Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and for me, this day is not simply something written on a calendar. It is deeply personal. It is about the land we call home, the history that existed here long before my family arrived, and the Native families who have been woven into my own family’s story for generations. When I think about Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I think about history, but I also think about friendship, family, community, culture, and the incredible connections that have continued from one generation to the next.
When my great great grandparents homesteaded in Kingston, they became close with Native families from Little Boston(Port Gamble S'klallam tribe) and Suquamish. The land where my family once lived and worked looks completely different today. Where there was once a homestead, there are now businesses like CVS and Starbucks along the highway coming up from the Kingston ferry. It is easy to drive through Kingston today and see all of the development without thinking about what this land looked like generations ago. More importantly, it is easy to forget that the history of this land began long before families like mine ever arrived here.
My family personally knew Bennie and Martha George. Bennie was an enrolled member of the S’Klallam Tribe, and Martha was an enrolled member of the Suquamish Tribe. They married in 1909 and raised ten children while living in the quarters behind their store and gas station. Their home was located where Kitsap Bank sits today, in the same business area as Safeway. Bennie and Martha were never simply names from a history book to my family. My grandparents talked about them with affection, and their stories were passed down through our family.
That is why seeing the Tribe take back ownership of that land meant so much to me. I know my grandparents would have been absolutely tickled to see it returned to Tribal hands. Telling us stories about these people and the friendships they shared, so there is something incredibly meaningful about watching a piece of that history come full circle. Land holds stories, and sometimes we forget just how many generations have walked across the same ground where we now shop, drive, work, and raise our children.
My great grandparents also had a small cabin on their property where a Native man known as “Indian Joe” lived. That is the name my grandfather used when telling me these stories, although today I wish I knew his full name and more about his own life and family. He helped my family on the land, but my grandfather always talked about him as someone who eventually became much more than a person helping around the farm. He became part of the family. Those relationships mattered to my family, and hearing those stories growing up helped shape the way I understood our community.
Those connections continued through my mom’s side of the family in Port Gamble. My mom grew up hearing stories from her dad about the Native children he played with around Little Boston. He talked about the adventures they had together and all of the things they taught him. Of course, some of his favorite stories involved the trouble they managed to find together. He told stories about skipping school and boating over to Goat Island for clam bakes. Those stories always made her laugh, but they also showed how naturally these communities and families were connected to one another.
Then there are my own memories. I remember the smoke shop and Mac, who welcomed me into the store throughout my life. Mac and his sister had grown up with my mom, and whenever he saw me, he would give me that huge smile. There was a familiarity there that came from generations of knowing one another. I grew up with the grandchildren of people my parents and grandparents knew, and now their great grandchildren are going to school with my own boys. They are classmates and friends, and another generation is building relationships without even realizing how far back some of those connections go.
That is one of the things that makes Indigenous Peoples’ Day so meaningful to me. My family has generations of history in North Kitsap, and I am incredibly proud of those roots, but our history here does not begin before Native history. The Suquamish and S’Klallam people were here long before families like mine homesteaded this area. Their ancestors lived on this land, traveled these waters, raised their children here, gathered food here, celebrated here, mourned here, and built communities here for countless generations. The hardest part for me is when driving on and off Bainbridge Island, knowing that this land especially was Suquamish tribal land, and this should still be theirs.
Washington would not be Washington without its Tribal Nations, and North Kitsap certainly cannot tell its history without the Suquamish Tribe and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. Their history is not something that belongs only in museums, old photographs, or stories from our grandparents. These are living cultures and living communities. Native people are our neighbors, classmates, teachers, business owners, artists, leaders, friends, and family members. Their traditions continue today. Their languages matter. Their sovereignty matters. Their culture matters. Most importantly, their voices and their stories matter. I love that at the Kingston and Suquamish schools the native ties and traditions are rooted deeply into every detail of their schools so that their students (all of them not just the native children) learn and honor their history and traditions.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is also an opportunity to acknowledge the parts of history that many of us were never properly taught growing up. The friendships that existed between individual Native and non Native families do not erase the painful history of displacement, broken promises, forced assimilation, boarding schools, and the loss of land and culture experienced by Indigenous communities. We can cherish the friendships our families built while also recognizing the injustices Native people endured. In fact, I believe truly loving this community means being willing to acknowledge both.
There is also something extraordinary about the resilience of Native communities. Despite everything that was done to separate Indigenous people from their land, languages, traditions, children, and identities, those cultures survived. Families continued teaching their children. Traditions continued being passed down. Communities continued protecting their histories. That strength deserves more than acknowledgment on one day every October. It deserves respect throughout the entire year.
For me, that respect begins with listening. It means allowing Native people to tell their own stories instead of assuming we can tell those stories for them. It means teaching our children that the history of this place did not begin when settlers arrived. It means learning about the Tribal Nations whose ancestral lands we live on and supporting Native businesses, artists, educators, and community events. It also means understanding that Indigenous people are not simply part of Washington’s past. They are an essential part of Washington’s present and future.
I feel incredibly fortunate that Native families have been part of my family’s story for so many generations. There has been friendship, laughter, shared meals, childhood adventures, neighbors helping neighbors, and children growing up beside one another. There has been a sense of community that has continued even while almost everything around us has changed. Those relationships have shaped the way generations of my family have understood the place we call
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is about honoring those roots and understanding the history beneath our feet. It is about listening, learning, respecting, and celebrating the Native cultures that continue to make Washington and North Kitsap what they are today. It is also about making sure the next generation understands that history is not simply something that happened hundreds of years ago. History is living all around us in the people, families, traditions, stories, and relationships that continue today.
Today I honor the Suquamish people, the Port Gamble S’Klallam people, and Indigenous communities throughout Washington State. I am grateful that Native families have been part of my family’s story for generations, from Bennie and Martha George, to the friendships my grandparents, parents shared and I have shared, to the friendships my own boys have today. Our family has deep roots in North Kitsap, but I also understand that those roots are young compared with the Indigenous people who called this land home long before us. Several generations later, these friendships continue, and I hope they continue for generations to come.
That is what today means to me. It is remembering where we came from while also remembering who was here long before us. It is honoring the people who have cared for this land since time immemorial and recognizing the strength, beauty, culture, and resilience of the Indigenous people who still call it home today. It is gratitude for generations of friendship, but above all, it is respect for generations of Indigenous history that began long before ours and will continue long after us.
