Stevenson receives achievement award

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA - At the 10th Annual National Indian Nations Conference, held Dec. 7 to 10 here, Tribal Attorney Evelyn Stevenson received the Bonnie Heavy Runner Achievement Award for service in Indian Country over the past 30 years.

Evelyn's award included an eight-strand coral necklace with turquoise trim.

Evelyn has been a Tribal Attorney for 30 years, and also worked for the Tribes summers when she was still in law school in San Francisco.

She was the first Indian woman to pass the Montana bar exam, in 1977.

In honor of Bonnie Heavy Runner and the Award named for her, Bonnie's mother Gertrude and daughter Aislinn were in attendance at the recent Palm Springs conference, to accept her special recognition.

Heavy Runner, a Blackfeet Tribal member, received her jurisprudence doctorate in 1988, and dedicated her life to the betterment of Indian people. Before her death at the age of 46, Bonnie was Director of Native American Studies at the University of Montana.

Also receiving Achievement Awards at the December conference banquet were Ed Reina of the Tohono O'odham Nation and Ada Pecos Melton from Pueblo of Jemez.