This oral history interview with Rex Buck, Jr. and Wilson Wewa was conducted by Eliza E. Canty-Jones in The Dalles, Oregon, on March 17, 2014. The interview was conducted shortly after Buck and Wewa spoke about Native experiences with death in a public program titled “Death and the Settling and Unsettling of Oregon,” which was held at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland in November 2013.

In this interview, Buck and Wilson briefly talk about what it means to be a leader in the Washat, their spiritual way of life. They speak at length about the Washat beliefs and rites regarding death; talk about the importance of preserving their culture; and describe the loss of much of their cultural knowledge over the 19th and 20th centuries. They speak about the spiritual and physical connections between people and the land according to Washat; discuss how the arrival of white people disrupted and continues to disrupt the lives of Native peoples; and talk about their efforts to reclaim their culture. They also talk about their participation in the public program titled “Death and the Settling and Unsettling of Oregon.” They speak about passing their cultural knowledge to the next generation and talk about caring for human remains that have been returned to the tribes under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. They close the interview by sharing their hopes for the future of Native peoples.