Hoopa Tribal member Minnie McWilliams, age 87 has been
a lifetime resident of the Hoopa Valley and despite hardship, said her
life has been very good. Minnie was born on January 1, 1916 to the late
Ned and Louisa Jackson. She had 6 siblings- three brothers and three
sisters, two of whom (Jimmy Jackson, and Charlotte Colegrove) are still
living in Hoopa.
Despite being raised in Hoopa, Minnie still claims
her Redwood Creek Tribe, from her mother’s side. Minnie attended
the Indian boarding school in Hoopa until she was 11 years old. She
then moved to Riverside, California, where she attended high school
at the Sherman Institute. That’s where Minnie became interested
in cosmetology. She said she and her friends would always do each other’s
hair in the beauty parlor at Sherman. Upon graduating high school, she
took her board exam in Los Angeles. After working as a cosmetologist
for several years, Minnie decided to come home to help take care of
her father.
“My father was blind,” explained Minnie.
“We (brothers and sisters) used to take him to the doctor in Eureka
to try to help him get his sight back.” Soon after the move Minnie
decided to go back to work. The Hoopa native went from making people
look beautiful as a cosmetologist, to welding at a shipyard in Eureka.
Minnie said welding isn’t just a man’s job, and she took
great pride in her work. “I would show off my work to some of
the men there,” said Minnie.
While working as a welder Minnie became pregnant and
was forced to quit, something she did not want to do. Minnie moved back
to Hoopa to take care of her daughter. She said she was staying at home
almost all the way to the top of Bald Hill. When her daughter was only
three months old, she grew very ill. Minnie took her to the hospital,
but said it was too late. Her daughter had passed on.
The Hoopa elder had a total of eight children in her
lifetime, but now has only one left- her son Arthur Jones, who was raised
in Hoopa as well. “I always wanted kids,” said Minnie “and
now I have a lot of grand kids. It makes me happy visiting with them.”
The kind-hearted woman has nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren,
with two more on the way. Minnie, who was named after her aunt, was
proud to say that one of her great-granddaughters is named after her.
Family was and is the most sacred thing in Minnie’s
life. She spoke of when her mother Louisa, was still living. “My
mother was beautiful. She had long, curly hair and she always looked
beautiful,” Minnie described. Despite her father’s blindness,
Minnie recalled his kind heart. She said he used to walk out of the
shed when she was little, and he would cut kindling and wood and bring
it into the house to keep the family warm.
Minnie also spoke of her grandmother, the late Mary
Ann Jackson, a woman she described as “a little woman with a lot
of love.” She also reminisced about a friend and classmate Ruby
Jarnaghan, and the late Boots Masten.
Kindness is a perfect word to describe Minnie. She
has even sent money to help feed children in need from other countries.
“If I see somebody that needs help, I help them,” she said.