OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller, one of the few women ever to lead a major American Indian tribe, has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, her husband said Tuesday.
Charlie Soap, Mankiller’s husband, made the announcement in a news release issued by the Tahlequah-based tribe. Soap said the 64-year-old Mankiller has stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer but offered no other details. He asked that the public respect the family’s privacy.
Mankiller served as the tribe’s chief from December 1985 until retiring in 1995. Last September, Northeastern State University in Tahlequah named her as its first Sequoyah Institute Fellow.
Mankiller has dealt with numerous physical ailments. A 1979 car accident nearly claimed her life and resulted in 17 operations. She has suffered from a muscular disorder called myasthenia gravis and underwent a kidney transplant in 1990. She has also battled lymphoma and breast cancer.
In the tribe’s news release, Mankiller said she is “mentally and spiritually prepared for this journey.”
“I learned a long time ago that I can’t control the challenges the creator sends my way, but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them,” she said.
“On balance, I have been blessed with an extraordinarily rich and wonderful life, filled with incredible experiences. And I am grateful to have a support team composed of loving family and friends.”
She said she planned to spend her time with family and close friends “and engaging in activities I enjoy.”
Mankiller has spent most of her life in the rural community of Mankiller Flats in Adair County. At age 10, her family moved to San Francisco, where she spent two decades before returning to Oklahoma in 1977.
After becoming the Cherokees’ first female chief in 1985, she visited in Washington with three U.S. presidents – Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton – to discuss tribal issues. Clinton presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.
Her unusual surname is a Cherokee military title.
Current Cherokee Chief Chad Smith called Mankiller “a mentor and friend” and said it was difficult for him to express how much Mankiller has meant to both him and the tribe. He said Mankiller “is a true patriot of the Cherokee Nation.”
“I’ve got one story that helps sum up what kind of person she is,” Smith said. “The week after she received the Presidential Medal of Honor she was back home on the front porch of her family’s church. It was Memorial Day and there were decorations at the cemetery and it struck me how she could be just as comfortable meeting with the president as she was with her own people, honoring her ancestors.
“It was an image of someone who was truly humble, and you don’t meet too many people like that.”
