Kelsey Begaye, fifth Navajo Nation president, dies at 70

K’AI’BII’TÓ, Ariz.

Kelsey A. Begaye, the fifth president of the Navajo Nation, died Aug. 13. He was 70.

Begaye was born and raised in Kaibeto, Arizona. He was born to the late Wallace and Ada Begay. He had two brothers and four sisters.

He is a 1969 Monument Valley High graduate and attended the College of Ganado, where he studied chemical addictions and received a state certification in 1979.

Begaye enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1969 and served the country for four years as a radio operator in the Republic of South Vietnam.

Begaye worked for the Navajo Nation from 1976 to 1990, working as a counselor, a supervisor, a program director, an agency director, and most recently a Program Supervisor III for the Department of Behavioral Health Services.

Begaye was elected to the Navajo Nation Council, representing Kaibeto Chapter in 1991. Then he was elected as speaker of the council in 1996, after which he ran for tribal president in 1999. He served as the fifth president of the Navajo Nation from 1999 to 2003.

Begaye in July 2011 was given an honorary doctorate degree – from the United Graduate College and Seminary in North Carolina – for his national advocacy in tribal education and health.

Begaye was an ordained minister and served as president of Kaibeto Chapter. He did public speaking and told the Navajo Times recently he was working on an autobiography.

He was married to Marie Begaye. Together they have six children – four girls and two boys.

“He is a very well-respected man in our community,” Stan Patterson, pastor of Pure Heart Bible Church, told Begaye in a statement that was shared with the Times. “He has served the Navajo Nation in more than just the local capacity.”

“He was a great family man,” said Franklin Fowler, president of Kaibeto Chapter. “He raised several children, not just his own. That’s what I really remember about him.

“He worked with every leader in Kaibeto. He took (each) one of them under his arms and mentored them … and guided them. That was his kind of leadership. He wasn’t a dictator.”

Fowler added, “His campaign slogan was about unity and that’s what comprises what his leadership was like.

“He grew up here in Kaibeto. His mother and father and his ancestors are from here. So, he’s a through and through Kaibeto man.”

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said he and his wife, Phefelia, offer their condolences to Begaye’s family.

“To his wife, Marie, and their children,” Nez told the Navajo Times on Saturday evening, “we pray that you take comfort in knowing that your husband and father is now with God.”

Nez said Begaye was a humble and loving person who overcame adversities at a young age and who turned to his faith to become a loving family man.

“A Vietnam veteran and a great leader for his people,” Nez added. “Throughout his lifetime, he drew his strength and determination from his faith and gave back so much to our Navajo people.

“He will be greatly missed.”

To read more about former President Kelsey A. Begaye, pick up the Aug. 19 edition of the Navajo Times.

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