John “Gabe” Gobin is remembered on the Tulalip reservation as one of the last of his generation, a tribal elder whose simple life was true to his ancestors’ old ways.
“He was low in stature, as far as material things go,” said Tom Gobin, a cousin of 88-year-old John Gobin. “He never had a shiny car, or much money in the bank or even a house. He had humility. He was a dignified person. His dominant feature was a tremendous love for his daughter and grandchildren.”
Tom Gobin spoke at his uncle’s funeral June 30 at the Tulalip Tribal Center in a service that blended Catholic liturgy with drumming, the sprinkling of holy water with cedar boughs and other tribal traditions.
John Gabriel Gobin died June 25. He had lived for several years at the Stan Jones Retirement Home in Tulalip.
He is survived by his daughter, Linda “Red” Hopper of La Push, and grandchildren Lisa Story, Roy Black III, Vicki Menyon, Kenneth Black and Rodney Hopper Jr. He had 12 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren. His parents, Gabriel and Louisa Smith Gobin, and sister Rose Gobin preceded him in death.
“Uncle Gabe helped me become who I am today,” said Hank Gobin, cultural resources manager for the Tulalip Tribes.
In a story showing the family connection between generations, Hank Gobin recalled talking with his uncle as a boy.
“Uncle Gabe was sitting on the steps of a yellow house up on Quilceda. He called me over and sat me on his lap,” Hank Gobin said. “He said, ‘When you see your grandmother pumping water, go help her pump and carry it into the house … Any time you see grandparents, aunts, uncles, elders doing work, help them cut the wood and carry the water.’
“I carried those words all my life. I remember the love and kindness in his heart,” Hank Gobin said.
John Gobin was born in Tulalip on May 20, 1917, and attended the Tulalip Boarding School. He fished at Tulalip and on the Olympic Peninsula, and he worked in logging and farming.
“He followed the crops, here and up and down Washington, Oregon and California,” said daughter Linda Hopper, 63. “He used to ride freight trains. He’d have money in his pocket, but he always met interesting people that way.”
Her parents divorced when she was young. She remembers a childhood spent with both of them.
Hopper said her father took pride in being crowned king of the Marysville Strawberry Festival in 1999. He shared the honor with another tribal elder, Katie Berkeley, who was the Strawberry Festival queen that year. Hopper said her father was buried “with that crown in his hands.”
Raymond Moses, 75, called John Gobin “the last of that generation.”
“He liked to travel. He liked baseball. He was a great Mariners fan, and he played on the Tulalip baseball team,” Moses said.
Among the family photographs displayed at the service was a 1988 plaque recognizing John Gobin as “oldest player” in an old-timers’ baseball tournament.
“While he was here, he was pretty private,” said Kathy Hurd, supervisor at the Stan Jones Retirement Home. “The love he had was sports, baseball and basketball.”
Hurd said he enjoyed the grand opening of the new Tulalip Casino in 2003, when he joined residents of the home in a limousine ride.
“Last August, all of us traveled to Quinault Beach,” Hurd said. “His daughter joined us there. He reminisced about his life over there and fishing.”
April Moses, 62, grew up fishing alongside John Gobin’s boat.
“When I was little, he’d bring his daughter, Linda – we knew her as ‘Red’ – and we’d live on the beach all summer. We had an all-girl fishing crew, and he’d tease us,” said April Moses, who worked for years fishing with Bernie Gobin, another of John Gobin’s cousins.
“He was a good man. I never met anyone who didn’t like him,” Bernie Gobin said.
“Truly, he was a good person,” agreed Hank Gobin. “We need to listen to these old people and live by what they tell us.”
“I have nothing but beautiful memories of this man,” said the Rev. Pat Twohy, who officiated at Gobin’s funeral. “He had a kind face, a gentle spirit. I believe he really lived the heart of the old way, with simplicity. It’s a beautiful way for a man to live.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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