StoryHelix

Marcus Bettles

StoryHelix, Marcus Bettles, Wordcrafters in Eugene, Leah Velez, Intro and Outro Music by Otis McDonald Season 1 Episode 24

Marcus Bettles talks about his grandfather's legacy.

You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org.

Thanks for listening!

 1
 00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:11.000
 You're listening to StoryHelix, intertwining
 stories past, present and not yet imagined
 
 2
 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.800
 in Lane County Oregon. What's up, Earthlings?
 I'm Leah Velez and
 
 3
 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:21.199
 I'll be your host. The stories that
 follow our raw footage. So let's open
 
 4
 00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:30.600
 up our ear nuggets and give these
 community submitted stories a listen. 
 
 5
 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:35.000
My Grandpa, Gordon Bettles, he's from the Klamath and Umatilla.
 He went to a
 
 6
 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:40.200
 University of Oregon and so did my
 grandma. They moved here like a long
 
 7
 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:47.200
 time ago. They lived in Chiloquin. He said there's either go to
 
 8
 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:54.790
 the church or like do criminal activities
 or whatever, because there wasn't much of
 
 9
 00:00:54.790 --> 00:00:56.960
 a choice of things to do there. There weren't many jobs, there weren't
 
 10
 00:00:57.790 --> 00:01:02.439
 like... and you can barely see anybody
 living there anymore. But Um, on
 
 11
 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:07.319
 the outskirts there's a lot of nice
 houses that are really cheap. He wanted
 
 12
 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.920
 more job opportunities and stuff like that, and he wanted to work with the
 
 13
 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:15.719
 University of Oregon until he retired like
 a few years ago. He wanted to
 
 14
 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:21.480
 get his master's degree at the University
 of Oregon. But he
 
 15
 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:23.159
 met my grandma, which, they used
 to go to middle school and high school
 
 16
 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:30.599
 together and they dropped out of college
 and had kids. And then a little while
 
 17
 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.239
 after that he went back to the
 University of Oregon to get his master's degree.
 
 18
 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:41.719
 When he was a lot older,
 he ran the Many Nations Law Council.
 
 19
 00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:45.959
 which used to be an old military
 barrack and he was one that cleaned
 
 20
 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:53.959
 it up himself and and refurbished it. 
He set up the federally recognized tribes
 
 21
 00:01:55.790 --> 00:02:00.359
 flags on the plaza with stairs, where tribes
 can put up their own flags and their
 
 22
 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:06.959
 own members can put up the flags
 for them. Last October and November I
 
 23
 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:10.599
 got to raise the flag from my
 tribe. I'm enrolled in the
 
 24
 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:17.719
 Umatilla tribe, but I'm also half
 Klamath. I try to like put up
 
 25
 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:23.639
 my own people and praise them because
 a lot of them are struggling. I
 
 26
 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:27.520
 probably would [move back to Chiloquin], because the houses are
 really nice and they're really cheap and there's
 
 27
 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.360
 a lot of mountains and coyotes and
 stuff like that, and wildlife. I wish
 
 28
 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:36.159
 that there would be more job opportunities
 and stuff like that, access to better
 
 29
 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:44.199
 education and more support from larger cities
 like Eugene or Salem and Portland or the state. 
 
 30
 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:57.000
Thanks for listening. You
 can find us wherever you listen to your
 
 31
 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:01.120
 podcasts. If you've got your own
 Lane County story to tell, we'd love
 
 32
 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:14.199
 to hear it at StoryHelix Dot
 Wordcrafters Dot Org.
 
  

People on this episode