Parade, celebration mark clinic opening
Parade, celebration mark clinic opening
By Jerry W. Kram
A host of tribal and civic leaders along with elders, veterans, youth and other members of the public paraded down Main Street and up College Drive to officially launch the operations of the Elbowoods Memorial Health Center in New Town.
Building the health center was the work of three generations, said Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall. His grandfather, Hall said, extracted the promise from the Army Corps of Engineers that the hospital at Elbowoods would be replaced after the community was destroyed by the filling of Lake Sakakawea. His father, Hall continued, never forgot that promise and lobbied all of his life to get the government to fulfill that promise.
“My grandfather, Jim Hall, was vice Chairman in 1948 and George Gillette was the tribal chairman,” Hall said. “We have an infamous picture that we keep in our tribal chambers to remind us that we must never forget that these promises were made.”
Hall, when he became tribal chairman, continued the pursuit of that dream. He said this day wouldn’t have been possible without the persistence and strength of the Three Affiliated Tribes.
