Trudy Griffin-Pierce

Trudy Griffin-Pierce Writer, medical anthropologist, professor, and artist Trudy Griffin-Pierce died on January 6, 2009. Griffin-Pierce was an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, specializing in medical anthropology. She authored five books, the most recent of which, Chiricahua Apache Enduring Power: Naiche's Puberty Ceremony Paintings, was selected by the Southern Anthropology Society for the James Mooney Award in 2008. She was the 2000 winner of the Alice Longan Writing Award for her book Native Peoples of the Southwest. Of Catawba Indian heritage, Griffin-Pierce was born in South Carolina on December 27, 1949. When she was only 16 years old, her mother died suddenly of an aneurysm. In her words, "The sudden death of the person who was my whole world shattered my core beliefs about reality and sent me searching for meaning. The only things in my life to which I was truly connected were writing and the Navajo Indians." She soon began studies in printmaking and fine art at Florida State University. During her second year at the university, Griffin-Pierce wrote to the Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai, asking if he could find a traditional Navajo family that she could join as a daughter. During her fourth year at Florida State, the Tribal Chairman located a family for her in Many Farms, Arizona. She said of her experience at Many Farms: "The family that I joined lived in a hogan and had no electricity or running water. We got up with the sun and headed out with the sheep after a quick breakfast. All day, we herded the flock and came back to make a fire and dinner, before the sun set. Trips to the trading post were done in a horse-drawn buckboard. I felt completely at home." Griffin-Pierce returned to Florida State and completed her BFA. Longing to be close to her Navajo family, she packed her Jeep and moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she enrolled as a graduate student in fine art at the University of Arizona, but soon switched to anthropology. She earned her MA in museum studies at the university in 1970, and her PhD in cultural anthropology in 1987. She was an adjunct lecturer in anthropology at the university from 1988 through 2003, an assistant professor of anthropology from 2003 to 2008, and an associate professor with tenure from April 2008 until her death. In December 1979, Griffin-Pierce married solar astronomer A. Keith Pierce, one of the founders of Kitt Peak National Observatory and a co-developer of the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope. Astronomer Pierce died in March 2005. Griffin-Pierce is survived by an aunt and uncle, Pat and Glynn Wells of Hancock, NH and Palm Beach Gardens, FL; cousin, Susan Wells of Sag Harbor, NY; cousin, Andrew Wells and wife Suzanne of Durham, NH; cousin, Buddy Griffin and wife Barbara of Eutawville, SC; cousin, Brad Griffin of Branchville, SC; cousin, Jay Watkins of Columbia, SC; her late husband's son, Ross Pierce of Irvine, CA; her late husband's daughter, Barbara Pierce Orville and husband Richard of College Station, TX and her beloved Old English Sheepdog, Mr. Skippy. In lieu of flowers and other gifts, friends are asked to contribute to a charity of their own choice, or send a donation to Tohono O'odham Community Action. No funeral is planned, but friends and colleagues should contact the University of Arizona Department of Anthropology for information about a celebration of life in March.