<\/p>\n
Delta State University alumnus Calvin J. Isaac \u201958, the first democratically-elected Tribal chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, died on Jan. 11, 2020, following a lengthy illness. He was 86 and had battled diabetes for many years.<\/p>\n
Edited excerpts of a Jan. 15 obituary in The Neshoba Democrat<\/em> appear below. To read the unedited version, click here<\/a>. For another tribute, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Isaac was born on Dec. 5, 1933, in Neshoba County where he lived most of his life. He graduated from Meridian High School. He served four years in the U.S. Army. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree from Delta State University in 1958 and his master\u2019s degree in education from Mississippi State University. He was the first Tribal member to earn a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n Isaac became chief in 1975 after the Tribe had changed its Constitution and began electing its leadership. He served one term as Tribal chief. During his term, he testified before Congress concerning the Indian Child Welfare Bill. Years later, Isaac was elected to serve on the Tribal Council. He represented the Pearl River Community.<\/p>\n Along with his duties in Tribal government, he was an educator in the Tribal schools where he served as teacher, assistant principal, and principal. He also was pastor of the Canaan Baptist Church.<\/p>\n Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben ordered the lowering of all Tribal flags throughout Choctaw Tribal lands out of respect for the family and to honor his memory.<\/p>\n \u201cTaRita and I, along with all Tribal members, join the grieving family over the loss of our first Tribal chief. He will be greatly missed,\u201d said Chief Ben. \u201cI had the great opportunity of knowing Chief Isaac my entire life. He was always a teacher, and I value his words of wisdom. We send our prayers to the entire Isaac family, as we honor the life and legacy of Chief Calvin Isaac.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time the Choctaws succeeded, it brought joy to his heart,\u201d said Isaac\u2019s nephew, Brant Isaac Jr., who spoke for the family. \u201cNo one was a stranger to him. His family was very important to him and he loved to spend time with family members. He enjoyed church activities and church functions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a good person to talk to gain insight,\u201d Isaac continued. \u201cHe was there for religious assistance, educational matters and motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n Tribal members shared their stories about Isaac on the Tribe\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n Eileen George said he was a \u201cgreat pillar\u201d of the community and that \u201cwords cannot express how much progress he made for Choctaw people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was an honorable Chief and friend,\u201d LaGatha Kay wrote. \u201cHe was a person with great integrity and honor. God bless his family and friends and bring comfort during their loss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Delta State University alumnus Calvin J. Isaac \u201958, the first democratically-elected Tribal chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, died on Jan. 11, 2020, following a lengthy illness….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":566,"featured_media":85794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85793"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85796,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85793\/revisions\/85796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}