© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Remembering teacher and elder Marian Scott, one of the remaining Arapaho speakers

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

People on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming have lost a revered elder. Marian Scott was one of fewer than a hundred fluent speakers of the Arapaho language. She died last month. Scott spent her life preserving her tribe's language and culture as an elementary school teacher and a mainstay at powwows, community events and basketball games. Here's her colleague, Patricia Goggles.

PATRICIA GOGGLES: Everybody called her Neiwoo, which is grandma, which is my grandma, you know, when you're talking to your personal grandma.

MARTIN: Elena Singer directs the language and culture department at Wyoming Indian Schools. She and her colleagues remember Marian Scott in this story from Wyoming Public Radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

ELENA SINGER: She made our school a place where kids felt like they belonged because they had a Neiwoo, a grandma. Kids would go to her for a hug. They could see her in the hallway and just seeing her in the hallway brought comfort to a lot of our students, you know, because she was a loving person. We have monthly translation meetings where we invite them in, and they work with our teachers. It's just wonderful to hear them when they get together and they talk, and they're talking in Arapaho and they're laughing, and it's a beautiful sound. And we're all listening with our whole beings, trying to hang on to every word that they're saying so we can keep it going.

RAY YOUNG CHIEF: I'm Ray Young Chief. And when I became a teacher, it was real surprising because a couple weeks after I started in on my job, she seen me, and she said, hey, how come you didn't tell me you were teaching? And I said, oh, yeah, I am. She said, I know. My grandkids come home and tell me what you teach. She said, you're good. You know, that really made me feel good about myself because coming from a teacher like her, you know, that says a lot.

GOGGLES: My name is Patricia Goggles. I have known her for being a fluent speaker, for being a mom, a grandmother and just somebody that our community could depend on. She was a very powerful presence, and she will be missed. (Crying) I'm sorry. I can't hardly talk about her without - kind of left a big - a great big blow to our language. And I guess one of the best things that we can do to honor her memory is to encourage our young people to learn our language.

The work that she has done with her life is really, really important. And if we can do half of what she's done to impact our community, we would be in a good place, you know. She impacted so many lives. It's going to be felt for a really long time.

MARTIN: That was Patricia Goggles, Ray Young Chief and Elena Singer, voices gathered by Wyoming Public Radio's Hannah Habermann.

(SOUNDBITE OF BLUE DOT SESSIONS' "MELOMY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Hannah Habermann

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.