As a proud graduate of Eufaula High School, I am honored to donate one of our large cedar boxes from our shop that will be going home with one lucky EHS supporter. This box is made from eastern red cedar that is found here in Oklahoma.
I hand craft each box, making them without any metal hardware except hinges and latches. This donated cedar box has a shelf that lifts out, with storage below.
A little information about me: After retiring from the VA Medical Center in Muskogee, I started a new hobby that has taken on a life of its own, making cedar boxes.
I began by making a cedar box for my wife for one of her fans. Many of her friends wanted a box and shortly afterwards, Cedar Creations was formed. We have developed into a busy business where we have shipped our boxes to Canada, England, Spain, Holland and Puerto Rico. Ironically, we have shipped as many boxes to Hawaii as we have to California.
Recently, an inquiry from the National Park Service for the Pipestone National Monument inquired if I could make cedar boxes for ceremonial pipes they now have in storage. The Staff at Pipestone National Monument want to archive these historical pipes in cedar boxes to protect them from any further damage.
After discussion on sizes of boxes and the total number needed, I am proud that I recently finished making up 50 of the 100 cedar boxes they have requested. These cedar boxes range in size from 19”L x 8”W x 3”H to 36”L x 10”W x 3”H, which are large cedar boxes. I hand crafted each one without the use of nails or screws and the only hardware are the latches and hinges.
I am honored to be chosen to make these cedar boxes that will be storing these ancestral ceremonial pipes for generations to come. There has been a lot of work and a lot of prayer placed into each box. I was excited to be able to deliver the second half of the order of 50 boxes to the Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota this past April.
The University of Tennessee also had contacted me requesting a cedar box to be made for the return of ancestral remains from the university’s previous archaeological site digs. The cedar boxes were to be made without any hardware at all, including the hinges and latches, but needed to be able to be sealed once the remains were placed inside.
UT requested the box be made without the velvet on the flooring or without the protective oil on the outside. I was able to make the lid fit into the top of the box with the use of wooden pegs. The University was pleased the box was made by an enrolled member of a tribal nation and by a Veteran. I was honored to make the cedar box that would allow the ancestral remains to be returned to its tribal home for reburial on the land from where they were taken.
Being a part of the reparation project from the University of Tennessee and the archival of ceremonial pipes at Pipestone National Monument are very humbling. I am proud to be Muscogee and I am equally honored to be representing Muscogee Nation as an enrolled citizen, a Native Vietnam Veteran and proud member of Muscogee Nation Honor; and as a Proud Eufaula High School graduate.
