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100 Reasons to Celebrate

By Erick Rhoan / Special To Sierra Star

(Updated: Thursday, February 04, 2010, 12:00 AM)

About 75 family members gathered last Saturday at the Oakhurst Masonic Lodge in Oakhurst to celebrate the 100th birthday of Amy Harrison Rhoan of Ahwahnee.

Rhoan was born on Jan. 29, 1910, in Mono Lake to Willie Harrison and Ida Tom and is the second oldest of five sisters. She also has five half sisters and brothers.

Rhoan, a full-blooded Paiute, was born and raised at Farrington Ranch, which was owned by her grandfather, Bridgeport Tom. The ranch has the nickname "Po mo go te bi," or "frog rock," because of the loud croaking frogs that live nearby.

Rhoan attended government Indian boarding schools, including Greenville and Fort Bidwell in California. When she returned to Farrington Ranch in 1928, she discovered the property had been sold to the Los Angeles Water Aqueduct.

For the next four years, 1928 through 1932, Rhoan worked as a housekeeper at the Tioga Lodge near LeVining.

In 1929, Rhoan attended the Yosemite Indian Field Days, an Indian gathering, where she met Alvin Rhoan, who worked in Yosemite for the National Park Service. They married in 1930 and moved to the old Indian village near Big Creek in Yosemite Valley.

In October 1931, the couple's first child, Joseph, was born. They had three more children over the next 11 years: George, Beatrice and Patrick.

Rhoan worked for the Curry Co. for nearly 60 years. Her first job was cleaning tents at Yosemite Lodge. She and her sister, Irene, also worked for Mother Curry, who ran a store in Yosemite at the time, as housekeepers.

When her son, Pat, was 7 years old, Rhoan began working for the Curry Co. laundry room.

In 1965, the couple moved to Wawona, where Rhoan worked as a maid at the Wawona Hotel, sometimes cleaning as many as 21 rooms a day.

Al Rhoan retired later that same year, and the couple moved outside the park to a little house in Ahwahnee. There, she made baskets and worked on beading projects. Some of her baskets are still on display in the Yosemite Museum.

After her husband died in 1984, Rhoan continued to work at the Wawona Hotel until her retirement in 1989. She continues to live in Ahwahnee today.

In addition to her four children, Harrison has 14 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Rhoan credits good home cooked Indian food -- acorns and pine nuts -- along with home grown vegetables, hard work and prayer for her long life. She advises to stay away from microwave cooking and fast food.

-- Natalie Rhoan and Kathy Medina contributed to this story