Chairman Bill Iyall said in a statement that Wilson’s service and commitment to the tribe is immeasurable.
“He was a warrior, who will be remembered for his work on the front lines of our fight for federal recognition,” he said. “Roy will always be remembered for the legends he would share when opening meetings at St. Mary’s and the Grange Hall, to pass our Tribe’s culture and history along to the youth, while using our teachings to guide the Tribe’s path into the future.”
Wilson, also known as Itswwot Wawa Hyiu (Bear Who Talks Much), served on the tribal council for nearly three decades. He was general council chairman from 1973 to 1982. After that, he became the tribe’s spiritual leader and conducted ceremonies and rituals until 2018.
Wilson was also a United Methodist pastor for 47 years in five different states, according to Columbia Gorge News.
Born to a Native father and non-Native mother on the Yakama Indian Reservation, Wilson grew up exclusively Christian before he began to see the harmony between Christianity and the spirituality of his Native culture.
“You don’t look at the differences between the two religions,” he told a Columbia Gorge News reporter in 2015. “I discovered you look at the similarities and when you find the similarity it all blends together and it becomes a very in-depth spiritual journey.”
Wilson lived in Chico with his wife, Cherilyn Wilson, who ran a business in Bremerton called Happy Tails Pet Grooming. In 2020, the couple was convicted in Lewis County Superior Court on multiple accounts of animal cruelty for keeping 36 pets in squalor, according to court records. Though Roy Wilson pleaded guilty, The Columbian previously reported Wilson denied any occurrence of animal cruelty.
However, Wilson had many achievements, including writing dozens of books recording much of the Cowlitz Tribe’s history and teachings.
“He was an embodiment of Cowlitz heritage and was instrumental in the preservation of our Tribe’s history, through the many books he published and his efforts to revive our language,” Iyall said.
He would often present seminars on the Medicine Wheel and Native American spirituality and show the similarities between the teaching of different religions, according to an interview with him on the website Wisdom of the Elders.
“I believe that the healing for the world in its diversity will find unity through our Indian teachings, the healing that is there. That’s basically my life as a storyteller and teacher,” he said in the interview.
