Opal Cajune
courtesy photo
Opal Cajune
A brilliant light has left the world. On Jan. 13, 2013, Opal Swaney Cajune, 86, of Ronan passed away at her home surrounded by loved ones, songs, and prayers.
Opal was the fifth of seven children born to James Swaney and Mary Catherine McDonald on Oct. 6, 1926. She attended school in Dixon and the Ursuline Boarding School at St. Ignatius, graduating from Dixon High School.
She was a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She started a career in Indian affairs working for the Tribal Council by taking Tribal Council meeting minutes in the late 1930s. She provided secretarial services to the tribal government and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Opal was working for the BIA when she had the opportunity to attend college. She was planning to work with children and began an elementary education program at the University of Montana. During her academic program, she was persuaded to pursue a social work degree. This change marked the beginning of decades of advocacy for children, their families, and for social justice.
Opal directed and conducted the research of social services as provided by the BIA on the Flathead Indian Reservation. This research included evaluating the status and well being of Indian children in the foster care and adoption system. Her report was utilized to present testimony to the CSKT Council of the need to establish a tribal social services system. Opal remarked at a public gathering that convincing the council was “not a slam dunk” and that she impressed upon the council representatives that it was also a sovereignty issue. Opal told the council “you know how many fish and deer and elk you have, but you don’t know where your tribal children are who have been lost in the BIA social services system.” Ultimately, the tribes contracted the social services program from the BIA, becoming the first tribal social service program in the region. Opal was the director of this program for eight years, during which she continued to face battles to run the program in the best interest of children.
After Opal’s retirement, people continued to look to her for advocacy, information, and support. She was known to be an expert on the Indian Child Welfare Act and was often called upon as an expert witness. Her concern for the welfare of children did not cease with her employment and she persisted in caring for children within her own family and the community.
Opal was a woman of great vision, compassion, generosity, and spirituality. In her later years, her deep and abiding faith sustained her through difficult times of loss and challenge. Her particular worry and concern was the spiritual poverty she perceived in the community and among young people. She often reminded young people that they were spiritual beings. It was her hope for the younger generations to discover this and find the spiritual strength to become good human beings. Opal seemed to have an endless capacity for love and that was perhaps her greatest gift to those fortunate enough to have known her.
The other great love of Opal’s life was the Flathead River. She grew up on the river by Dixon and learned to swim there. If she could choose a place to be it would be the river, or her other favorite swimming spot at Blue Bay.
She was preceded in death by her parents James and Mary McDonald Swaney; her brothers Jay, Emory (Doogie), Bill, and Thomas (Bearhead); and her sisters Doris (who died as a young child), and Eileen Swaney Decker.
She is survived by her six daughters: Mary Sue Ross, Luana Ross (Daniel Hart), Kathy Ross, Duretta Billedeaux, Ramona Cajune, and Julie Cajune; her grandchildren: Paul Ross, Lucy Cruz, Shane Ross, Damon Hart, Ann-Marie Matt, Rose Matt, Naomi Billedeaux, Adrianna Fehrs, AJ Matt, Jeremy Cajune, Bethany Cajune, Jacob Buck, Derek Holt, and Sarah Holt Bennett. Thirty-two great-grandchildren and seven great great-grandchildren also survive her.
There will be a wake for Opal on Jan. 15 and 16 at the home of Opal’s niece and nephew, Patty and Willie Stevens, in St. Ignatius. The first day of the wake begins at noon and is reserved for family members only. Funeral services will be at the Post Creek Methodist Church on Jan. 17 beginning at 11 a.m. Burial services will be held at the family cemetery at the Decker Ranch in St. Ignatius immediately following the funeral service. A meal will then be served at the Methodist Church. Messages of condolences may be shared with the family online at www.groganfuneralhome.com
