Second Lady is called upon to take over First Lady duties
Phefelia Herbert
Phefelia Herbert
WINDOW ROCK
Since 1972, the Navajo Nation has had an official First Lady, but this year that’s going to change with the nation’s Second Lady taking over the First Lady’s duties.
Phefelia Herbert, the wife of Navajo Vice-President Jonathan Nez, said she wasn’t expecting to take over the First Lady responsibilities.
“I’m a Second Lady with a First Lady budget,” she said, adding that she thought there was going to be a First Lady but now she finds herself in charge.
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye has been vague about his marital status, telling the Times recently that his marriage was a “business decision,” one that he would explain to the Navajo people when the time was right.
Taking the reigns of the First Lady duties isn’t what 39-year-old Herbert is nervous about; she is worried about how people will react to the way she speaks Navajo.
“I grew up speaking Navajo and I can speak it,” she said, but she’s never had to speak it in a formal setting, it has always just been around for speaking to her family and friends.
Herbert said she hasn’t quite jumped into the Second Lady role yet because her home life has taken a fast turn.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow