PhotoS by JOHN LARSON
(ABOVE) CONNIE MCCLOUD, A CULTURAL COORDINATOR WITH PUYALLUP TRIBE, CONDUCTED THE BLESSING CEREMONY.
Among the logistical details of the upcoming demolition of the aging McIlvaigh Middle School and the shift of students to First Creek Middle School, which is under construction a few hundred yards away, is what to do with the totem pole in the courtyard.
Gary Hillaire, a member of Lummi Tribe who was living on Vashon Island in the early 1980s, carved the pole from a cedar log that was donated to the school by Weyerhaeuser Company. The log was cut in the 1970s and had to be dried for between eight and 10 years before carving. It was dedicated in spring 1983, with Gary Hillaire performing traditional singing and drumming during the ceremony.
Connie McCloud, a member of Puyallup Tribe and a cultural coordinator with Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, conducted a blessing ceremony at McIlvaigh on June 11, surrounded by students, faculty and three members of Tacoma School Board.
An offering of food, including berries, nuts and salmon was placed on a cedar mat to acknowledge the spirit of the pole and the ancestors.
Connie McCloud explained that the ceremony is meant to ask the pole permission to move it into temporary storage to rest until it can be erected again.
Traditionally, carvers put much thought into picking a tree for a totem pole, Connie McCloud said. The carver would pray about which one to cut. “These trees are special in our culture. This cedar tree has a spirit,” she remarked.
The pole has stood watch while students have passed by for the past 26 years. “It has seen many students,” Connie McCloud said. “It shares your story of who you are. It has shared stories of you growing up. It knows who you are.”
McCloud sang a song in the tribe’s Salish dialect.
Superintendent Art Jarvis told the audience the pole will rise again at First Creek. An exact location on the campus will be decided upon after construction wraps up and landscaping is done.
“We will take good care of it,” said Katherine Boyd, principal of McIlvaigh.
