LCO Financial Services Donates Funds for Pakwawong Commemoration Sculpture

By Dr. Rick St. Germaine

Special to LCO News

A major gift was given by the LCO Elders Association to artist Sara Balbin to create a metal sculpture that will commemorate the 1923 destruction of Pakwawong, a major village of the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation, by a ruthless corporate power company. 

With a room full of onlookers at the LCO Museum, several speakers cited the significance of this contract with Sara Balbin, who reflected over forty years to a time when tribal elders shared historic stories that gave visual pictures that inspired her in her work with the tribe.

The funds were generously donated to the Elders Association by the LCO Financial Services to support Balbin’s sculpture piece which will be installed in New Post village.  Financial Services was represented by Trina Starr, Chief Administrative Officer, Adele White, Director of Accounting, and Cameron Quaderer, Marketing Manager.

Mark Thayer, one of the New Post leaders of the Committee that planned and hosted the 100th Year Anniversary Commemoration events earlier this year, reminded the audience that it’s been unfortunate that the tragic story of Pakwawong seems to have been forgotten in the past eighty years.  The flooding of this village and thousands of acres of reservation lands had a lasting impact upon our tribe.  Village residents were pushed out of their homeland and scattered all over the reservation.

He recounted how some families were driven from their homes as water rose up to their yards higher than projected.  Some village elders had to be loaded into wagons, forcibly removed by their relatives as they refused to leave, worrying their grandchildren.  Hundreds of graves were inundated by the reservoir as the power company failed to remove them as they had promised.  A new village was constructed and named New Post one hundred years ago with a store, a Catholic Church, and years later a small school.  New Post residents became close knit mainly because they were so isolated from the rest of the reservation.

But then a new LCO Housing Authority assigned new homes to New Post descendants away from the village in places like Dry Town, Water Tower or Signor, eroding the village family identity, stated Mark Thayer.  He also gave a 20th century history of the New Post region describing elders like Pipe Mustache, Bill Sutton, Louie Barber and others who taught students how to catch their food, tan hides, and build wigwams.  He added that we need to continue teaching our children about their heritage and how to live off of the land.  Thayer asked for a restoration of the old stone building in New Post which once served as a school and community center, a place where New Post can preserve its identity. 

Mark Thayer also related the old history of Pakwawong, going back to the early 1700s.  Pakwawong Commemoration Committee members at the sculpture event included:  Tom Tainter, Elaine DeBrot, Dean Oshogey, Doreen DeBrot, and Lorraine Gouge.  LCO Elders Association representatives included:  Faith Smith, Marie Kuykendall, and Ramona Ingerson.

Pictured from back row L-R) Cameron Quaderer, Mark Thayer , Trina Starr, Doreen DeBrot, Elakne DeBrot , Dr. Rick St. Germaine; middle row L-R) Adele White, Tom Tainter, Lorraine Gouge; front row L-R) Ramona Ingerson, Marie Kuykendall, Sarah Balbin, Dean Oshogey, Faith Smith.

Representing LCO FS are Cameron Quaderer, Trina Starr and Adele White, with Faith Smith of the LCO Elder Association presenting Sarah Balbin a check.

The sculpture