Ralph Clifford
Ralph Clifford has lived in Evansville for almost 30 years, but you might not know him unless you frequent Main Street Cafe, Creekside Place, or Just Beyond the Willow. He is a quiet and reserved man. A man with great dignity.
At Ralph’s request, there is no photo of him accompanying this article.
Downtown Evansville - Image by Cragin Spring
Ralph was born in 1938 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He is a one-quarter blood member of each of the three following Tribes: Oglala Cheyenne, Lakota/Skagit, and Sioux. The remaining quarter comes from his Great-Grandfather, who emigrated from Germany and married a woman from the Skagit Tribe.
Ralph was the second of eleven children. As he tells it, his family had it pretty well compared to most who lived on the reservation. They lived on their section of land, which was one square mile. The family slept in a half-dugout log house built on a hillside. While it had no electricity, plumbing, or insulation, its logs provided good protection from storms. Ralph spent his early years at home and loved the beauty that surrounded him. But the school was another story.
Back then, Red Cloud Indian School was called the Holy Rosary Mission and Boarding School and was located inside the Jesuit Mission. In 1969, it was renamed Red Cloud Indian School to honor the great Oglala Lakota chief who recognized that education was essential to the future survival of his people, and he worked with the Jesuits to create it. However, through our ongoing understanding of what happened to these students, the treatment they received was intended to wipe out their culture in a brutal manner.
During Ralph's time at Holy Rosary Mission and Boarding School, the Jesuits followed the U.S. Department of Interior's 1883 establishment of the Code of Indian Offenses, which banned all native traditions. As you can imagine, the list of anti-Indian rules at the school was long. Among them, students were forced to give up their meaningful native names and take English names. Teachers ridiculed and made fun of their traditions & culture. The Jesuits forcibly replaced the students' traditional Spiritual practices - which were considered heathen - with Christianity. They were not only forcibly taught to speak English but were punished for speaking their own language. This resulted in the almost eventual elimination of their languages amongst the students. Because they were not allowed to speak it, they slowly forgot it. Since all the students boarded at the school, this harassment happened constantly. It taught many to become ashamed of being an Indian. What's remarkable is that Ralph never lost his connection with his Spirituality.
You may wonder what the punishment for breaking a rule was. Students who broke any rule were whipped.
Despite all this terrorism and abuse at the hands of the Jesuits, six years after graduating high school, Ralph became a Jesuit. He worked at the school in various jobs, including chauffeur, barber, shoe cobbler, and carpenter. There was no pay for those who became Jesuits since they had taken a vow of poverty.
Finally, Ralph decided that he had had enough of reservation life, and his Spirit told him it was time to leave. Earlier in 1953, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had begun a voluntary relocation program to encourage Indians to leave their reservations by providing transportation vouchers to larger cities. The government's goal was to promote the assimilation of Indians into the White man's society. Ralph and about 24 other Indians took them up on it. They traveled by train to California and landed in San Carlos. He knew no one there and was starting over from scratch. He found a job earning $14 an hour, making electric radios for service members fighting in the Vietnam War. After living in the Holy Rosary Boarding School amongst many boys, Ralph had his own apartment for the first time and could save some money. Later on, most of his money was spent on an operation for one of his sisters.
After about six years in San Carlos, having vowed never to return, he made the momentous decision to journey back to his family and friends on the reservation. Part of his reasoning was to reconnect with everyone close to him, and part of it was because his Spirit told him he needed to return. Upon arriving, he found that all his high school classmates who had remained were now homeless and unemployed. It seemed that the very laws & programs that paid for Ralph to leave the reservation also encouraged poverty, joblessness, and homelessness for those who decided to remain.
Ralph stayed and eventually found a job as a teacher's aide at the Holy Rosary Mission School. It was there he met his future wife, Carol Patricia. She was a White woman from Albany, Wisconsin, a lay teacher at the school. After they married, they lived in teacher housing and decided to foster children. In 1964, Holy Rosary Mission began admitting day students, so Ralph and Carol Patricia could foster 4 to 5 kids at a time.
After many years working at the school, by 1987, the internal corruption on the reservation had gotten out of hand, so Ralph and Carol Patricia decided to move to Evansville, Wisconsin, where she still had family. They bought a van and drove east. Upon arriving in Evansville, Carol Patricia purchased a house on the northwest corner of W. Main and N. Fourth Streets. For those who remember that far back, it was the old Jim Green house. Ralph remembers the house being haunted by Spirits who were not evil. They occasionally saw a little girl walking around the house wearing a long dress. Ralph recalls his wife periodically smelling aromas from the kitchen as if someone had just cooked breakfast. Eventually, the Spirits left after determining that the house was in benevolent hands.
In 1994, Ralph got a job at Baker Manufacturing, where he worked for the next thirteen years. Sadly, Carol Patricia died this same year from an illness. For reasons he didn't disclose, Ralph sold the house and bought another on the southwest corner of S. Madison Street.
With the encouragement and assistance of a Cheyenne Medicine Man, his friend & mentor, Ralph built a sweat lodge in his yard. The two met around the time the White Buffalo Calf was born near Janesville on August 20, 1994, which was an auspicious event. A White Buffalo Calf is a scarce sign of peace, and Indians came from near and far to see it. Many ceremonies were held throughout the area. The Medicine Man directed Ralph to build the sweat lodge using primarily willow wood, with a floor of blankets and tarps. He told Ralph to take a sweat in the lodge twice a week. A sweat lodge is used for spiritual ceremonies such as prayers, singing, telling stories, and healing. These activities are only to be led by elders like the Medicine Man, who taught Ralph the songs and stories of the Spirits. The sweat lodge was frequently used during those days, primarily by Ralph, but also by the many Indian visitors who came to revere the White Buffalo Calf. Together, they would sing and tell stories.
One of the stories the Medicine Man told Ralph was that the Indian culture goes back to the beginning of humanity. Three ice ages ago, Indians were the first people living on earth. While the planet was still developing, earthquakes and meteor showers came like rain, and the ice age began. Water emerged from the meteors and covered the earth, making many areas uninhabitable. Indians were knowledgeable and gifted enough to understand they needed to relocate to areas unaffected by the ice storms. They returned when that part of the earth was livable again.
During the years after the sweat lodge construction, Ralph's mentor invited some Indians to come to Evansville after seeing the White Buffalo Calf. However, Ralph was told by a Medicine Woman who advised him that his sweat lodge was made of the wrong materials. So Ralph dismantled it, and with his Spirit's counsel, he decided it was no longer needed, so it was not rebuilt. Because of the White Buffalo Calf, Indian ceremonies continued to happen in the area, and the Medicine Woman tried to get him to participate in them, but he backed out of everything. He no longer needed this in his life. To this day, though, he continues to stay in contact with the Medicine Man.
Ralph is now retired and has undergone two healings for cancer. After his first diagnosis, the doctors told him he had six months to live. That was twenty-four years ago. After his second diagnosis, he was given a Miraculous Medal and prayer beads. Originally called the Medal of Immaculate Conception, it is a Catholic medal given to those desiring a miracle. It appears the combination has worked. In the years since returning to Evansville, Ralph has become a Medicine Man. While it will always be a significant part of his life, he continues to carry burdens because of it.
While he still has family living there, Ralph says he has not returned to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in many years. Part of this is because he does not have a car. Most mornings he can be found at Main Street Cafe - where he used to wash dishes - eating breakfast. He also likes drinking coffee with his friends at Just Beyond the Willow and Creekside Place.
Ralph is a quiet and reserved person who has led a fascinating life. With dignity and respect, he has risen above whatever life has presented him. I am honored that he talked with me and has allowed me to share his stories with you. I encourage you to say hello the next time you cross paths.
Editors Note: Chris would like to thank his wife, Denise Janssen Eager, for her help in editing and researching this article.
