Later Years

Text

“After my retirement, I worked with pottery. For a while, it was all I wanted to do. But when our lands were threatened, I found myself at a cross in the road. When you know your standing at that place, there’s no going straight, only this way or that one. I felt I had the opportunity to make a difference so I chose NECONA.”

Grace decided to retire in the late 1970s and move back to Oklahoma where she focused on making pottery. However, after hearing about nuclear waste disposal she once again became involved in American Indian activism becoming the President of NECONA. She also became the tribal judge and health commissioner for her tribe, the Sac and Fox Nation. Grace continued doing speaking engagements where she discussed her father’s athletic achievements and nuclear waste on Native American lands. Grace remained close with her daughter Dagmar and her granddaughter Tena Malotte. She also lived long enough to meet her great-grandchildren Aspen and Huna. Grace passed away in 2008 at age 86 from heart disease.