Darryl "Babe" Wilson

In 1939, Sul'ma'ejote, aka Darryl Babe Wilson, me, was born in Qatsade (Fall River Valley) on the north bank of Sul'ma'ejote (Fall River) at Fall River Mills, a stone toss from It'ajuma (Pit River). Just a few generations ago the male-child was named after the landscape where he was born. In this manner, I am Sul'ma'ejote. Like many native families at that time, my family shadowed in and out of civilization. When I was in the second grade in the Fall River Valley, my mother was killed in a lumber truck-automobile accident. The family shattered, the state caught us and we were scattered in California but out of our homeland. My three brothers and I stuck together. As is the practice of civilization, the girls were taken in a separate direction. Summers we managed to run back to our homeland, our people, the dream of life and the ancient dance of nature's powers. I managed to muddle through high school but failed to graduate, and for the sake of survival I joined the Marines. The service took me far away from the homeland but I dreamed about the teachings of the Elders and our "way." After my "hitch" I was logging in Oregon, met a girl, married and did a very poor job of settling into the "American Dream." We had three sons, Sonny, Lance and Cory. They all live in Washington state and now I am a grandfather. I was caught in the whirlwinds of the "Indian wars" of the 1960's, neglected my family and my wife divorced me. I met another girl. We ran into the safety of the mountains of northern California. In 1980 she gave birth to twin boys, Theo and Setorro (they are still with me). In a seat beltless car wreck she was killed. The twins were babies. Broken and our hearts bleeding we went back to the homeland and tried to survive. We did! In order to again survive, I entered U.C. Davis in 1989. After Davis I received a scholarship to the University of Arizona, completing all of the requirements for a pedigree. I became a Professor but "bleed" stroke cut my future to the quick.

All of my life I wanted to be a writer and tell stories. The early times of my life were published in a book in the '70's: The Morning the Sun Went Down. It is still available through Heyday books, Berkeley. Stroke has restricted any physical activity tolol (for eternity), but I still am capable of writing and teaching from a distance.

In my gnarled and old age, I look back across the ages and see with my heart that the wonder and magic of children can very well be the emotion that manages to hold earth close enough to sun to make life livable. My parting thought to this earth is captured in my last book length manuscript: Two Moon. Currently the twin boys and I are living in San Jose.