The West Old & New Vol. III Issue II February 2014 | Página 5

from receiving their just compensation."
Cobell died at the age of 65 on October 16, 2011, in Great
Falls, Montana after a brief battle with cancer.
To honor the former president of Montana’s Elvis Presley fan
club, whose activities she had to quit in order to focus on her landmark lawsuit, all car radios during her funeral procession were
tuned to Elvis songs in her honor. At the viewing, a pair of life-size
Elvis cutouts were put up against the rear wall and a photo of Cobell and her family at Graceland flashed occasionally in the rotating
display on a big screen overhead. The buffet featured a giant cake,
decorated with the words, “In Loving Memory of Elouise Cobell”
— and a picture of Elvis.

“Stagecoach”

Mary Fields
(1832-1914)

She was the first African American mail carrier (male or female) in the
United States Mary Fields began her life as a slave in Tennessee in 1832, the exact date is unknown. Mary’s mother Susanna was
the personal servant to the plantation owner’s wife, Mrs. Dunnes. The plantation wife also had a daughter who was born within
two weeks of Mary, and named Dolly. Mrs. Dunnes allowed the children to play together. Over the years Mary was taught to read
and write and the two girls became best friends. At sixteen, Dolly was sent to boarding school in Ohio and Mary was left all alone.
Mary’s father worked in the fields on the Dunnes’ farm. He was sold after Mary was born. Mary’s mother wanted her daughter to
have a last name, so since her father Buck worked in the fields, her mother decided her last name should be Fields. So thus Mary
Fields came to be. After Mary’s mother passed away, Mary became the head of the household at the young age of fourteen. After
Dolly went away to boarding school, The Civil War began. The slaves were left to fend for themselves. It was during this time that
she learned many life survival skills. She learned how to garden, raise chickens and practice medicine with natural herbs. Around
the age of 30 Mary heard from her dear friend Dolly. Dolly was now a nun and was renamed Sister Amadaus. The Sister asked
Mary to join her at a convent in Ohio. Mary immediately began her twenty-day trip from Tennessee to Ohio. Mary remained with
the Ursuline Sisters for many years – even when Dolly relocated to the St. Peter’s Mission in Montana. Mary never married and
she had no children. The nuns were her family. She protected the nuns. Mary wanted to follow her friend to Montana, but was told
it was too remote and rustic. However, that all c