Honoring Mary F. McCormick on World Environment Day

In honor of World Environment Day, we uplift the leadership of Mary F. McCormick. She has been a caretaker of God’s Earth throughout her whole life. Read more about Mary McCormick below.

Mary F. McCormick, born in 1932, raised in Seminole, OK, is an enrolled member of the Sac and Fox Nation located in Stroud, OK. She is an educator with Master degree in Secondary Education. 

She served as Vice President, Anadarko area, of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), OEA Delegate, Seminole County, National Education Association, Representative, an active member of the American Indian Cultural Society, and board member of National Tribal Chairman’s Association.

In her local community, Mary served on the Board of Directors of Seminole Historical Society, City of Seminole’s Housing Authority, and has been a Sunday school teacher for over 40 years. While her contributions to the Sac and Fox Nation are too numerous to list, Mary served as the elected Secretary of the Sac and Fox Nation and Principal Chief for many years, in which she was instrumental, through various Tribal Programs and grants 40 acres of Tribal land was reclaimed, developed a Recreational Vehicle Park, purchased back 80 acres of Tribal land (no other Tribe had ever bought back any of their original landholdings).  She further identified damages to the Tribal Reserve by oil companies and filed suit against Tennecco Oil company, fighting for environmental justice of Tribal lands, after almost 20  years of litigation, in 1996, and agreement was finalized with 2 important items: 3 - 40 acres tracts were included in the settlement to provide adequate drinking water to the Tribal Reserve and damaged land erosion was repaired. Without the patience, expertise and service of Mary, that agreement would never have been possible.
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She continues her environmental justice efforts for the Sac and Fox Nation as a leader, volunteer and Governing Council member.  Recently, she promoted the development of a Tribal Community Garden to include Sac and Fox Traditional foods such as the Three Sisters: multicolored maize (Indian Corn) and yellow corn, beans, squash.

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This recognition of Mary McCormick’s work was brought to the Creation Justice community’s attention by Dee Manatowa, former Environmental Justice Fellow for Creation Justice Ministries.