Losing One of Our Own
Recently, we lost one of our good friends and collaborators to cancer. She was only 49. Kristela Cortez was one of three co-founders of the San Antonio Mission Indian Descendants and was instrumental in bringing awareness to the cause of helping Native Americans living in Texas to reconnect not only to their next of kin through genealogy testing, but also inspiring many others to reconnect with their own native ancestral traditions and culture. It was only a few years ago that she herself realized that she was Lipan Apache after doing the genetic testing, and was inspired to help others find their own roots.
In December of 2022, she agreed to sit down with me for a filmed interview, as part of a film documentary project called American Voice, which for now is a repository of stories revolving around the conversation of what it means to be native in this modern world. As part of an ongoing anthology from all over the Americas, our mission of this project is also to reconnect native families that have been separated and displaced by war and other major events, and to help preserve native traditions and culture. Her enthusiasm about what we were trying to accomplish was so infectious and inspiring that it provided us with the necessary fuel to keep going and make this an on-going project. We are eternally grateful to her for that, so we are dedicating this project in her name.
This is what her husband David wrote shortly after her passing:
“Hello friends of Kristela, this is David, her husband.
I must let all of you know that Kristela has gone on to her next journey with her ancestors. She passed away Friday evening. Her brother Peter and I were with her along with Fritz and Boomer. She is at peace and the pain of this horrible disease is no more. I talked with her immediate family after she passed and I want to apologize to anyone I may have missed in my round of phone calls.
Many of you may know Kristy was a very proud member of the Lipan Apache whose ancestors lived in the South West long ago. Kristy was very drawn to learning about her past. She met many of you thru her genealogy work and most of you are related in some way to her. Others are proud members of the Lipan Apache. It was just a few weeks ago that she was officially accepted into the Lipan Tribe of Texas. She was so excited when she learned she had become an official member.
Kristela worked with several of her cousins, Diana, Margo, and Debi to form a non-profit group called the San Antonio Mission Indian Descendants (SAMID)which is group that is dedicated to memorializing the history of the people and family members that once lived and worked near the San Antonio missions.
Several family members have reached out to me tonight inquiring about funeral services. Kristy told me awhile ago that she did not want any memorial service. However as my father Stephen said, it’s not for her, it’s for us. A few weeks ago, I started talking with Margot and Diana and we decided that because the SAMID group was her idea that we should have a memorial service related to the group. Kristy was very excited about the 2nd Annual Fry Bread Social that the SAMID group was sponsoring on November 18, 2023 at the VFW Hall in San Antonio. With that we decided that would be perfect venue for a memorial service. I am leaving the details of this to Diana and Margot to work out. She was proud of SAMID and what it stood for.
I watched her earthly body taken away. I then noticed a book that she had recently ordered called Meditations with Native American Elders: Winter Spring Summer Fall by Don L Coyhis. It had arrived today in the mail. It is a daily guide of Native American meditations. Each day has a different meditation. Kristy was born on December 17. This is what was written in the book for that day and I will end this with it. I will keep and honor her dedication to the Descendants Group.”
“Hear Me! A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong.”
Tecumseh, SHAWNEE
If you like to see and hear her interview, you can click HERE: