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| Molly Neptune Parker, Basket Maker and Tribal Elder, Dies at 81 | Molly Neptune Parker, Basket Maker and Tribal Elder, Dies at 81 |
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| There were years when Molly Neptune Parker would work the night shift at a wool factory, after having put in a full day making baskets, and still be home in time to serve her children breakfast. | There were years when Molly Neptune Parker would work the night shift at a wool factory, after having put in a full day making baskets, and still be home in time to serve her children breakfast. |
| When they were young, she traded baskets for their dental work. | When they were young, she traded baskets for their dental work. |
| In time she would become a celebrated and collected artist whose work fetched thousands of dollars, so well known that when she traveled, people called her name out in airports. | In time she would become a celebrated and collected artist whose work fetched thousands of dollars, so well known that when she traveled, people called her name out in airports. |
| Ms. Parker, the first female lieutenant governor of Indian Township, one of the two governing bodies of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and a master basket maker and teacher, died on June 12 at a hospital in Calais, Me. She was 81. | |
| Her daughter Elizabeth Neptune said the cause was cancer. | Her daughter Elizabeth Neptune said the cause was cancer. |
| Ms. Parker’s specialty was fancy baskets, a decorative style developed by Native people in the late 19th century to sell to European-Americans. Made from strips of split ash and braided sweetgrass woven in complex patterns like porcupine twists and double weaves, Ms. Parker’s baskets were often topped with artfully carved flowers, as her mother’s had been. | Ms. Parker’s specialty was fancy baskets, a decorative style developed by Native people in the late 19th century to sell to European-Americans. Made from strips of split ash and braided sweetgrass woven in complex patterns like porcupine twists and double weaves, Ms. Parker’s baskets were often topped with artfully carved flowers, as her mother’s had been. |
| She made baskets in the shape of strawberries and acorns, her signature, among many other forms. It might take five days to make a fancy basket, from preparing the materials to adding the final decorative flourishes. | She made baskets in the shape of strawberries and acorns, her signature, among many other forms. It might take five days to make a fancy basket, from preparing the materials to adding the final decorative flourishes. |
| Videos of Ms. Parker at work show her capacious skill and strength. She could split an apple in two with her thumbs. In her younger days she made rugged work baskets, as many in her tribe did, to sell to Maine’s fishing and potato industries, and to companies like L.L. Bean. | Videos of Ms. Parker at work show her capacious skill and strength. She could split an apple in two with her thumbs. In her younger days she made rugged work baskets, as many in her tribe did, to sell to Maine’s fishing and potato industries, and to companies like L.L. Bean. |
| Basket making — one of the most well-known art forms of the Wabanaki people, the confederacy of nations that includes the Passamaquoddy and the Penobscot — has been integral to the economic survival of the tribes, said Chris Newell, director of the Abbe Museum, a showcase for Wabanaki culture in Bar Harbor, Me. | Basket making — one of the most well-known art forms of the Wabanaki people, the confederacy of nations that includes the Passamaquoddy and the Penobscot — has been integral to the economic survival of the tribes, said Chris Newell, director of the Abbe Museum, a showcase for Wabanaki culture in Bar Harbor, Me. |
| As Maine’s Native people moved from subsistence living to a market economy, it was basket making that paid the bills. (Mr. Newell, who is Passamaquoddy, recalled that Ms. Parker always addressed him as “quoss,” an affectionate term used by adults in the community that he said translates as “son.”) | As Maine’s Native people moved from subsistence living to a market economy, it was basket making that paid the bills. (Mr. Newell, who is Passamaquoddy, recalled that Ms. Parker always addressed him as “quoss,” an affectionate term used by adults in the community that he said translates as “son.”) |
| Basket making is also tied to the creation story of the Wabanaki, which says that when the hero Gluskabe shot an arrow into the brown ash tree the people were formed from the bark, said Geo Neptune, a grandchild of Ms. Parker’s who is a basket maker and educator. | Basket making is also tied to the creation story of the Wabanaki, which says that when the hero Gluskabe shot an arrow into the brown ash tree the people were formed from the bark, said Geo Neptune, a grandchild of Ms. Parker’s who is a basket maker and educator. |
| “When we use that same material to make baskets, we become creators like our creator,” Mx. Neptune said. “It’s both an inspiration and a metaphor. In another sense, basket making represents the Passamaquoddy’s ability to survive and adapt, and a refusal to conform to that Western lifestyle that said, ‘You have to learn a new trade, get a job.’” | “When we use that same material to make baskets, we become creators like our creator,” Mx. Neptune said. “It’s both an inspiration and a metaphor. In another sense, basket making represents the Passamaquoddy’s ability to survive and adapt, and a refusal to conform to that Western lifestyle that said, ‘You have to learn a new trade, get a job.’” |
| Ms. Parker was a founder and president of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching and preserving the craft. She taught in community workshops and sold her work at Native art markets across the country. | Ms. Parker was a founder and president of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching and preserving the craft. She taught in community workshops and sold her work at Native art markets across the country. |
| In 2012, Ms. Parker was named a National Heritage Fellow, an honor given to nine American artists each year by the National Endowment for the Arts. “The fellows are exemplary in the particular tradition they practice, and each year you see the breadth of American cultural communities represented,” said Clifford Murphy, the organization’s director of folk and traditional arts. “Molly was the embodiment of all of that. She was also funny, her humor as dry as a bone, feisty and also deadly serious.” | In 2012, Ms. Parker was named a National Heritage Fellow, an honor given to nine American artists each year by the National Endowment for the Arts. “The fellows are exemplary in the particular tradition they practice, and each year you see the breadth of American cultural communities represented,” said Clifford Murphy, the organization’s director of folk and traditional arts. “Molly was the embodiment of all of that. She was also funny, her humor as dry as a bone, feisty and also deadly serious.” |
| As Ms. Parker told the N.E.A., “Basket making is an art that I believe I was born to do, much as my ancestors have done for thousands of years.” | As Ms. Parker told the N.E.A., “Basket making is an art that I believe I was born to do, much as my ancestors have done for thousands of years.” |
| Molly Newell, one of seven children, was born on Feb. 6, 1939, in Indian Township, a Passamaquoddy reservation in Washington County, Me. Her mother, Irene Newell, was a basket maker. Her father, Lewey Dana, was a welder who assembled submarines during World War II and worked in a garage. (Her parents didn’t marry until she and her siblings were adults, so all the children took their mother’s last name.) | |
| Molly’s first language was Passamaquoddy. She went to school on the reservation and was taught by nuns, as most in her generation were; following the culture-busting practices of the time, she was punished if she spoke her Native language. The nuns even changed her name from Molly to Jeannette Katherine when they created a birth certificate for her. | Molly’s first language was Passamaquoddy. She went to school on the reservation and was taught by nuns, as most in her generation were; following the culture-busting practices of the time, she was punished if she spoke her Native language. The nuns even changed her name from Molly to Jeannette Katherine when they created a birth certificate for her. |
| When she and her first husband, Moses Neptune, a basket maker who also worked as a truck and school-bus driver (they were members of a basket making co-op) had children, they raised them to speak English, hoping to protect them from the trauma they both had experienced, Elizabeth Neptune said. | When she and her first husband, Moses Neptune, a basket maker who also worked as a truck and school-bus driver (they were members of a basket making co-op) had children, they raised them to speak English, hoping to protect them from the trauma they both had experienced, Elizabeth Neptune said. |
| Ms. Parker had six children of her own, adopted three and fostered many more. After Ms. Parker and Mr. Neptune divorced, she married Terrance C. Parker, a policeman. Both her first and second husbands died before her. | Ms. Parker had six children of her own, adopted three and fostered many more. After Ms. Parker and Mr. Neptune divorced, she married Terrance C. Parker, a policeman. Both her first and second husbands died before her. |
| In addition to her daughter Elizabeth, Ms. Parker is survived by seven other children, Gordon Newell, Dolly Barnes, Tammy Neptune, Frances Neptune, Yolanda Neptune, Christopher Neptune and Christopher Moses Neptune Parker; a stepson, Ken Parker; two brothers, Stephen and Robert Newell; 28 grandchildren; and 27 great-grandchildren. Her daughter Janet died in 2015. | In addition to her daughter Elizabeth, Ms. Parker is survived by seven other children, Gordon Newell, Dolly Barnes, Tammy Neptune, Frances Neptune, Yolanda Neptune, Christopher Neptune and Christopher Moses Neptune Parker; a stepson, Ken Parker; two brothers, Stephen and Robert Newell; 28 grandchildren; and 27 great-grandchildren. Her daughter Janet died in 2015. |
| As well as serving a term as Indian Township’s lieutenant governor, Ms. Parker, a fierce advocate for her people, was a council member when the Passamaquoddy won their land back from the federal government in 1980. In her 60s, she ran a restaurant, Molly’s Luncheonette, which served classic American diner food along with Passamaquoddy specialties like hulled corn soup, stewed muskrat and fry bread. | |
| Ms. Parker went her own way in life — sometimes literally. She had a habit of driving the wrong way on one-way streets. “This one used to be two ways,” she would say breezily. | Ms. Parker went her own way in life — sometimes literally. She had a habit of driving the wrong way on one-way streets. “This one used to be two ways,” she would say breezily. |
| As befit her station as a tribal elder, she received a police escort to her funeral in Calais last month, at a church large enough to accommodate the coronavirus social-distancing restrictions. Ms. Parker would have been pleased, Elizabeth Neptune told the congregation, that traffic had to pull over to make way for her. | As befit her station as a tribal elder, she received a police escort to her funeral in Calais last month, at a church large enough to accommodate the coronavirus social-distancing restrictions. Ms. Parker would have been pleased, Elizabeth Neptune told the congregation, that traffic had to pull over to make way for her. |