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Tommy Thompson final appearance 1957

9305-B7076. The last public appearance of Chief Tommy Thompson, photographed here with his wife Flora, as they were arriving in Celilo for the Feast of the First Salmon on Saturday, May 11, 1957. Chief Thompson, age 102, came to "say a few words of farewell" to the salmon and the falls at the annual festival being held just two months after Celilo had been permanently submerged by the backwaters of The Dalles Dam. After the ceremonies and an overnight stay in Celilo village, he returned to his room at the Hanby nursing home in Hood River. According to newspaper accounts, on the night of his return he had nightmares, which caused him to climb over the guardrails of his bed, when he fell and fractured his right hip. He was taken to the Hood River Memorial hospital where surgeons placed a steel pin in his hip. The next year's Salmon Feast was held in Tommy Thompson's honor, but the elderly Chief never again personally attended. He lived two more years and passed away on April 12, 1959.

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9305-B7076.tif
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HistoricPhotoArchive.net
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All Photographs, Celilo
9305-B7076. The last public appearance of Chief Tommy Thompson, photographed here with his wife Flora, as they were arriving in Celilo for the Feast of the First Salmon on Saturday, May 11, 1957. Chief Thompson, age 102, came to "say a few words of farewell" to the salmon and the falls at the annual festival being held just two months after Celilo had been permanently submerged by the backwaters of The Dalles Dam. After the ceremonies and an overnight stay in Celilo village, he returned to his room at the Hanby nursing home in Hood River. According to newspaper accounts, on the night of his return he had nightmares, which caused him to climb over the guardrails of his bed, when he fell and fractured his right hip. He was taken to the Hood River Memorial hospital where surgeons placed a steel pin in his hip. The next year's Salmon Feast was held in Tommy Thompson's honor, but the elderly Chief never again personally attended. He lived two more years and passed away on April 12, 1959.