My name is Lorie Michelle Robins.  My great grandmother was May Pearl Durin, an original enrollee on the Chickasaw Nation Dawes Roll. 

I was introduced to storytelling by Glenda Galvan, Museum Director for the Chickasaw Nation.  I would go with her to surrounding schools and various functions she was asked to attend and sit there and just listen and watch how she had the whole audience of all ages enter another world.

The traditional way of storytelling is by the mother giving her stories or oral history, in most cases, to her daughters, and they, in turn, would give them to their daughters, and so on.  But, in Glenda's words, "the good Lord blessed me with two boys."  So traditionally, the stories would end with her, but she didn't want that. 

So she began to ask the elders, whom she much respected, what could be done so that the stories would continue.  A few said nothing could be done; the stories would just stop. But others told her that she could adopt someone, a person that she felt would tell the stories the way they should be told.  With great honor, I accepted when she asked me and have been having the time of my life ever since. 

To learn more about the storytelling traditions of the Chickasaw Nation, please contact Lorie Robins at (580) 272-5520.