Walt Bennett kept tribal words alive

The region lost a beloved teacher this week in Walt Bennett, a man known to many on the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation simply as Uncle because he nurtured so many people in so many ways.

He was the last man of his generation in this Olympic Peninsula tribe to actively teach Klallam, his people's language. And Mr. Bennett, who was 88, especially helped keep alive words particular to the men of his tribe — of tools and of hunting and fishing.

He recorded oral histories in Klallam, and it was Mr. Bennett whom tribal members and non-Indians alike consulted when they needed help identifying artifacts discovered at Tse-whit-Zen, an ancient Klallam village inadvertently unearthed on the Port Angeles waterfront in 2003.

After all, Mr. Bennett, who died Oct. 27, 2007, after a long illness, could pass on the knowledge of his father and grandfather from well more than a century ago.

An elder in the Indian Shaker Church, Mr. Bennett was also someone people turned to for comfort at times of loss and need.

"People loved to hear him speak, the words were genuine and from his heart, he truly cared," said Rosi Francis, a former member of the tribal council. "He was known as 'Uncle Walt' to just about everybody, or just 'Uncle.' "

Adeline Smith, 89, who taught Klallam with Mr. Bennett, said she'll miss the one man left with whom she could speak her own language. "That is where all the fun came from for me," she said. "I will dearly miss him."

Married in 1958

Walter Freeman Bennett was born Nov. 8, 1918, at his family's homestead along the Elwha River. His mother was full-blooded Klallam and his father was half-Klallam and half-Quileute.

He went to school in Port Angeles until he was sent to a boarding school, Chemawa Indian School, near Salem, Ore. He left school in about the ninth grade to come home to work. His father was a bishop in the Indian Shaker Church, and Mr. Bennett wanted to help pay for his travel expenses, ministering to church members.

When World War II came, Mr. Bennett joined the Army. He served four years and survived combat in Italy. He came home a sergeant.

For about 50 years, he lived in Queets, Clallam County, working as a fisherman and logger. One day, while clamming along the coast, he met the love of his life, Pat Pickernell, a member of the Quinault Tribe, marrying her in 1958 when she was just 17. "I would have had no other guy," said Pat Bennett. The couple moved to the Lower Elwha reservation in 1999.

At Queets and at Lower Elwha, Mr. Bennett was known for his generosity, using his own money to pay for travel costs to keep tribal kids involved in youth sports. For some of them, the out-of-town games were a rare chance to travel to other reservations and other parts of the state.

Mr. Bennett's faith was an anchor in his life. His family said it helped him survive when four of his children, Reuben, Dorothy, Charlie and Walter, all were killed in a logging-truck accident January 13, 1977.

"He was never bitter, he never had a bad word for anyone," said Lower Elwha Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles. "He was lovely and lovable. He always found the good in everybody, and he always believed you don't ever give up. You can always do it. He thought highly of himself and everyone around him."

Linguistic legacy

But it may be as a keeper of the Klallam language that Mr. Bennett will leave his longest legacy. Before his death, he had been contributing vocabulary for the tribe's first written dictionary, now in the works."He made a huge contribution," said Lower Elwha language instructor Jamie Valadez. "It's a great loss every time one of the elders passes away; the opportunity is gone now to learn from their life experiences. They are bridges to our past."

In addition to his wife, survivors include sons Virgil, Louis and Alan Bennett, all of Lower Elwha; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A service is set for 10 a.m. today at the Lower Elwha Tribal Center in Port Angeles.

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com