Norma Joseph, M.A. '85

---

Norma Joseph, M.A. ’85, a past chair of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, passed away on Oct. 1, three days shy of her 77th birthday.

Joseph grew up listening to her family elders talk about the right of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe to exist; she joined in the work that started in 1969 to write a constitution for the modern Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe and spent her years in college researching the federal records for mention of Sauk-Suiattle. She held jobs at her tribe, including tutor, substance abuse counselor, social service director and Lushootseed language teacher. She served on the Sauk-Suiattle tribal council as chairman for a total of seven years and more than two decades as a council member.

Joseph graduated from Whatcom Community College in 1982 and from Western Washington University in 1983 with a double major in ethnic studies and political science, before earning one of the first master’s degrees in American Indian studies awarded by UCLA. She returned home to Sauk-Suiattle soon after the reservation was established and recalled how tribal sovereignty comes in many forms, including in the early days of the reservation when everyone pulled together to mow lawns and do chores. She devoted her life to documenting the culture, language and mountainous homelands of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe.

Joseph worked at Washington State University as a Native student coordinator, but mostly worked for Sauk-Suiattle, spearheading cultural and Lushootseed language recovery, conducting innovative research on Sauk-Suiattle as a mountain tribe with ties on both sides of the Cascade Mountains. She built the Cultural Resource Department at Sauk-Suiattle, establishing a tribal archive, supporting the recovery Coast Salish wool and cedar weaving and creating a regionally respected Lushootseed language education program.

Joseph, whose name Sud-tah-lo, is related to Qual-ish-kadib, her brother J. Lawence Joseph;
s.Toos-bum, her mother, Katherine Joseph; sx̌əən.mlq, her father, James Joseph; her grandfather Chief Leo Brown; s.x̌iʷał, her great grandfather Chief Jim Brown; Wa-wet-kin, her great uncle; sx̌o-leab̓, her great great grandfather; Skadewa, chief of the Upper Snoqualmie; her great-great-great grandfather Kwiashten, chief of the Duwamish; her great-great-great grandfather Why-pal-kan; Wenatchi chief, her great-great-great-great grandfather.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Katherine and James Joseph, her brother James Lawrence Joseph, her sister Eveline Joseph, her sister Josephine Strong, her brother Kenneth Joseph, her brother David Joseph. She is survived by her son, Jason Joseph, her sister Christine Banks, her sister Nancy DeCoteau (Ernie DeCoteau), her sister Katherine Misanes (Ray Misanes), her brother Leroy C. Joseph, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.