Joyce Nelson, influential Oregon Native American activist and Spirit of Portland Award winner, dies at 86
Updated Feb 15, 2021;
Posted Feb 15, 2021
Buzz and Joyce Nelson spent decades working to better Portland s Native American community. (YouTube/Hands On Greater Portland)
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Joyce Nelson, a prominent local Native American activist who helped found the pioneering Native American Rehabilitation Association, died Feb. 4. She was 86.
Joyce received numerous honors through the years for her community service, including a Spirit of Portland Award in 2006 for being “a consistent source for collaboration and advocacy in the Native American community in Portland for over 50 years.”
Delores Joyce (Culbertson) Nelson was born on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. She and her family moved to Oregon in 1944, settling first in Vanport City and then, after the Vanport flood, in Portland. She attended Lincoln High School, where she was a majorette in the band.