photo by Clare Jensen
CONNIE MCCLOUD HOLDS HER NEW GRANDDAUGHTER, KALINA GEORGE. Connie McCloud was recognized as an inspiring woman in YWCA’s 100th anniversary book, “Inspiring Women: Honoring Women Who Have Inspired Us.”
Connie McCloud has made great strides in cultural awareness within the Puyallup Tribe.
She has become a fixture in the community and had her hand in the creation of many cultural programs, including the Puyallup Tribal Canoe Family.
Her name is known throughout the Tribe and as of Dec. 5, it will be known by women across Pierce County.
Connie McCloud was nominated as an inspiring woman and is featured among 61 other local women from the past and present in the YWCA’s book
“Inspiring Women: Honoring the Women Who Have Inspired Us.”
“I never thought this would happen,” said the humble Connie McCloud.
Yet she said she does appreciate the recognition, because she understands the impact women have on one another.
Her mother, Bernice Sccena, and two grandmothers, Nancy Sccena and Rose McCloud, were all inspirations to the person Connie McCloud has become today.
And she sees the tradition carrying into the lives of her children and grandchildren.
“My daughter just had a baby. She’s making a difference in her [daughter’s] life just as I made a difference in hers,” Connie McCloud said.
In addition to the chain reaction of mother to daughter inspiration Connie McCloud has experienced on both ends, her impact has been felt in the community as well, whether or not she realizes it.
That is why Storm Reyes, executive assistant for Pierce County Libraries and an acquaintance of Connie McCloud’s, nominated her as an inspiring woman when she had the chance.
“I’ve never really worked closely with her,” Storm Reyes said. “But I’ve known of her since I was a kid.”
When Neel Parikh, library director for Pierce County Library Systems, asked her employee Storm Reyes who had inspired her, she had to make a tough call.
“There were so many strong Indian women who I grew up around,” she said, but what made Connie McCloud stand out above the rest is “her amazing ability to fuse traditional wisdom to meet modern needs.”
The book, which is the first of its kind and was created as a symbol of YWCA’s 100th anniversary, is a way to give recognition to inspiring women, as well create a pool of money for YWCA to use for the “healing fund.”
Each page in the book cost $1,000, which means Neel Parikh donated the money to honor a stranger because she accepted Storm Reyes’ word that Connie McCloud was such an inspiration in the Tribal community.
“She [Connie McCloud] just keeps moving one foot in front of the other. She sees a problem and she’s [there]… with her own strong personal strength and with great
dignity,” Storm Reyes said. “That inspires me. When I see something is wrong I try to approach it in that manner, to just slog through it with as much grace and patience as I can.”
The revenue from each $25 book will also be submitted to the healing fund, which will help women in unusual situations that would not ordinarily be covered in the operating budget, said Kathryn Dahl, director of fund development for YWCA.
Storm Reyes submitted a written passage and photo of Connie McCloud for the book, which was unveiled at a reception Dec. 5.
“With a humbleness of spirit, a purity of vision and determination, she inspires – and when that’s not enough, she grabs us by the collar and drags us along with her. She believes in us when we can’t,” reads the last line of the passage written by Storm Reyes, which will be read by countless other women who might gain inspiration from the words describing an inspiration.
