Culture and spirituality program at Rangeley Public Library

RANGELEY — Storyteller Sister Bernadette Gautreau, who spent 50 years among the Cree of the Little Red River Nation, will be at the Rangeley Public Library Tuesday, July 11, at 6 p.m. to discuss culture, spirituality and philosophy of the medicine wheel.

Sister Bernadette is originally from Mexico, leaving there for Alberta, Canada, in 1962 to teach, live and become integrated with the Woodland Cree of the Little Red River Nation.

In the span of those years, Sister Bernadette learned the Cree language and was inducted as a member of the Elder’s Council. In 1982, she became a pipe holder to facilitate ceremonies according to the traditional spiritual inheritance of the Cree.

Currently, since her retirement in 2012, Sister Bernadette is writing her memoirs, and also a history of the Cree’s migration across Canada. She has given presentations at churches, schools, women’s groups and public libraries. Two, all-day workshops on the “Philosophy of the Medicine Wheel” have been offered in Bethel, with another planned for the fall.