Santa Fe Living Treasures – Elder Stories

In his fifties Richard improvised again. He and Jean were living in the hubbub created by their Lakota friends. "Cooking was a big part of it," Jean recalled. "Whole families would show up with kids. We got to know some of the old folks." Richard found jobs at ad agencies for many of these friends and a new career for himself.

The instigator was Lame Deer, a Lakota medicine man who arrived with his possession in a shoebox and stayed two months. "His medicine told him," he insisted, that Richard would write his story. "Impossible," Richard said. "Not only am I not a writer, but English is my second language." The medicine man persisted and in the end Richard wrote a sample chapter and an outline "just to get rid of him." Within forty-eight hours, they had a book contract. Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, became a classic, translated into many languages. And Richard, the photographer and illustrator, became a much published author as well, with twenty-five titles to his credit.