Utah Navajo’s Tewakeedah Martin takes Miss Gallup Inter-Tribal crown after military service

CHURCH ROCK, N.M.

Tewakeedah Rain Spirit Martin of Montezuma Creek, Utah, was crowned the 2025-26 Miss Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial Queen on Friday evening at the Red Rock Park, waving to a cheering crowd as she held bouquets of flowers and wore a brightly colored shawl with fringe.

Tewakeedah is Diné and Naałání.

Her parents, Mabel and Kevin Martin, stood on the arena floor as the master of ceremonies announced their daughter’s name. For Mabel, the moment was historic.

“This is the first. I think it’s first time for Utah special to receive,” she said. “I’m so proud of her, and I’m so lost of words. It was a really big competition with the other girls. They did a good job. And I’m just so elated and so happy and so proud of her.”

Mabel said her daughter first mentioned entering the pageant in early July.

“She told me about it, but I was like, ‘OK.’ But then all of a sudden, I saw her picture in the Gallup Ceremonial Facebook page. She’s contesting. And I was like, ‘Oh my!’ So I had to start. I thought, this is real. I have to get stuff ready,” she said. “This is her decision. I’m so proud of her, especially coming back from deployment in November. She was deployed in the Middle East for eleven months, and she got back in November.”

Martin is enlisted in the 856th Military Police Company with the Arizona Army National Guard.

Her father Kevin Martin said while overseas, she served as an attaché to the administration in Kuwait.

Martin reflected on the significance of seeing his daughter back in the ceremonial arena.

“The last time we saw her standing on this ground here was when Cody Jensen at that time, this Gallup Ceremonial honored our daughter. And she sang the national anthem at that time,” he said. “This was what, 13 years ago, something on the order. She was probably something on 10, maybe 10 or 11 at that time. She had just received the crown. Her sister and her received the crown. They were Little Miss Red Mesa.”

Calling her “a very dynamic individual,” Kevin Martin said his daughter is a student, a ceremonial leader, a mentor and “a star to us in the universe.”

He said he reminded her that the crown “is not something just shiny to put on” but a responsibility.

“‘You have to live it,’” he said he told her. “And in so doing, she has to be the courteous, kind person we taught her to be. And for the most part, she is.”

After being crowned, Tewakeedah Martin said the experience was transformative.

“This contest was something that I’ve never experienced before,” she said. “It was very, very inspiring. It was very strengthening. It was very uplifting. And I came out very resilient in the end. I did this for my grandma.”

She said her reign will focus on advocacy and respect.

“I want to spread the message that I have on my platform. I want to promote that. I want to make sure people feel uplifted and that they’re aware of their surroundings, and that they advocate for each other, that they take care of the earth and that we respect our veterans,” she said.

Looking ahead, Kevin Martin said the family will continue to support her education as she pursues a degree in optometry.

“She’s continuing to fundraise on the side for herself to go to school,” he said. “Eventually, she wants to put up an optometry place here. We’ve got a new homestead, and that all is going to daughters eventually, as it is with most Navajo nature.”

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