[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19424]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO STANLEY SPEAKS

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor a longtime public 
servant and regional director of the northwest region of the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs in my State, Mr. Stanley Speaks. Stan has served the 
tribes of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest well since 1982. His 
distinguished career with the Federal Government spanned more than 59 
years and has resulted in highly recognized and extraordinary 
accomplishments that stem from his established knowledge, experience, 
and management leadership.
  Stan graduated from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, 
and later obtained a master's degree in education administration. By 
1959, he had begun his long career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 
He served as the regional director in western Oklahoma and Kansas and 
came to the northwest region in 1982. There he served 14 agencies, 3 
irrigation projects, and oversaw a trust land base of 6.3 million 
acres, covering five Northwest States. Stan also had the fiduciary 
trust responsibility to 45 Northwest Tribes with a membership totaling 
115,000 Native-American people. As a Tribal member of the Chickasaw 
Nation of Oklahoma, Stan was inducted into the Chickasaw National Hall 
of Fame in 2002.
  Stan has devoted his life's work to the advancement of Tribes and 
Indian people. He has worked hard to uphold and protect Tribal treaty 
rights, and through his stewardship of trust property and natural 
resources, trust income has helped meet the individual and family needs 
of Tribal members. He became the regional director at a time when the 
Western Oregon Tribes were being restored.
  Stan has long been a champion for Tribal veterans. He has supported 
housing, the expansion of veterans benefits, and access to healthcare. 
He, along with his lovely wife, Lois, are a staple at the annual 
veterans dinner sponsored by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians each 
July.
  He has assisted the federally recognized Tribes in my home State of 
Oregon with both advice and financial assistance on a variety of 
business and economic development ventures. His efforts have created 
hundreds of job opportunities for Indian and non-Indian people in every 
Tribal community across Oregon and the Northwest.
  Stan has achieved countless victories for Native Americans, which 
will have long lasting beneficial impacts for years to come. He has 
been critical in maintaining the relationship between the Federal 
Government and Indian Tribes. Oregon has benefited from Stanley Speaks' 
career management and leadership contributions. His legacies of 
achievement for our Tribes will live on to benefit not only this 
generation, but for generations yet to come. I thank Stan for his 
service to Indian Country and to this Nation.

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