The College, students and alumni have been celebrating transformational initiatives launched 40 years ago that we experienced first hand: coeducation, year-round operations and the Dartmouth Plan, a commitment to diversity and a revival of Native American education. That renewed focus on Native American education, a principle of the 1769 charter, attracted David Bonga to Dartmouth from Washington State. Dave had been planning to attend Seattle University and play baseball until his aunt, who worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., advised him to apply to Dartmouth because of its new Indian program. Dave majored in history and lobbied effectively for the establishment of a Native American studies academic program. Dave was headed to law school in the fall of 1974, but postponed those plans, first to work briefly as the successor to Duane Bird Bear ’72 at United Scholarship Service Inc., a national Indian education entity in Denver, and then in March 1975 to become director of the Native American office at Dartmouth. Dave assisted with the recruitment of Native American students, advised them on academic, financial and social matters and developed, recruited and oversaw Native American Council internships with tribal and intertribal entities nationwide. In 1979 Dave left Hanover to return home to Washington State to earn his law degree from Gonzaga Law School in Spokane. Dave first met the local tribes there while clerking during law school for a local firm that represented the Spokane, Kalispel and Coeur d’Alene tribes. Upon graduation from law school he became the head of the Native American counseling office and an adjunct faculty member in the Native American studies department at Washington State University. He also served as a Kalispel youth court judge. In 1985 Glen Nenema, the chairman of the Kalispel tribe and today the longest serving tribal chairman in the nation, invited Dave to work full time for the tribe.
Dave is now senior tribal attorney, responsible for supervising staff attorneys and paralegals, assisting with strategy for legal issues and concerns, advising the tribal council, CEO and chief operating officer, providing guidance to outside retained counsel and reviewing federal and state regulations and statutes that might affect the Kalispels. Dave also serves as an appellate court tribal judge for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Dave and his wife, Susanne, have four children and are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this year. Two of their three daughters are nurses and their other daughter is the first female director at the Kalispel tribe’s Northern Quest Resort and Casino. Dave returns to Dartmouth regularly as a guest lecturer and to participate in discussions on Native American issues.
I am deeply saddened to report the death of Charles Nabrit at home in Ohio in May after a long illness.
As always, be safe.
—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com
