Tribal elder praised for leadership
Marshall McKay dies from COVID- 19
The Tribal Council of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation announced the death of longtime council member and former chairman Marshall McKay following a battle with COVID- 19.
The council did not report when McKay died. Burial plans have also not been announced at this time.
“We know our pain is shared by so many families facing the devastating eff ects of this pandemic,” stated the Yocha Dehe Tribal Council in a prepared statement. “We know also the pain of Marshall’s loss is shared by the many who loved him and learned from him. We will miss his strength and wisdom. He was a resolute protector of Native American heritage here, within our own homeland, but also throughout California and Indian Country.”
For 31 years, from 1984 to 2015, McKay served as a member of the Council — which oversees the Wintun Nation in Brooks — elected to lead the tribe as its chairman for nearly a decade of that time. He continued to serve on many of the Tribe’s governmental bodies, including the Board of Directors for Cache Creek Casino Resort.
Woodland Councilman and 2021 Mayor Tom Stallard on hearing the news said he was “shocked and deeply saddened by the untimely passing” of McKay.
“He was a titan, not only for Yoche Dehe, but for all those in
Indian country,” Stallard stated. “He was a leader in the revolution in attitudes toward all native Americans. He also showed through his leadership the selflessness true generosity as he and his fellow tribal members shared their growing wealth with their neighbors far and wide. We in Woodland celebrate his legacy.”
Meanwhile, Yolo County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Sandy said, McKay’s contributions were “far- reaching.”
“Marshall McKay was a leader in the truest sense of the word,” stated Sandy. “His contributions to the advancement of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation were significant and farreaching. He was a particular catalyst in promoting the visibility and appreciation for Native American art, in leading the effort to create and support California’s first tribal college, and he was a guiding force for improving tribal health and economic renewal as well as the safeguarding of tribal heritage and artifacts.”
Sandy went on to note that McKay and the Tribal Council “set a national standard for self- governance and the stewardship of native resources that remains both exemplary and extraordinary.”
McKay’s leadership was marked by a stalwart dedication to the preservation and promotion of Native American arts and culture, the affirmation of sovereign tribal governance, and the international effort to protect the rights of all indigenous people, according to the council.
The Tribal Council reported McKay was instrumental in helping Yocha Dehe achieve economic independence, he helped the Tribe grow and diversify its agricultural operations, and he helped to greatly expand the Tribe’s land holdings within Yocha Dehe’s ancestral territory.
The son of the renowned healer and basket weaver, Mabel McKay, Marshall possessed a “deep passion and appreciation for Native art as a means for Native people to tell their stories and preserve their histories.”
Marshall McKay was a founding member of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and he was appointed to the Board for Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He also was the first Native American to be appointed chairman of the Board for the Autry National Center ( which includes the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the American West, and the Institute for the Study of the American West).
Marshall was a “fierce advocate for the environment and tribal land rights, and a champion for sustainable living and land- use practices,” the council noted. “He was dedicated to protecting tribal sovereignty and the rights of Native tribes and peoples, serving on the Board of the Native American Rights Fund. He was a Founding Commissioner of the California Native American Heritage Commission, whose charge is to protect Native American cultural resources, including places of religious and social significance to Native peoples, such as tribal cemeteries on private and public lands.
McKay was the first of his tribe to attend college, going to Sonoma State University. He spent 15 years repairing and maintaining nuclear submarines for the Department of Defense, ultimately supervising those work crews.
Born in Colusa near his tribal home within Yolo County’s Capay Valley, McKay “was deeply devoted to his family and tribal community,” the council added.
“The Tribe is profoundly grateful for the care Marshall received from frontline healthcare workers in Los Angeles where his illness developed, an area particularly hard- hit by the pandemic,” the council concluded.