She has said many times that her grandparents would have been happy to have her stay at home with them and not attend school at all. Geneva’s grandmother did not want her sent away. Many of her aunts and uncles went to boarding school at St.

She lived with her large extended family all under one roof for several years. Geneva grew up with Numunu (Comanche) as her first language. Though the Comanche were not farming people they were expected to leave their nomadic ways and become sedentary and settle into that lifestyle, which many did. government during the Native American holocaust in this country. In the case of my relatives this happened after they were released from their captivity and imprisonment by the U.S. My great-grandfather was “granted” several acres of land due to the Dawes Act of l887 (Allotment Act) in which Native people were “given” land. Geneva grew up to be their English interpreter as neither one spoke English for as long as they lived.

She was raised by her maternal grandparents, Frank and Mookemah Nevaquaya. She was born to Esther Tooahimpah Tate and Max Woomavoyah, and is a full blood Comanche. My mother, Geneva Woomavoyah Navarro, was born in the small town of Apache, Oklahoma in 1926. Terry and her Mom, Geneva Woomavoyah Navarro