Bessie Bill:  

Life I reside in the rural community of Harrah, Washington. I am single with no children. I enjoy spending time with my nieces/nephews. I am involved with the Treaty Days Pow Wow Committee and Veterans Pow Wow Committee. I have worked mostly in the field of Human Services and am seeking direction for my life . My motto in life is keep on keeping on. School Anyone who was in my class knows who my jr. high/high school crush was. I don't think I will ever live that down. Liz Bollman was a great influence on my life. She was so funny and she challenged me to better myself and not sell myself short. I think I'm still learning that lesson. She helped me to alter a dress I bought for prom and it was quite the project. I see her occasionally in the community and she is still actively involved with youth and has that spunk about her. I hung out with a variety of people in high school. I did not attend Wapato Sr. High my Junior year and ended up going to Chemawa Indian High School. It was an eye opening experience for me because I had a myopic view of what being an "Indian" was. There were so many different languages, traditions, accents, shades of brown, it was really neat. I felt like I had over 200 friends that year. I played sports and dated and did my best to stay out of trouble. I returned to Wapato for my senior year because I had a goal to attend college and my Dad thought I'd have a better chance at getting in if I graduated from Wapato Sr. High. I regret not fighting that harder because I hated my senior year. I had been playing sports since I was in 6th grade and never worried about being cut. Then my senior year I got cut from volleyball and basketball. I hated it. I also didn't play in band that year and my social group changed drastically. I was saved by the Northwest Wolverines. My Uncle Rick invited me to play for his women's Native team and we traveled to tournaments and I earned a lot of All Star sweatshirts and was a starter. That involvement helped redeem my self-esteem. I also played softball for Wapato and that was a lot of fun. I survived high school with my diploma and an honor cord in Home Economics. College I attended Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington from fall of 1986 to June of 1992. I graduated with a BA in Sociology. I chose Central due to the fact that it was not in Seattle. I felt like it was not too close or too far from home. I had also read that they had a good Sociology program. College classes were a rude awakening for this high school honor roll student. I was in another caliber of work. It was tough. I had a roommate who was older and eccentric my first year. She was fun though. I lived in Kamola Hall my first two years. I worked in Tunstall Commons as part of my financial aid and became known as the "dessert girl." I had a lot of power because guys asked me to save their favorite ice cream novelties. It was a lot of fun. I was lucky because I had older friends and was able to move into Student Village Apartments with some quality people and had a variety of roommates since they kept getting married on me and I'd have to find new roommates. My final year at Central I lived in the Chi Alpha House with three other women, which was part of the Chi Alpha Minis...Expand for more