Tribal respected elder, Helen Cedartree, explains how the Chief Yellow Calf Memorial Club was started. In the past, different families would decorate during Memorial Day, then each family would cook up meals for themselves. This was around the old dance hall which was located across from Josephine White's residence at Bridgeport. There were two old men on horseback who came to the dance hall and t
hought there was a feast and they would be able to eat with the people. But the family that they came upon said that the food there was for their own, so the old men on horseback started riding away again. Yellow Calf overheard what had been said and sent his daughter after the two old men to eat with them. Yellow Calf thought about this and some time after called upon his daughter, Inez Oldman, to get a group of women together to form a club. He instructed them they would cook on Memorial Day for the elderly and the people, and when everyone would get through decorating, they could come to eat together. Inez asked Frances C'Hair, and they both asked Helen Cedartree and then Theresa Whitewolf. Helen stated that there were others that followed, maybe six or seven more women. Today, they still cook every Memorial Day for the people, and also help out families on the reservation throughout the year when they lose a loved one.
-Excerpt taken by Sara Wiles, Arapaho Journeys, p. 31
