Wilma J. Willett

Wilma J. Willett, 89, of Louisburg, KS died March 14, 2012 at Kansas City Hospice House. She was born December 7, 1922 at Coffeyville, KS, the daughter of Augustus and Nanny (Ross) Smith. Wilma Willett was an enrolled full blood member of the Cherokee Nation who retained the Indian allotments assigned to her mother and grandmother one hundred and six years ago. Her ancestors came to the Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears. They settled in the Dog Creek Hills of Oklahoma. Mrs. Willett comes from one of the First Families of the Cherokee Nation (Ross) and is also related to other first families, including the Tigers, Boudinots, Downings, Muskrats and Loves. Mrs. Willett, although born on the border of the Cherokee Nation, spent summers in her childhood on her aunt"s and grandmother"s Indian allotments near Claremore. Nannie Ross Smith, her mother, was allotted Indian land north of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a homestead allotment, and near Jay, Oklahoma, an equalization allotment. While attending the Cherokee Female Seminary in Tahlequah, oil was discovered on Nannie Ross"s homestead which afforded her the means to support her mother, Susan Tiger Ross Boudinot Downing and her sister, Sally Boudinot and family during the difficult post-statehood era in Oklahoma and during the dust bowl days of the Great Depression. Along with her first cousins, children of Sally Boudinot, Mrs. Willett attended Chilocco Indian Boarding School, known among Indians as the Prairie Light. It was an experience that introduced her to other tribes from states as far away as Alaska. But as with most Indian boarding schools of the day, the purpose of the education imparted was to "kill the Indian but save the man." Conditions in boarding schools for Indians at that time were draconian and harsh. All that was Indian was to be stamped out. Students were to assimilate into the mainstream and punished for speaking their native languages, practicing native religions, wearing traditional clothing or hair styles. Mrs. Willett left Chilocco as World War II was starting. She married Harry E. Willett of Coffeyville, now deceased, and had two daughters: Susan and Sally whom she enrolled as members of the Cherokee Nation. She involved both of her children in Indian affairs; she worked as an auditor at the Fort McDowell Yavapai Apache Casino in Arizona retiring at age 84. Moving to Kansas City in the 1970s, Mrs. Willett flourished. She left hair dressing after a thirty year-career and went to work for Swanson"s on the Plaza, then, Hall"s at Crown Center. In the latter employment, she found her m"tier: interior design. Despite a reticent nature, she became the top sales person in the region for three years running. This in turn sparked an interest in world travel which she enjoyed immensely and engaged in frequently. On her last trip to Europe, at age 83, Mrs. Willett sheparded some younger folk in their 60s to Italy. They could not keep up. Her prior trip was to celebrate the Millennium in Venice at Piazza San Marcos, then proceed on to Budapest and Amalfi Coast. Each trip, theoretically, was to be her last until the next one came along. Wilma Willett was beloved by her daughters, revered by her friends and considered a woman much ahead of her time by those who knew her. She is survived by two daughters, Susan Willet, Louisburg, KS and Judge Sally Willett, retired, Phoenix, AZ. Memorial Contributions to the Kansas City Hospice House.