Our Great Teacher - Ray Tehanetorens Fadden

Within the Adirondack evergreens, the sweet smell of balsam fir lingers in the air, and the raven’s call is all that disturbs the quiet of these ancient mountains.

Nestled in the scenic beauty of this Mohawk Territory, there is a museum of great significance and importance to the Haudenosaunee, because it has been the Well-Spring of cultural nurturing and survival for more than six decades. The Six Nations Iroquois Museum in Onchiota, New York was built by the hands of our Great Teacher, Ray Tehanetorens Fadden. It is a museum, which was built to share Haudenosaunee culture, traditions and values, and that mission and vision will continue to be the legacy of our Great Teacher. At Akwesasne, it inspired the Native North American Travelling College and the Akwesasne Museum to continue this admirable vocation and many other Native cultural organizations can trace their ancestry to this Grandfather of Haudenosaunee Museums.

Ray taught in Akwesasne grade schools for many years. Some of our Elders today who are in their 90’s were among his first students and they value Ray’s teachings and guidance as among the most meaningful and sustaining contributions to their life. Very little existed in the literature about Native Peoples and Ray sought ways to fill the void of information by building the lessons of our history with his own research. He enlisted the help of his students as researchers and cultural ambassadors in this important work. Many of Ray’s students can tell their own stories about how they “helped” Ray with drawings, pictographs, beadwork, historical research, or other contributions which shared positive information about our Native Nations with others. They all thought they were helping Ray, but they were in fact helping themselves by building their own capacities, that they in turn shared with successive generations of our people. Today, Indian Time, Akwesasne Notes, and CKON Radio can be thankful for those Akwesasronon who were the product of the Ray Fadden School of thought.

Ray was a great mentor to our young people. The young boys and girls who were part of the Akwesasne Councillors Organization gained pride and knowledge in who they are as Haudenosaunee people and became great mentors and teachers themselves. He knew how to guide our young people, to give them challenges, encouragement, moral guidance and pride in who they are. Many of Ray’s students grew to take important leadership roles within our own communities, nations and confederacy.

Many of us throughout our lifetimes have travelled to Onchiota, to spend time with this learned scholar and to energize our hearts with passion for our own culture and for the natural world. Ray Fadden impressed upon us the great contributions of our Nations to world society and he shared his knowledge of our contributions with all who would listen to his impressive lectures. He had important messages that the Creator gave him to deliver.

Ray Fadden and his wife Christina, welcomed visitors from around the world. They filled each visit with history lessons about the importance of Haudenosaunee culture to the world and about their concerns for the preservation of the natural world. Ray was a great environmentalist. He spoke to the animals in their own language because he respected them. Birds, chipmunks and bears were kindred spirits with him and he held all of Creation in the highest esteem.

Ray Tehanetorens came to us as a teacher in a time when others worked to have us disappear as a people. He made us feel proud of who we are and inspired us to share our visible cultural strengths with others. Great Teachers have a lasting impact upon all of us. Ray lived with us for 98 years. We are so lucky that we had the benefit of his enduring words of encouragement for almost a hundred years. Few men have had such a lasting positive impact on us as our Great Teacher Ray Tehanetorens Fadden (d. November 14, 2008).