Saturday, April 8, 2023

Aunt Em, Emily Judkins, Vaunted Pechanga Matriarch's 1981 Profile in Who's Who in Temeku

 Proud Pechanga elder Emily Hunter Judkins was profiled in a 1981 newspaper article  WHO'S WHO in TEMEKU by Ken Clements.

She resided permanently on her portion of the 20 acres that Paulina Hunter, an original Pechanga Temecula person, was alotted.



Emily Judkins was proud to be from Pechanga and was an active member of the tribe.  In those days, there were no paid jobs or glory for volunteers.  She was one of the few reservation  residents that were educated and could handle many of the legal matters for the tribe on matters the Bureau of Indian Affairs needed.

How many of the current tribal members can say they volunteer to do anything other than enjoying the free lunch at meetings?  Aunt Emily worked on the Pechanga enrollment committee and wrote letters of concern about enrolling people that didn't have the documentation to prove lineage.   They are Francisca Leyvas descended and later formed a Splinter group, and after that worked to disenroll two large families from the tribe, including Aunt Emily, well after her death...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Aunt ‘Em always looked out for her tribal people. I remember when the wash ran so high one winter in the late 70’s that it washed out our roads and no one could get in or out of the reservation! It was Aunt Em that called the National Guard and they sent a Helicopter packed with food and medical supplies for the few of us that were stranded here!! She saved the day and never asked for credit.