Elizabeth DeJarnette Chief

Elizabeth DeJarnette Howe Chief

Elizabeth DeJarnette Howe Chief was born on May 23, 1912, at Bald Hill Ranch near Stidham, Oklahoma. Her mother, Mattie Posey Howe was a Creek Indian and was the daughter of Nancy Harjo, a survivor of the infamous Trail of Tears. Elizabeth was proud to be the niece of Creek poet and satirist, Alex Posey.

Elizabeth's father, Samuel Shepherd Howe, was born at "Sunnyside" in Pulaski County, Virginia. His mother, Sallie Lewis DeJarnette, was born at Clifton in Fairfax County, Virginia. Before Elizabeth died on Saturday, March 6, 2010, she was the last living of eight children born to Samuel and Mattie Howe. By the time the oldest child was 15 and the youngest child was two, both parents had died. This tragedy was life changing for the children who were then cared for by both their Virginia and Indian grandmothers. As they became older, they attended Indian boarding schools. It was a measure of the love and strength their parents imparted that all eight became college educated. The three eldest children, including Elizabeth, assumed much of the parenting of the younger children while pursuing their own degrees. Elizabeth earned a B.S. and an M.S. in Education. She taught several years and returned to school for degrees in Social Work.

She spent many years on the Navajo reservation working with tribal chairmen Sam Akeah and other Indian people through the National Congress of American Indians in her efforts to secure social security and voting rights for America's first people. She also worked on the Sisseton, Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations.

It was while on the Pine Ridge, that she met and married in 1937 Raymond Benjamin Chief, the son of a Sioux cattle rancher. In 1956 she was transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Charlottesville, Virginia. And so began a time of reunion and enjoyment with her Virginia relatives before Raymond died in 1968. When Health and Human Services, as it had come to be, returned to Washington, D.C., she commuted to Charlottesville until she retired in 1982 with nearly 50 years of Federal service. In 1998, she moved to St. Leonard, Maryland, to live with her daughter, Elizabeth Jolie and her husband, Jacques.

She loved to garden, read, crochet, visit with neighbors, and entertain family. In return, she was well loved and will always be remembered.

She is survived by grandson, Andre Jolie and his wife, Julia, and great-grandson, Chase and great-granddaughter, Sklyer; grandson, Aaron Jolie and his wife, Denise, and great-grandson Tyler; grandson, Edward Jolie and his wife, Ruth, and granddaughter, Katherine Jolie; and many nieces and nephews.

A number of people have written about Elizabeth's work. George McColmb in his article "An Ungrateful Nation" about Navajo code breakers, explained how hard it was for these World War II veterans to return home to poverty and isolation. He describes Elizabeth's heartfelt reaction to dealing with it as a social worker. Elizabeth is remembered not only by her family, but by those she helped. She came from people, old Virginian and reservation, that believed in hard work and helping people to have better lives.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.