Fowler becomes 1st Diné chair of Coconino Co. board
By Krista Allen
Special to the Times
TUBA CITY, Aug. 29, 2011
Lena Fowler
"I'm fortunate with Coconino County," the District 5 supervisor said. "The county officials - my colleagues - are really, very supportive."
Taught the Navajo way of life, she was raised in Tonalea.
Traditionally disciplined, she spent her youth riding horses and herding her family's sheep when she wasn't in school.
Meanwhile, her late father, Keith Fowler, emphasized that a new world would soon approach so he sent his children on the Indian Placement Program that was organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The program, which placed Native American students in foster homes to learn and to digest American culture, situated her in Phoenix.
Upon promotion from Kaibeto Boarding School, after the placement program, Fowler was accepted into the Kinlani Bordertown Dormitory in Flagstaff, where she attended high school.
"On weekends, I cleaned people's homes, that was my income," she said in an interview on Aug. 22. "Part of that money went back to my mom because my mom was raising all my younger brothers and sisters."
During her senior year of high school, she obtained a job to help students with their college and scholarship applications.
Spending time assisting students, Fowler said she didn't think she was going to college because she didn't have money and didn't have a vehicle.
Doubtful though she was, she filed college and scholarship applications.
In 1976, Fowler graduated from Flagstaff High School.
"After graduation, my uncle brought my mother to the graduation," she said. "I got in back of the truck, and we drove home."
The following morning, her mother announced, "Dibé '''jéé (the sheep have left)." So she began herding sheep again.
One day Fowler decided to leave home.
"I said, 'Mom, I'm going to leave, I'm going to school,'" Fowler said. "So I took my bag pack, walked out to the highway and hitchhiked to school."
School was at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.
Fowler said she did what she had to do by cleaning motel rooms while attending her classes.
She earned her bachelor's degree in community development and public affairs.
Since then, she has been a prominent figure on the Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission, helping its mission to inform the people of water rights projects.
"Everybody, water is on their mind," Fowler said. "For the most part, all of us know someone that hauls water."
Today Fowler presides over District 5, which includes Coppermine, Fredonia, Inscription House, Jacob Lake, Kaibeto, LeChee, Little Colorado River, Marble Canyon, Navajo Mountain, North Rim, Page, and Tuba City.
With a growing district, she says her job is to work with all the county's supervisors and to make sure they have "one" voice.
To have one voice means to have a consolidated spokesperson, Fowler said.
Among her goals is to organize a group called Guardians of the Forest. And the purpose of this group will undertake woodland conservation in the Inscription House and Navajo Mountain areas.
"The forest out there is just there," Fowler said. "And yet, in Coconino County, we have all these fires, and I'm really concerned about it."
Her other goals include collaborating with public transit systems.
"A lot of these issues that are before us, we can't solve them alone, we have to have other people at the table to help us figure out how to resolve these issues, she said.
So what does it feel like being the voice of the county?
"It's kind of like being asked, 'What's it like being a Navajo?'" Fowler responded.