Lela Beckwith, President, ICC Indian Enterprises

President, ICC Indian Enterprises and member of the Chickasaw tribe, retired from the Federal Government in August 1995. Lela has over 30 years of Federal, State, County, and private sector experience in Human Resources, Administrative Services, Personnel, Contracting, Procurement, Budget, Computer Operations, and Realty.

Lela grew up in Pontotoc, Oklahoma in a small home with four brothers and a sister. In earlier years her grandparents were also living there.  The little two room house did not have running water.  She grew up speaking Chickasaw.

Terry Beckwith, member of Quinault Indian Nation of Washington.  Beckwith teaches most of the realty classes for ICC.

Mr. Beckwith has over 40 years of service in the realty field.  His realty career began with Office of Hearings and Appeals in Portland, Oregon.  Judge Richard Montgomery a Seminole Indian recruited Beckwith.  “Starting a career with Mr. Montgomery was extremely valuable.  He went to Haskell in the late 1920’s and worked in the probate field from 1930.  Lela and I travelled the northwest with Richard (R.J.) and Grace Trimble Montgomery and heard stories about the allotment, reorganization, and termination policy periods from people who actually lived it.”  Mr. Beckwith was the Director of the Palm Springs Office of the BIA from 1988 to 1997.  He served on several task forces and working committees with the BIA.  His career also included positions in Sacramento, California; Sells, Arizona and Anadarko, Oklahoma.

“I grew up during the termination period near Pendleton, Oregon.  Termination was close to us because there were articles about the Klamath termination in the Portland Oregonian newspaper on a regular basis.  My father, Leslie Beckwith, would read these articles out loud while we were waiting for breakfast.  He would make comments about them.  His concern was how the termination policies of the government would impact the coast tribes, i. e. Quinault and Chehalis.  I did not understand a lot about termination at the time because of my age but it was very clear to me that it was a terrible policy.  In the 1970’s when I worked with Judge Montgomery I had the privilege of hearing and understanding the termination policies from Lucy Covington from Colville.  Today we are back in a termination policy period and I greatly value my experiences that will help me to help others prepare for the next termination.”

Beckwith has an Award in Accounting from UCLA and graduated from Haskell Institute (Haskell Indian Nations University).  He is married to Lela Wisdom Beckwith, President of ICC, has two sons, Bobby Beckwith working in Anadarko, Oklahoma for BIA; Warren Beckwith, teaching classes for ICC and working for Subway Sandwich Shop in Oklahoma City.  The Beckwith’s  have three granddaughters, three grandsons, and two great grandsons.

Hobbies:  We travel throughout North America and really enjoy it.  We live in a travel trailer throughout Indian Country.  It’s not the type of camping we grew up with.  Today we are writing a book “The 1928 Disappearance of an Indian Tribe.”  The book is about the Wynooche and Satsop tribes and other tribes in the area that were basically homesteaded off their land.  For our family it happened in 1928.  Our family was never paid for the three homes they had to leave behind.  We are on the second draft of another book “Warriors of the Gridiron.”  This book is about the great Haskell Indians teams of the 1920’s that played the best teams in the country and were under contract to play in the 1925 Rosebowl.  Notre Dame refused to play them and Haskell was forced to withdraw.

Judge Sally Willett –  Judge Willett, a member of the Cherokee Tribe, was the first enrolled Indian woman to become an Administrative Law Judge. During law school, Judge Willett clerked at California Indian Legal Services and Native American Rights Fund for whom she worked after graduation. Judge Willett worked for the Office of Rights Protection, Bureau of Indian Affairs, before her appointment at Interior as an Administrative Law Judge in November 1977 through October 1996. At Interior, she was designated one of the outstanding women in the Department of Interior by Manual Lujan, Secretary of Interior.