Wesley Jim 1922-2013

In the summer of 2001, a young white girl named Jody Olsen spent several days at a Christian conference on the Pyramid Lake tribal reservation. When her parents came to take her home, they stopped at the home of one of the tribal leaders. When he came to the door, she greeted him in Paiute. Pleased, the elder commented that even young members of the tribe were unlikely to know the language.

The preservation of tribal languages is an ongoing battle fought every day by a few dedicated Native Americans. On Sept. 27, one warrior in that battle, Wesley Jim, died at South Lyon Medical Center in Yerington. He was known as a Paiute language keeper.

Born in Nixon, he was educated at Stewart Indian School and eventually settled in Schurz. He served in the Navy in World War II, receiving the Asiatic Pacific ribbon with 3 stars, the Philippine liberation ribbon with 2 stars, a Victory ribbon and the Purple Heart. He worked at the Walker River Indian Hospital for three decades.

In an email message to friends, Patrick Wilkes of Sutcliffe wrote, “He was an amazing man who worked tirelessly to preserve Paiute language, stories and songs with help from his wife Bea.”

One admirer, Marlin Thompson, said, “Wesley was a fluent speaker of the Northern Paiute language, the Pyramid Lake dialect. He sang in the Paiute language and spoke the language excellently. He spoke whenever asked and prayed. He had an excellent knowledge of the old ways he learned from his grandfather. He also recorded songs in the Paiute language.”

There are YouTube videos in which Wesley Jim performs.