Children of St. Augustine portrait dedication Jan. 29
Date: 01/30/2012
(Jan. 11, 2012) – The 2012 “Children of St. Augustine Indian Mission” portrait exhibition by award-winning photographer Fr. Don Doll, S.J. will be dedicated to the memory of Betty Strong at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29 at the Betty Strong Encounter Center. Admission will be free. A reception will follow.
The event will feature remarks by Fr. Doll; Jackie Smith, one of Betty Strong’s four children; Mark Monson, president of Missouri River Historical Development, Inc., the non-profit that built and sustains the Center; and Fr. Dave Korth, Director of St. Augustine.
Fr. Dave will present a Native Flute program with highlights from his CD, “Songs & Prayers from Saint Augustine Indian Mission.” Visitors will receive a copy of the 2012 edition of the award-winning St. Augustine Calendar while supplies last and may participate in a drawing for Fr. Dave’s CD.
Since 2006, the Center has presented annual exhibitions of Fr. Doll’s portraits of the Children of St. Augustine. “The presence of these portraits at the Betty Strong Encounter Center honors my mother and all that she did for children during her many years of community leadership,” says Smith.
St. Augustine Indian Mission is located on the Winnebago Reservation 22 miles southwest of Sioux City. Founded in 1909 by St. Katharine Drexel, the private, non-profit school enrolls more than 120 students, kindergarten through eighth grade, of diverse faiths and heritages. They study traditional language and culture along with a solid core of academics.
“The Center’s friendship with St. Augustine Indian Mission and Fr. Doll are gifts that touch tens of thousands of visitors each year,” says Marcia Poole, director of the Center.
Fr. Doll’s work in photojournalism has spanned almost five decades and taken him among people in Siouxland and around the world. He is Professor of Photojournalism at Creighton University, Omaha, and recipient of the Kodak “Crystal Eagle Award for Impact in Photojournalism”; the Nikon “World Understanding through Photography” award; and the 2010 Chief Standing Bear Organizational Award.
“Photographs reveal cultures and help other people see those cultures. When you make these pictures larger than life it says, ‘These people are special. We treasure them,’” says Fr. Doll who holds the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Jesuit Chair at Creighton.
Betty Strong championed the initiative that brought riverboat gaming to Woodbury County, an accomplishment that has resulted in the distribution of almost $20 million by MRHD to Woodbury County non-profit and governmental agencies.
“Betty Strong’s passion for improving the quality of life for all people, particularly for children, energized her long and distinguished career of service and leadership,” says Monson “Her legacy is not only here on the riverfront with the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and the Betty Strong Encounter Center, but also throughout Woodbury County and beyond where it touches the lives of thousands of people each day.”
St. Katharine Drexel was the key figure in financing, planning and building St. Augustine Indian Mission. She was related to Nicholas Biddle, the first editor of the Lewis & Clark Journals. An heir to the Drexel banking fortune, she entered religious life in 1889, founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament order, and used her wealth and the rest of her life to serve Native American and African American children and families.
Her work brought her from Philadelphia to Sioux City where she hired architect Wilfred W. Beach to design the original Mission complex. She lived with a Winnebago family during the construction phase of the Mission which was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day 1909. The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament staffed St. Augustine for the next 25 years.
The Betty Strong Encounter Center and adjoining Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center comprise a private, non-profit cultural complex built and sustained by Missouri River Historical Development, Inc. (MRHD). The Center is located on Sioux City’s riverfront, exit 149 off I-29; www.siouxcitylcic.com; 712-224-5242.