Parker paul Mckenzie

Kiowa historian, linguist, anthropologist, elder, and original board member of the American Indian Exposition, Dr. Parker Paul McKenzie at age 101 was the oldest member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and a bundle keeper for the Kiowa people. McKenzie was a self-taught linguist, but his knowledge and talents are often said to equal those of Cherokee leader Sequoyah. Both leaders developed written languages for their tribes. He was enrolled under his Kiowa name, San-Tau-Koy. McKenzie attended school at Rainy Mountain boarding school and Phoenix Indian boarding school and later went on to Lamson Business College and Oklahoma A & M. In March, 1920, McKenzie began employment in the Indian Monies Section of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Anadarko Agency. After 39 years of meritorious service, he retired in June of 1959. McKenzie first served as a Kiowa linguist with American linguistics consultant John Peabody Harrington when he did preliminary fieldwork at the Anadarko Agency. His work earned him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Colorado. He went on to become the principal scholar in recording the history of his tribal language. His painstaking attention to detail and nuances of meaning have enriched the general understanding of the Kiowa language, culture, and history.