Kirk Perry honored with Lifetime Service Award
KINGSTON, Okla. – The 2025 Chickasaw Historical Society (CHS) Ittafama Ithana (Gathering to Learn) Conference provided an opportunity to honor a dedicated historic preservationist and learn more about the essence of Chickasaw culture. The annual conference was conducted June 23-24 at West Bay Casino and Resort in Kingston, Oklahoma.
The 2025 Ittafama Ithana Conference was designed around the theme of Chikasha Naanoli' Holitto'pa' (Sharing Our Chickasaw Treasures). It included presentations and discussions about Chickasaw language preservation efforts, Choctaw hymns translation and history, as well as the sharing of Chickasaw stories and historic reenactments.
Kirk Perry, a Chickasaw citizen who has dedicated his career to preserving Chickasaw culture and history, was awarded the CHS Lifetime Service Award.
The CHS Lifetime Service Award is presented by the CHS board of directors to individuals who exemplify a lifetime of service and outstanding contribution to Chickasaw history and culture and far-reaching communities.
Board member Wilson Seawright said Perry had committed his lifetime to serving the Chickasaw people, and sharing and preserving Chickasaw history.
Perry has served for many years in historic preservation and repatriation efforts for the Chickasaw Nation. His work in these efforts covers a vast expanse of the historic Homeland, across parts of present-day Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, as well as Oklahoma. He currently serves as the Chickasaw Nation Historic Preservation Division Executive Officer.
Perry is the son of Chickasaw parents Johnson and Sophia Perry. He attended East Central University and pursued education in general business and mathematics. During the 1970s, Perry served as deputy director of the Chickasaw Housing Authority. In this role, he helped lead the tribal housing program to become the second-largest Indian Housing Authority in the United States. He also assisted in the establishment of the Oklahoma Indian Housing Association and the National American Indian Housing Council, both of which he served as a board member and officer.
For more than 25 years, Perry worked in land survey, highway contract administration, architectural planning and consulting. He successfully operated businesses in oil and gas leasing, commercial and residential building inspections, and construction before returning to serve the Chickasaw Nation. Perry has been a member of the Chickasaw Foundation board since 2001.
“Kirk’s parents were Chickasaw. He grew up being Chickasaw. He was around Chickasaws. He heard Chickasaw. He lived Chickasaw,” Seawright said. “He promoted it. He shared it through his efforts. We are preserving it. For that reason, we want to recognize Mr. Kirk Perry for the Lifetime Service Award of the Chickasaw Historical Society.”
Perry accepted the award, thanking the historical society.
“This award is something that I could not imagine,” Perry said. “Growing up, I never knew much about the Chickasaw Nation, but over time, there’s been so much accomplished, and part of it is a result of the historical society.”
Perry said it is important for First American tribes to have a historical society, and the Chickasaw Historical Society is an organization that benefits its members.
“One of the main things that’s important about our historical society is the people involved, the treasures. It’s been a blessing to be able to work among our people and doing what I do is a great thing. It's enjoyable all the time,” he said.
Perry concluded by encouraging members to continue to be actively involved in the organization.
Chickasaw citizen Heather Brown, Springdale, Arkansas, attended the conference in person for the first time after watching it online last year. Brown said she wants to learn more about her Chickasaw heritage so she can pass the knowledge on to her three children.
“I was interested in learning and connecting in a deeper way of what it means to be Chickasaw, for my children,” she said.
Brown, who said she receives her Chickasaw heritage from both her mother and father, did not grow up immersed in Chickasaw culture.
“We knew we were Chickasaw, but we were not raised that way. It was later, when we were older, we really came to know what it means to be Chickasaw. I am on that journey for myself and for my kids.”
Connecting with a First American group near her home highlighted Brown’s quest to learn more about the intricacies of her tribe’s culture and language.
“I’m also a poet and a writer, and I love weaving words and ideas together. I love taking the concept of a Chickasaw word and exploring the spirit of that word,” she said.
Brown’s goal of attending the conference was “finding out how do I weave that into my life and the lives of my children, so they grow up with knowing not just that they’re Chickasaw but what it means to be alive in the Chickasaw Nation.”
The annual conference gives Chickasaw people a place to reconnect and maintain and celebrate their Chickasaw identity, said conference organizers.
Topics and presenters included “Storytelling: Our Ancestors Still Speak” with Donna Courtney; “Documenting Chickasaw Conversations” with Kimberly Johnson, Ph.D.; “Molly Gunn Reenactment” with Lisa Johnson-Billy; and “Choctaw Hymns in the Chickasaw Nation” with Howard Thompson and Joshua Daney.
Additionally, a reception was conducted the evening of June 23, which provided CHS members an opportunity to network and fellowship with one another, and hear from a panel focusing on Chickasaw language.
The Chickasaw Historical Society was established by tribal law April 15, 1994. Board members are appointed by Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby.
For more information or to become a member, visit Chickasaw.net/CHS.