Cecilia Fire Thunder
Cecilia Fire Thunder | |
|---|---|
| Tawachin Waste Win | |
| Oglala Sioux President leader | |
| In office November 2004 – June 29, 2006 | |
| Preceded by | John Yellow Bird Steele |
| Succeeded by | Alex White Plume |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cecilia Apple October 24, 1946 Pine Ridge Reservation |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | John Fire Thunder |
| Relations | Six sisters: Shirley Murphy, Mary Hawk, Dinah Apple, Carmine Red Eagle, Joanne Apple, and Wanda Apple (Wanda is deceased). Grandparents, Frank and Theresa (Garcia) Apple, John and Mary (Ice) Featherman. |
| Children | James and John Fire Thunder. Two granddaughters, Katie and Hannah Fire Thunder |
| Parent(s) | Stephen and Lollie (Featherman) Apple |
| Education | Red Cloud Indian School, |
Cecilia Fire Thunder (born Cecilia Apple; October 24, 1946) is a nurse, community health planner and tribal leader of the Oglala Sioux. On November 2, 2004, she was the first woman elected as president of the Tribe. She served until being impeached on June 29, 2006, several months short of the two-year term. The major controversy was over her effort to build a Planned Parenthood clinic on the reservation after the South Dakota legislature banned most abortions throughout the state. The tribal council impeached her for proceeding without gaining their consensus.
A founder of community-based health clinics while living and working in California for two decades, Fire Thunder was among founders of the Oglala Lakota Women's Society after her return to the reservation in 1986. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) and has worked at a shelter for domestic abuse. She is the coordinator of the Native Women's Society of the Great Plains.