Wilma Mankiller

From Indian Country Today:

Thousands of newspaper articles, Internet messages, and other tributes and remembrances have already surfaced in honor of the first woman elected to lead the Cherokee Nation, who passed away at age 64 on April 6 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

The outpouring of adulation, which has included praise-filled statements from President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton – who awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 – and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is not surprising to those who knew her best.

From Worldwide Faith News:

Tributes from Reformed church leaders are pouring in for Wilma Mankiller, an American Indian rights advocate who died Tuesday a 64 after a brief illness. Mankiller, a member of the Cherokee Nation in the United States, was scheduled to be a keynote speaker this June at a global assembly of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) in Grand Rapids, United States.

Prior to being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Mankiller had agreed to make a keynote presentation at the Uniting General Council (UGC) which will launch the World Communion of Reformed Churches from a merger of WARC and REC.

“Chief Mankiller’s dedication to the rights of Indigenous peoples would have brought an important challenge to all of our churches to act with justice on behalf of the First Peoples of our various countries,” says event organizer, Stephan Kendall, in a statement issued from his office with the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Biography:
Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Mankiller