Bearing his grandmother’s staff of eagle feathers, Comanche Tribe member Bill Voelker was the special guest speaker at the Chickasha Kiwanis Club luncheon meeting on Tuesday.

Joining Voelker was Troy “He Who Saves The Eagle From The Water,” (the English translation of his Comanche name).

Representatives of “SIA,” an organization in Cyril that raises eagles for the preservation of Indian culture and rituals, the two brought along a 44-year-old African Wahlberg’s Eagle, a cousin to the Golden Eagle.

In addition to raising eagles, the organization also keeps an archive of published and unpublished manuscripts, a photo archive of more than 1,400 items dating from the mid-1800s and a collection of artifacts stored in a carefully controlled environment.

“But our primary work is eagles,” said Voelker, who studied ornithology at Cornell University. “We have ongoing behavioral studies and we have traveled from Palo Duro Canyon in Texas to Montana checking on eagle nesting sites for more than 40 years. It is a calling and a responsibility because of our background.”

Voelker said they would occasionally come upon a nesting site that they thought was previously undiscovered only to find old prayer bundles at the site.

SIA, which is Comanche for “feather,” has several “firsts” to its name, including being the first organization in the world to produce a Bald Eagle through artificial insemination and they have released more eagles into the wild than any other group, 308 to date.

Troy, whom Voelker’s grandmother recognized as having an affinity with the birds, is one of the last Comanche captives and has been with the tribe for more than 30 years.

According to Voelker, captives among the Comanches, “a warlike, nomadic people,” were not considered prisoners, but were able to rise to the rank of War Chief.

Voelker’s grandmother, who lived to the age of 111 years, gave Troy the Comanche name of “He Who Saves The Eagle From The Water” after he dove into an icy river to save the lives of two fledgling Golden Eagles.

“Grandmother lived in forced captivity, but she never wore a bought dress, never converted to Christianity and always spoke Comanche,” said Voelker.

The staff belonging to Voelker’s grandmother is made up of several kinds of eagle feathers including those of the Golden Eagle, the White-tailed Sea Eagle, the Imperial Eagle, the African Wahlberg’s Eagle and the American Bald Eagle. Several Parrot feathers were added to represent her work in South America. All of the feathers on the staff are molted feathers that shed naturally.

Voelker told of a recent battle with Ft. Sill over the protection of one of the last nesting sites for Golden Eagles in Oklahoma.

“We have to re-educate the command at Ft. Sill periodically, they weren’t in tune with our sacred sites,” said Voelker, who filed for an injunction and won. “It’s been quite a battle, but the staff stood its ground. Only 20 percent of the Comanche are in tune today; it’s a sad statistic, but we see the younger people coming this way - showing up and asking questions.”

SIA is responsible for its own fundraising and donations are gladly accepted. For more information or to schedule a tour of the facility, call 580-464-2750.