Heritage Living Center, Ashland, Mont.

Part 1

ASHLAND, Mont. – Some folks call it the “Miracle on the Hill” – the one Father Emmett built. Others call it the “Heritage Center,” and many of the thirty plus elderly residents, mostly Northern Cheyenne, simply call it “home.” Susie Tallwhiteman Wilsey, an esteemed 87-year-old Cheyenne lady, has lived there since it opened in 2002. “I will never leave,” she says.

The Heritage Living Center (HLC) is a state of the art assisted living facility for Native Elders. While Northern Cheyenne have preference, other elders with ties to the Tribe and the Ashland area are also residents. At the HLC, elders can live mostly independent lives while benefiting from services, support, and compassion in a facility unmatched anywhere else in Indian Country, perhaps even in all of America.

This article summarizes this incredible institution and how it came to be.

HLC is a dream fulfilled by the late Father Emmett Hoffmann, a Catholic priest who dedicated over 40 years of his life to the Northern Cheyenne. A great deal of his ministry, good works, and fundraising was devoted to the St. Labre Mission and boarding school, now known as St. Labre Academy. As part of his extremely successful fundraising campaigns, which stretched across the world, he coined the phrase “Race of Sorrows” for the Northern Cheyenne. Indeed, much of Northern Cheyenne history since the arrival of Europeans has been filled with sorrow.

Father Emmett, as he was fondly called by the Cheyenne and others in the area, is the only white man ever inducted into the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs Society. As such, he was befriended and taken as a brother by primary Chiefs of the Reservation era, including Clarence “Bisco” Spotted Wolf, who carried the Sweet Medicine Bundle; Harold Fisher; Herbert “Happy Herb” Bearchum; Clinton Birdhat; and others who later became HLC residents. Father was given the Cheyenne name “Soaring Eagle” by the Chiefs Society.

As a young priest, he was assigned to the St. Labre Mission in Ashland in 1954. Although many priests traveled from assignment to assignment during their service, Father Emmett insisted on staying on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation for the duration of his life. He proved to be an extraordinary fundraiser, developing an international donor base and working closely with experts and lawyers, including Connie Sump (male), his long time advisor and advocate for the Northern Cheyenne. This formidable team raised enough money to save the floundering St. Labre Boarding School, then in danger of being closed. They expanded their efforts to support similar missions on the Crow Reservation. Among other things, they established a factory that provided employment to Northern Cheyenne to produce fundraising gifts for donors, as well as a print shop that produced calendars, greeting cards, and secured contracts from off reservation sources. In the process, Father Emmett brought full-time employment to families across the reservation.

The school has since been upgraded to Academy status, dedicated to academic excellence while providing college scholarships to encourage graduates to pursue post secondary education. St. Labre and HLC have long been primary employers of Northern Cheyenne and area residents at all levels. For example, the principal administrators are Native, as are many of the teachers and school staff. Many have worked at St. Labre their entire lives. The fundraising system developed by Father Emmett is now safely institutionalized, allowing the Mission to continue well into the future.

In addition to its own charitable donations to the community, St. Labre once provided charity funds directly to the Tribal Council, dispersed as they saw fit. However, when the Tribe challenged St. Labre’s right to raise funds on behalf of the Cheyenne, a lawsuit was settled for a multi million dollar sum to the Tribe (the exact figure and use of those funds has not been disclosed to Tribal membership). St. Labre still continues, however, to provide charitable funding to individual tribal members for worthwhile causes and needs.

When Father Emmett’s time at St. Labre came to an end, he turned the full force of his abilities, love, and compassion in another direction— this time for the reservation’s elders. John Warner, a long time friend, has created and curated a historical photographic record of this amazing saga. His association with Father Emmett began in 1991, and he still maintains it with Soaring Eagle’s fundraising efforts. He shared the story of the day Father Emmett heard his name called to build the HLC.

In the 1970s, the Chiefs recorded their meetings, including their frustration about what was happening to the tribe’s elders. “We are tired of sending our old ones away. They are lonely with no one to talk to; no one speaks our language. It’s too far for relatives to drive there. They die and come back in a bag of bones! We need an old folks’ home on the reservation. Let’s talk to Father Emmett—he will help us.”

“Twenty years later, those recordings surfaced in a box. Clarence ‘Bisco’ Spotted Wolf translated the Cheyenne language tapes. Father Emmett was left stunned and speechless; he said it was like the Chiefs were calling to him from the grave,” Warner said. “Right then his retirement ended, and this relentlessly driven renaissance man, now in his 70s, took on his biggest challenge ever: fundraising from scratch the $5 million needed to purchase land and build a magnificent ‘retirement home’ for his Cheyenne friends.”

He believed the message was divinely driven and responded by creating Soaring Eagle, a non-profit public charity. Along the way, he was advised by several of the Chiefs, especially his Cheyenne brother friends Bisco Spotted Wolf, Harold Fisher, and many others.

Father’s natural skill for writing appeal letters proved very successful, generating enough donations to purchase acres of pristine land in a setting of lovely ponderosa pine-covered hills overlooking tiny Ashland, just across the Tongue River reservation boundary.

Father Emmett was an amazing fundraiser. He signed off his letters as “Your beggar friend,” and the title of his biography, Renegade Priest of the Northern Cheyenne by Renee Sansom Flood, revealed that few people understood his full reach or his remarkable ability to make dreams come true in a short period of time. He accomplished this extraordinary feat in four years—and at a time of life when most people are retired.

HLC opened its doors in 2002. Father Emmett, his Scottish terrier Fergie, and “Bisco” were among the first to establish residency. They spent their last years at the facility, meeting each day. A formal Board, including Northern Cheyenne Tribal members, was established to provide oversight; a large staff of Cheyenne and local people was put into place. Father and his brothers then took a personal interest in each resident, attending to concerns and problems.

Father Emmett passed at the venerable age of 87, leaving an unmatched legacy of love and generosity to the Northern Cheyenne. His remains are interred on the beautifully landscaped grounds, where deer, wild turkeys, and other wildlife consider the area friendly territory. An annual celebration of his life has been attended by hundreds from far, wide, and near on or around July 27, his birthday. He would have turned 100 this year.

The next installment will look at the amazing array of services, support, and compassion provided to the HLC residents.

(Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennereview@gmail.com)

The post Heritage Living Center, Ashland, Mont. first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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