He was born in Arizona and put up for adoption when he was just 3 months old, and was raised by a family in Long Island. When he was 11 years old, he was beaten by bullies because, as he said, they “watched too many cowboy and Indian movies,” leaving him with bloody noses and black eyes because his heritage and skin color were different than theirs.

THE ROOTS OF HIS TREE

“I’ve been searching for my roots for the past 25 years,” said Don Wild Eagle Wuebber. “I know I was the 10th and youngest child and perhaps that was why I was placed into adoption services. I found out from court records that I came from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, a sovereign tribe deeply rooted in history, culture and tradition located in Scottsdale.”

Wuebber also discovered that the heart of the metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, area is home to the Onk Akimel O’odham, commonly known as the Salt River People, and the Xalychidom Piipaash, commonly known as the Upriver People, two distinct, but interconnected Native American tribes.

AN ADVISER OF LACROSSE

He moved to Brodheadsville 33 years ago and has worked for the Pleasant Valley School District as a security guard for the past 26 years. This father of three and husband od 32 years was asked to speak at their banquet 10 years ago he has since become a beloved spiritual adviser for the high school girls’ lacrosse team.

“The school mascot is the bear, which is intuitively, a good choice for how we should live our lives with strength, courage, healing, and wisdom,” he explained.

Wuebber has been teaching the players on the team about the importance of the sport to his native people. “I made an old-style wooden lacrosse stick and brought it to the team. I asked them to name the stick and they call it the Bear Claw, which is Sa Wa Ti in our language. Every year, Sa Wa Ti receives a gift of a charm from me that is attached to the stick.

“We have a team chant. I say, ‘Yona!’ which in Cherokee means the Bear, and they reply, ‘De Wa Ne Ya!’ which means fighting spirit. We call upon the spirit of the Bear to give us the strength to fight in competition on this field at Pleasant Valley, which used to be a battleground between tribes that fought with sticks long ago.”

His influence upon the lacrosse team has helped them win several Eastern Penn Conference championships, two District 11 titles and two trips to the quarter finals of the state tournaments.

“We learn to communicate as a team and no matter the outcome, we come as a team and we go home as a team. We are always winners.”

A FAMILY OF ONE

Wuebber is a man of many talents. A former landscaper and federal prison spiritual adviser, he’s also a certified Wolf Clan teacher and a minister who can perform weddings and officiate at funerals.

So, how has an infant given away by his natural parents and then become a boy bullied by gangs evolved into a man of hope and wisdom?

“When I was 18, I went to pow wows and learned about my heritage and that we were not the ‘drunken alcoholics’ that society has made us out to be. I educate people not to conform to society’s standards. Society wants to control us. We should live within a family of one structure, but become what we are called to be by our hearts and our souls.”

THE FOUR DIRECTIONS OF LIFE

Wuebber has been invited each year to perform ceremonies on Earth Day in Jim Thorpe and in May at the tomb of Jim Thorpe of the Olympic champion that is located on Route 903 just outside the town proper.

“I have had talks with brothers and a granddaughter of Jim Thorpe. He had a heart for all of the earth’s people so I dedicate my ceremony and opening prayer to the Four Directions of Life.”

He said that East is where the sun rises to honor the shadow of the eagle. It is the spring season of the day and the color yellow represents the Asian nations. The West is where the sun sets. It’s the fall season and honors the black bear and the emerging night. Its color represents African Americans. The South is the summer season of the Wolf and honors the female where all life comes from. The North is White Cloud, the winter season, honoring the white buffalo and the white people of the American nation.

THE EAGLE CLAN OF WE

“We are all God’s creations and we should open our inner child to learn the lessons of life. We honor all who walk this earth. We live for our children, the seven generations behind us and the seven generations ahead. We go to Nature, in God’s place where we find peace and hope.”

He is adamant about the unity of all people. “There is no ‘I’ or ‘you.’ There is only the Eagle Clan of ‘We.’ ”

Don Wild Eagle Wuebber continues to pray for all mankind and remains a beacon of light in a world that is in desperate need for the understanding that “We” must come together to live as one human race.

He can be reached at eagleclanWE@icloud.com.