Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Legacy Of Grace
FORMER STUDENT RECOGNIZES IMPACT OF EDUCATOR
FARMINGTON — Stephanie Hoops, of Lincoln, who taught Gabe Sequichie at Fayetteville’s Woodland Junior High, recalls in her first impression of Sequichie she was drawn to the boy’s charisma.
“I knew he was special. He has something about his personality, not charm. I don’t know what it is, there’s just something about him that endears you to him.”
The something Hoops, an 18-year veteran teacher, who holds a degree in Elementary Secondary English from Cal-State Long Beach, could not identify may be the fruits of events occurring in centuries past.
“She wore a shawl of white swan feathers and was given the power to save a life. With the wave of a swan’s wing, she spared the life of Lydia Bean, a white woman at the stake. She saved countless Cherokee and white lives when she warned settlers of impending attacks,” said recording artist and Cherokee citizen Becky Hobbs, of Nancy Ward her fifth great- grandmother in an interview with film critic and sports writer Danny Peary posted on Hobbs’ website.
Ward was born in 1738 and lived until 1822. She held the title of Ghighau or “Beloved Woman,” a place of special prominence in Cherokee culture.
According to the National Women’s History Museum, the opinion of the “Beloved Woman” was influential in tribal government because the Cherokee believed the Great Spirit could speak through the “Beloved Woman,” who headed the Women’s Council in a matriarchal society, sat on the Council of Chiefs and had complete power over prisoners.
“Pocahontas was able to save John Smith because she had that authority,” reported the Cherokee County Herald, of Centre, Ala., in an April 7, 1993, edition citing tribal historian Frank Poe.
The concept of being redeemed by the “Beloved Woman” may be foreign to those outside of Cherokee culture and in the modern era many Cherokee themselves may be unaware of the significance. Yet, Sequichie, now a junior defensive end for the Farmington Cardinals, didn’t have to know all the intricacies or nuances of the principle to benefit from seeds of grace and deliverance sown in generations gone before and prayers of his Cherokee ancestors.
As an eighth- grader in 2010, Sequichie faced a host of challenges and could have succumbed to despair and become a prisoner of circumstances were it not for the intervention of Woodland teacher Becky Knight, who would endear herself in such a manner that her role in his deliverance held the prominence of the “Beloved Woman.”
Hoops senses Sequichie hungered for long-term relationships that would sustain him in his search for self-acceptance.
“I think he’s had so many people in and out of his life that he’s starving for a consistent foundation,” Hoops said.
Two of the key attributes of the historical “Beloved Woman” in Cherokee culture were the administration of grace along with the exercise of authority. Sequichie’s worst enemies at the time were his own self-destructive tendencies and Knight asserted her authority in the classroom balanced with healthy dosages of love.
“The woman was only 5-foot-2 tall. She was tiny and she was just a firecracker, just a lot of love in a little body,” Hoops said. “She had these big, burly kids in her class that could just squash her and she would stand there with her arms crossed and look them right in the eye and tell them what for and then she would love them. They knew that she loved them.
“She and I really linked over Gabe and we really fought for him. We really bonded over him. She’s amazing, an unsung hero.”
“I struggled big time and I wanted to give up and they would not give up on me,” Sequichie said, speaking of Knight and Hoops. “They made me the person I am today. They just absolutely made me understand failure wasn’t an option.”
Sequichie’s world was rocked when he learned Knight drowned in the Gulf of Mexico while on a swimming trip on July 30. Knight had remained in contact and they had spoken over the phone two weeks earlier.
“Losing Miss Knight, you don’t really realize you have something good until it’s gone. She was telling me how proud she was of me that I was improving,” Sequichie said, his voice trailing off.
“Just even the thought of losing an amazing person and knowing that’s one less person to be there for you. She cheered for me on and off the field. She cheered for me in football and when it came to the classroom, she cheered even harder. She wanted to see me succeed that bad.”
Hoops called Sequichie to break the news and described his response as devastation and disbelief, yet sees Knight’s legacy outliving her in this former student.
“I think a lot of who Gabe is, is because of her and if he ever comes against a challenge, he’s always going to ask ‘What did Miss Knight say?’”
“I tape my arms cause it gets rough in the trenches on the defensive line. I write her initials on my arm,” Sequichie said.
On Friday, Sequichie also had Matthew 17: 20 written on the tape explaining the passage represents faith as it relates to Miss Knight. Sequichie measures the progress he has made academically and emotionally back to a starting point with Miss Knight.
“If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you can move mountains. I was down on my luck at that time and I did wonders within such a short time.”
Sequichie continues to be motivated by the drive Miss Knight instilled within him.
“This season is dedicated to her as well as the next two school years.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
November is Native American heritage month as signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on Aug. 3, 1990.