death_date nationality parents birth_date image article_title name
10 november 1997 navajo nation henry chee dodge keehanabah april 11 , 1910 annie dodge wauneka.jpg annie dodge wauneka
 annie dodge wauneka
annie dodge wauneka

annie dodge wauneka -lrb- april 11 , 1910 -- november 10 , 1997 -rrb- was an influential member of the navajo nation as member of the navajo nation council .
as a member and three term head of the council 's health and welfare committee , she worked to improve the health and education of the navajo .
she was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 1963 by lyndon b. johnson as well as the indian council fire achievement award and the navajo medal of honor .
she also received an honorary doctorate in humanities from the university of new mexico .
annie dodge wauneka was the daughter of the navajo leader henry chee dodge and his third wife keehanabah or mary shirley begaye of deer spring , arizona .
keehanabah was forced to marry chee and unwillingly lived with him , often returning to her family in the deer spring area .
it was during this time annie was born , approximately 2.5 miles south of current day sawmill , arizona .
chee 's first wife , nanabah , raised annie along with three other of chee 's children .
having been raised by her father , a successful rancher , annie lived a privileged life for a navajo girl of her time .
annie visited with her mother keehanabah in later years , until her mother 's ' death in 1977 .
annie also had a half sister and five half brothers .
annie maintained her relationship with her mother and her half sister and brothers throughout her life .
she was sent to a boarding school in fort defiance , arizona in 1918 , at the age of 8 where she spoke and read english .
during that first year at school the 1918 spanish influenza epidemic struck the students and faculty .
annie recovered from a mild case of the flu and stayed at the school to help the school nurse care for the other student flu victims .
this experience led to her later interest in public health .
after that she was sent to an indian school in albuquerque , new mexico where she completed grade eleven at the age of 19 .
she left school to marry george wauneka , whom she had met in school .
after the death of her father in 1946 , she became active in tribal politics and became the second woman to be elected to the tribal council , after lilly neil .
she was immediately appointed head of the council 's health and welfare committee .
she served in that committee for her 27 years in the council and served as its head for three terms .
