Elizabeth Ruth Blackowl

Elizabeth Ruth LeadingFox Blackowl, known to many as "Puggy", was born on October 11, 1935 to the late Miriam and Albin LeadingFox Sr. in Pawnee, Oklahoma. She was a full blood Pawnee Skidi. She attended Pawnee Indian Boarding School- Gravy U, and the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, KS. She graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology. She began working on her Master of Social Work Degree at the Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. and completed her degree at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. BOOMER SOONER!Elizabeth's first employment was at the Pawnee Indian Boarding School as a dormitory attendant. In 1968 she worked as the Director of the CAP Center. Later  she began working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Education Department with the Bordertown Dormitory Program in New Mexico and Arizona. She returned to Oklahoma and began employment with the Oklahoma Department of Child Welfare Division. In 1973, she went to work for the BIA as a Social Worker in Anadarko, OK. She relocated to Pawnee in 1978 to work at the Pawnee Agency for approximately 2 years, having also worked in Shawnee, Ponca City, Oklahoma City before returning to the Pawnee Agency for 5 years. A shift in her career began as she moved to Phoenix, AZ where she took an administrative position in the Social Work field. After working there for 5.5 years she took her final social work position in Espanola, NM at the Northern Pueblos Agency where she would retire in 1994 after 30 years of working with the B.I.A. Since her early childhood, Elizabeth had a lifelong ambition to follow in her father's footsteps and enter tribal politics. Both showed a great love for their Pawnee People. In the late 70's Elizabeth was one of the first few women to be elected to the serve on the Pawnee Business Council. In 1995 she was elected the first woman President of the Pawnee Business Council. She served 14 years on the PBC. She continued to serve on numerous committees. She was a founding member of the Pawnee Nation College Board of Trustees. She supported and attended all of our Pawnee cultural ceremonies, dances, and activities. She was a Pawnee War Mother's Chapter "Angel' and a member of the Black Beard Descendants Gourd Dance Group.She was preceded in death by two daughters: Woesta Marie and Babygirl Blackowl. sisters: Naomi, Ella Mae, Alba Jo, Mabel and brothers: Albin Jr. and John.  Elizabeth is survived by: Sister Charlene Button of Baxter Springs KSDaughter, Mary Faye Blackowl, grandchildren Justin and Cheynowa Townsend, great-grandsons Heston Echohawk and Kiwaku Rameriz, all of Pawnee Ok.  Daughter, Ella Mae Blackowl, grandchildren, Quannah and "Moon" Morrison of Adams, Massachusets, and numerous close relatives.