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William Gordon Edwards
I was born on the 27th of November 1947, in
Medford
,
Oregon
. I am 1/16 blood Shasta Indian and
the rest English with some Scots-Irish. I graduated High School in
Phoenix
Oregon
in 1966, and began working for the
United States
Forest
service on an Engineering Crew for one season.
I was then off to the U.S. Army as a heavy equipment
rebuild mechanic in Korea, as the Non commissioned officer in charge of the port
equipment branch, Port of Inchon Harbor. After 3 years of the military, I
returned home to the Medford area, and re-entered the U.S. Forest Service on the
Rogue River National forest, working on the engineering crew again,
where I worker for another 3 years.
After that I worked for several private surveying firms in
the
Medford
,
Grants Pass
and Coos
Bay
area for another 4 years. In 1975 I began working with the Weyerhaeuser timber
co. in the North Bend Woods Division. I served as a Surveying Crew Party Chief
for over half of the 30 years I was with them. While living in
Coos
Bay
, I attended
Southwestern
Oregon
Community College
where I studied Criminal Justice Administration and Business. I have a few
semesters left to finish my Criminal Justice Degree.
I retired on disability in 2004, which gives the time I
need to work on the council and enrollment of the “Proudest Nation in the
World”, the Shasta Indian Nation. I attended the monthly council meetings for
3 months, when I was ask to serve on the Shasta Indian Nation Council, which I
consented to do. Not only have I served as a member at large in the past 3
years, I have also had the privilege to serve as the Enrollment officer for the
past 2 years.
My sweet wife Rhonda, who consented to marry me just out of high school, has
walked shoulder to shoulder with me since June of 1967, when we were married in
Ashland
Oregon
. Rhonda and I have lived in
Coos Bay
Oregon
for the past 33 years. We were blessed with 7 wonderful children and 19
Grandchildren so far. All of our offspring live in
Oregon
and
Washington
at present.
Rhonda is a certified genealogist with Native American Specialty, through the
board of certification. In Early 2004, she found the Document proving I was of
Shasta Indian Blood; I hastened to add my name, and those of my offspring to the
Shasta Tribal rolls.
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