Diné Elder Lupita McClanahan will speak at Museum at Warm Springs on Tues., Feb. 3

(WARM SPRINGS, Ore., Jan. 23, 2026) — The Museum at Warm Springs (2189 Highway 26 in Warm Springs) will present a lecture by Diné (Navajo) elder Lupita McClanahan from the Navajo Nation on Tuesday, February 3, from 4 to 6 p.m. The Museum will host a reception to meet Lupita from 4 to 4:30 p.m. The reception and lecture are free and open to the general public.

Lupita McClanahan grew up at Tse’gi (Rock Canyon), which is now known as Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. She was raised in secrecy by her clan’s medicine people so she could avoid the boarding schools and keep her culture alive.

While the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school system took Lupita away from her family and ancestral land, she used that experience to understand the contemporary world. She worked for years as a Park Service Ranger and has dedicated her life to building a bridge between the modern world and traditional Diné culture.

Lupita will share her life experiences and stories of “Living in Beauty in Difficult Times,” where she will talk about “Hozho” — or “The Beauty Way” — a core practice of the Diné people. This is a practice grounded in connecting to Mother Earth and Father Sky so that everything one does in life is done with the intention of creating beauty. Lupita will speak about her life, her relationship with the land, our relationships with one another, and how to move forward together.

“Lupita has an important message and valuable life lessons to share from Indigenous values and knowledge systems,” says Museum Executive Director Elizabeth Woody (Warm Springs, Yakama and Diné). “This will be a very special listening and learning opportunity and a wonderful way to begin the new year at The Museum.”