My Biggest Regret:

Not purchasing the cradle board I had asked Sophie Allison to make for me.  Sophie and Irene were Native American women on the Duckwater Shoshone Reservation.  They were also faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I wasn't sure I had actually asked her to make one for me.  However I later got word that she had.  Sheri and I had moved to Roosevelt and I always hoped to get ahead enough to afford it; but we never did.  It wasn't until we had lived in California for a time that we finally started to catch up and have some breathing room financially.  I always had a sense that I had let her down.  I could have gotten it for $150 then.  They are worth much more than that now.  

Duckwater Personalities: Sophie Allison and Irene Mike

When I was in Duckwater, Sophie Allison and Irene Mike were already part of the Senior Center program.  However they were both still very active.  They were sisters.  They were some of the few who actually attended the Lund Ward on a regular basis.  And when we started a branch in Duckwater, they were very active.
One of the most impressive things about Sophie Allison was her weaving.  I feel, in her own right, she was keeping a vanishing tradition, with lots of history in Nevada, alive.  I visited her one afternoon while she was preparing willows for weaving.  She gathered the willows from along creeks.  The Currant Creek had a large patch of willows and this was a favorite spot for gathering.  She would keep the willows in water until she was ready for them.  She would take a willow form the water, and then hold it in her mouth.  With her fingers she would peel the bark away.  In this manner she prepared the willows for weaving.  Sophie was adept at making cradle boards.  They had a different design on the hood for boys and girls.

girl

boy

 She also made baskets.  Mostly she would make baskets to assist in the gathering of pine nuts.  I remember she would make cone shaped baskets for this.
This is a skill that was important to the original Shoshone.  I don't know who is carrying on this tradition now that Sophie is gone.

Sophie in the middle and Irene on the right

Many of the children from the reservation looked to these two women as Grandmother.