O'odham charity to honor man who studies culture

The 49-year-old is Maricopa and Apache, and since since the age of 8 he has been seeking knowledge about his heritage and culture. It started with the name — Shavillquinnor — that his grandmother gave him. It means "feather of many colors."

The quest for knowledge that he now imparts to children, families and elders, through presentations at museums and to university students, has won him the Golden Eagle Feather Award.

The award is among the highest honors among the Tohono O'odham tribe because it is believed the eagle flies the highest and takes people's prayers to their Creator, explained Carole J. García, a member of Reservation Creation Women's Circle Charitable Trust.

The trust is a nonprofit group that sponsors the awards and the feast, which is a fundraiser for scholarships.

Goodridge also will receive $1,000 and be recognized Saturday at the 11th Annual Traditional Native American Indian Feast and Fundraiser at San Xavier Plaza.

The event begins at 6 p.m. and includes a blessing ceremony, followed by a dinner of American Indian foods that includes buffalo, salmon, wild rice, cholla bud salad and prickly pear tea.

"Richard was selected because he has made it his life's work to learn about his heritage and culture and reintroduce many of the lost traditions to his community," García said.

"He is very special because so many of the dying traditions are being brought back by him, and he is teaching the traditions to the young children and families," she said.

Goodridge has been profiled in newspaper articles and in indigenous publications across the United States for his research, which includes tracing his ancestral roots back to the 1830s through census and Bureau of Indian Affairs records. He also researched school records and newspaper clippings.

He complied research on the Maricopa Indians from 1600 to the present, including research in Arizona museums, where he learned his ancestors' traditional lifestyles, including methods of weaving cotton using handmade spinners and weaving fabric on handmade looms.

Goodridge learned to plant and harvest traditional foods, including beans, sugar cane, melons, corn, black-eyed peas, onions, spinach and squash.

He learned to make ancestral musical instruments, bows and arrows, leather sandals, fishing rods, bird and small-animal traps, cooking utensils and cradle boards.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument staff members, schoolchildren and families from his community visit his home, where a small museum contains his work. Visitors also can take part in gardening and in arts-and-crafts sessions to learn how to make musical instruments and other implements.

As members of other tribes learn of the traditional treasures Goodridge has created, more come to visit and learn from him and his displays.

"When I learned of this honor, it just hit me out of the blue sky," recalled Goodridge, who was nominated by a friend. "This is a huge surprise, and it is a wonderful opportunity for people who are striving to keep their cultures alive."

IF YOU GO

• What: 11th Annual Traditional Native American Indian Feast and Fundraiser.

• When: Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m.

• Where: San Xavier Plaza., 1959 W. San Xavier Road; across from Mission San Xavier del Bac.

• Cost: $50 per person and $80 per couple in advance; at-the-door prices are $60 per person and $100 per couple. Tickets can be bought at Reservation Creations Indian Gift Shop in the plaza or by calling 295-1350.

• Information: Carole J. García at 622-4900, or go to www.usaindianinfo.org