Lucille Robedeaux

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Lucille Robedeaux
Born
Lucille Matin

(1915-06-10)June 10, 1915
Wynona, Oklahoma
DiedNovember 3, 2005(2005-11-03) (aged 90)
Other namesLucille Roubedeaux
Occupationtribal leader of the Osage of Oklahoma
Known forlast surviving native speaker of the Osage language
Parents
  • Walter Jones (father)
  • Maggy Helen Matin (mother)

Lucille Belle Robedeaux (

last surviving native speaker of the Osage language.[1][2]

Life

Lucille Belle Matin was born in Wynona, Oklahoma, a daughter of Walter Jones and Maggy Helen Matin of the Eagle Clan. Her parents soon moved to Hominy, where she attended school.[3] She was one of the last Osage to have a traditional marriage, with the exchange of many horses.[4] On November 4, 1946, she married Lee Robedeaux, and they had children.[3]

Robedeaux worked at

Tulsa, as a nurse's aide from the 1950s until she retired in the late 1970s. An active member of the Altar Society of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and of the Mound Valley Homemakers, she became a community leader, as an Elder of the Osage Nation and as advisor of the Tribal Dance Committee, promoting the carrying on of Osage traditions. She was fond of bull fights and the horse races in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and traveled around the US and also to Hawaii, Mexico, and Europe.[3]

By the time of Robedeaux's death in 2005, aged ninety, she was the last native speaker of the Osage language. A program had been initiated to revive the language, but with little success: "This is the last train out. If we can't get it done this time around, then that's it. There is no more after this" said "Uncle Mogre" of the Osage, who had been working to preserve the language.[5] The Osage language had then been dwindling for nearly 200 years.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Endangered Languages Project - Osage". endangeredlanguages.com. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  2. ^ "Words of the Tribe - Age of the Osage". ageoftheosage.typepad.com. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  3. ^ a b c "Lucille Belle Robedeaux - 2005 - Chapman Black Home". www.tributearchive.com. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
  4. ISBN 978-0-253-04305-4
    .
  5. ^ "Language Log » Endangered languages". languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  6. ^ "Language Log » Talking Osage". languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
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