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'Big castle' greets Piestewas
Relatives, Native American community cheer unveiling
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0420piestewa20.html
Mark Shaffer and Betty Reid
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 20, 2005 12:00 AM

FLAGSTAFF - They call it "The Reveal," when the giant tour bus motors away and the lucky winners of an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house get the first look at their new palace and go crazy.

And, as the ABC cameras rolled, Priscilla "Percy" Piestewa, the mother of the late Hopi military icon Lori Piestewa, did nothing to disappoint Tuesday afternoon.

She yelled, slapped her forehead with both palms, bent her knees and lurched into show host Ty Pennington's arms, hugged Jessica Lynch and, finally, crossed herself in the Catholic way.

And, that was nothing compared with the reaction of Lori's 5-year-old daughter, Carla Lynn.

She made a beeline to an aquarium full of swimming turtles and past walls full of Native American paintings, finely woven Navajo rugs, pottery from throughout the Southwest and one full of Hopi kachinas.

Five minutes and three laps later, Carla Lynn still had not stopped racing from one interesting thing to the next in the 4,300-square-foot, $500,000 home near the base of the San Francisco Peaks, which Lynch, Lori's best Army buddy, had nominated her family for.

Joe Zaback, a fireplace installer from Metairie, La., said it was one of the most amazing homes he has ever seen.

"Pure hardwood floors, a granite kitchen counter and all the extras you can imagine," said Zaback, watching a live video feed of the ecstatic Piestewas touring their new digs.

"We installed three fireplaces in eight hours, and it took another day and a half to do all the stone and tile work," Zaback said.

The show involving the Piestewas is scheduled to be a two-hour segment in the season finale of Extreme Makeover on May 22.

'Move that bus!'
Before the Piestewas arrived in a stretch limousine at 3:25 p.m., a noisy crowd of about 2,000 just beyond a nearby corral yelled "Move that bus!" to try to get a better look at the entrance of the house, which took 300 workers for Shea Homes and 1,000 other contractors just more than five days to complete.

One sign in the center of the crowd bopping in the gale-force winds, also ordered in the Navajo language, "Naajíí Bus," or "Move out of the way, bus."

Siblings and relatives, including Mary Chris Martin, Lori's aunt and Percy's younger sister who traveled from Window Rock, happily witnessed Percy and husband, Terry, receive the keys to the new home.

"Percy has come full circle," Martin said, "we were born here in Flagstaff."

Martin said their late Hispanic mother, who died in her early 20s, is buried in a cemetery there.

Shortly thereafter, their father remarried and moved his large family to Tuba City, moving into a tiny dirt-floor house made of granite west of Tuba City Trading Post on Monave Road.

The Piestewas have been living in an overstuffed, aging rental mobile home on Tuba City Unified School District property and both work at the school district.

Martin glanced at the giant house with the snow-covered peaks as a backdrop with rapidly moving low-lying cumulus clouds, and said, "It's a big castle."

Liz Gonzales, Percy's sister who lives in Peoria, drove up for the occasion.

"My feeling is just, they've been through so much, losing Lori. I'm so happy for Percy and Terry," Gonzales said. "It's a gorgeous house."


Dedication to Lori


Alph Secakuku, a resident of Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation and a tribal artisan, sang a song about the Long-Haired Kachinas as the limo arrived with the Piestewas, Carla Lynn and Lori's son, Brandon, 6.

Secakuku said he dedicated the song to Lori, whom he said was a fan of his Hopi songs and listened to his music in Iraq before her death.

"The whole family is such an integral part of Tuba City and the community," said Marsha Griffin, a resident of Tuba City and clerk of the school's governing board. "They're going to be missed but they won't be far, and their hearts will always be in Tuba."

Piestewa was killed while driving a supply truck in southern Iraq during the first week of the war in March 2003. Her memorial service in Tuba City, attended by about 5,000, was held two years ago to the week before the house was completed.

Piestewa, the first Native American woman killed on foreign soil during battle, since has been elevated to cult status, especially among Native Americans, and a peak and parkway were named after her in Phoenix.

Lynch was severely wounded in the truck Piestewa was driving and was later freed after a daring rescue by U.S. special forces at a hospital.

The TV show's producers also arranged for a veterans complex to be built in Tuba City for Native Americans, which was dedicated on Monday.

[Soprano84]

Sweet!!! Now I have a reason to watch the show!!

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The new home video to download here:
http://www.4law.co.il/L697.html