Lucille Belle Robedeaux (June 10, 1915 – November 3, 2005), sometimes spelt Roubedeaux, was a tribal leader of the
Osage of
Oklahoma and the
last surviving native speaker of the
Osage language
Osage (; Osage: ''Wažáže ie'') is a Siouan language that is spoken by the Osage people of Oklahoma. Their original territory was in present-day Missouri and Kansas but they were gradually pushed west by European-American pressure and treati ...
.
Life
Lucille Belle Matin was born in
Wynona, Oklahoma, a daughter of Walter Jones and Maggy Helen Matin of the Eagle Clan. Her parents soon moved to
Hominy, where she attended school.
[Lucille Belle Robedeaux, Cleveland, Oklahoma]
tributearchive.com, accessed December 23, 2020 She was one of the last Osage to have a traditional marriage, with the exchange of many horses. On November 4, 1946, she married Lee Robedeaux, and they had children.
[
Robedeaux worked at St. John’s Hospital, ]Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, as a nurse’s aide from the 1950s until she retired in the late 1970s. An active member of the Altar Society of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and of the Mound Valley Homemakers, she became a community leader, as an Elder of the Osage Nation and as advisor of the Tribal Dance Committee, promoting the carrying on of Osage traditions. She was fond of bull fights and the horse races in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Garland County. The city is located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs for which the city is n ...
, and traveled around the US and also to Hawaii, Mexico, and Europe.[
By the time of Robedeaux’s death in 2005, aged ninety, she was the last native speaker of the Osage language. A program had been initiated to revive the language, but with little success: "This is the last train out. If we can't get it done this time around, then that's it. There is no more after this" said "Uncle Mogre" of the Osage, who had been working to preserve the language.]
findagrave.com, accessed December 23, 2020 She left many descendants, including four great great grandchildren.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roubedeaux, Lucille
Last known speakers of a Native American language
1915 births
2005 deaths
Osage people
Native American people from Oklahoma
20th-century Native American women
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native American women
21st-century Native Americans
Language activists