Doris McLemore

Doris Jean Lamar-McLemore (April 16, 1927 – August 30, 2016) was an American teacher who was the last native speaker of the Wichita language,^[1] a Caddoan language spoken by the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, indigenous to the U.S. states of Oklahoma and Texas.

Doris Lamar-McLemore
McLemore in 2010
Born	Doris Jean Lamar (1927-04-16)April 16, 1927 Anadarko, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	August 30, 2016(2016-08-30) (aged 89) Anadarko, Oklahoma, U.S.
Occupation	Teacher (of Wichita language classes)
Known for	Last native speaker of the Wichita language

Early life

McLemore was born in 1927 in Anadarko, Oklahoma.^[2] Her mother was Wichita and her father was European-American.^[3] McLemore was raised by her fullblood Wichita maternal grandparents, and Wichita was her first language.^[4]

McLemore graduated from Riverside Indian School, an American Indian boarding school, in 1947 and worked as a house mother there for 30 years.^[4] She married twice and had a son and two daughters.^[4] In 1959 McLemore moved back to live near Gracemont, Oklahoma, to live among her relatives.

Preservation of the Wichita language

In 1962, McLemore met David Rood, a linguist from the University of Colorado, and they collaborated to preserve the Wichita language.^[3]

McLemore taught language classes for the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes^[5] and before her death, was collaborating with linguist David Rood to create dictionary and language CDs.^[3]

"Doris is amazing for being able to retain as much as she does without having anyone to speak it to on a daily basis," said former Wichita tribal chairman, Gary McAdams.^[4] She died on August 30, 2016, at the age of 89.^[6]