Retired broadcaster Hattie Kauffman, a four-time Emmy winner, shared a message of hope with more than 100 people Tuesday at the Menominee Casino Resort.
Kauffman’s presentation was sponsored by the College of Menominee Nation as part of the school library’s Community Reads program.
“She was thrilled and really excited to come, and we were really glad that she was able to fit it into her schedule and able to make arrangements,” said Maria Escalante, library director of the S. Verna Fowler Academic Library/Menominee Public Library. “We were ecstatic.”
The 25-year news veteran, who worked with Good Morning America and CBS National News as a correspondent, retired from reporting in 2012 to work on her memoir. She was the first Native American journalist to file a report on a national network evening news broadcast.
At CMN and other stops in the area Tuesday, she shared her experience of overcoming poverty and a home with alcoholic parents.
“When I was 4 years old, we left the reservation, moved to the projects of Seattle and everything fell apart,” recalled Kauffman, who is a member of the Nez Perce tribe in Idaho. “My parents started drinking.”
Kauffman read an excerpt from her newly published book, “Falling into Place: A Memoir of Overcoming,” describing how she and her six siblings left their parents’ home in search of food: “Seven kids on their own, often for days, sometimes for weeks because there was no one shopping. It was not like fishing or hunting, we are in the projects of Seattle.”
Kauffman said she eventually forgave her parents for her childhood and waited until both died to publish the book.
In Kauffman’s two days in the area, she also visited the Green Bay campus of the College of Menominee Nation, Shawano Community High School and the CMN-Keshena campus.
“I visited a digital media class at CMN and got to work with some up and coming reporters, and it was a really great thing to see,” Kauffman said.
She also shared her experiences with three classes at SCHS on Tuesday morning.
“I just basically shared my story, encouraged them to stay in school, and always give more than what is required and not to give up,” Kauffman said.
“It has been great. I met so many wonderful people here and felt welcome here,” she said. “And I also felt that when I shared some of the struggles that I have overcome that I can see it in their eyes, that maybe they can identify with poverty, maybe they can identify with the alcoholism.”
Categories
