[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 182 (Monday, October 18, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S7026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Remembering Earl Old Person

  Mr. TESTER. Madam President, thank you for the recognition.
  I want to share a few words this afternoon to honor an incredible 
leader, somebody who is well known to the State of Montana and 
certainly well known to Indian Country, throughout this country, a 
personal friend of mine who passed away last week.
  The person's name is Chief Earl Old Person of the Blackfeet Nation. 
He served 56 years as a Tribal councilman. He passed away last 
Wednesday, October 13, at the age of 92. He was the longest serving 
elected Tribal official in the United States when he passed. He was a 
keeper of Tribal history, a tireless advocate, and, for many, he was a 
national voice for the challenges in Indian Country.
  Chief Old Person was born in 1929. He grew up on the Blackfeet 
Reservation, where he embraced Tribal culture and, at a young age, 
performed traditional Blackfeet song and dance across the State and the 
Nation as an ambassador for the Blackfeet. He even traveled to Paris to 
represent Indian Country as the only Indian Boy Scout at the World Boy 
Scout Jamboree in 1947.
  It was clear that leadership was in his bones, and in 1954 he was 
elected to his first term as a Tribal council member, and he became the 
Tribal council chairman only 10 years later.
  Chief Old Person went on to serve as President of the National 
Congress of American Indians. He played an integral part in creating 
the Nation's first tribally owned bank, helping to earn him the honor 
of being named Outstanding Indian of the Year by the Chicago Indian 
Council.
  In 1978, Earl Old Person became Chief Earl Old Person, a title that 
he would hold with honor until his passing last Wednesday. In his role 
as chief, he would not only represent the Blackfeet Tribe but all 
Tribal nations in Montana and on the Governor's task force on Indian 
affairs and as the chairman of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest 
Indians.
  He met with every U.S. President from Truman to Obama and had joined 
the British royal family and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau for 
the Commonwealth Games in 1978. Wherever he went, he was pushing for 
progress.
  There are too many honors and awards for me to name, but Chief Old 
Person's impact goes far beyond his accolades. He was a wise leader, a 
world-class orator, and I have heard stories of his words that brought 
folks to tears.
  His shoes will never be filled, but the fact that we had the 
opportunity to see his leadership in action gives us the roadmap for a 
brighter future. He will sorely be missed by the Blackfeet Nation, by 
the State of Montana, by Indian Country across this country, and by my 
wife Sharla and I as well as countless others who knew him.
  This world is a better place because of Chief Old Person and the work 
that he did. He will never be replaced.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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