Carl’s Childhood
Alice (Peshlakai) Gorman poses with her two oldest children, Carl and Mary . Photo by J.R. Willis, Gallup, NM, 1909.
Carl Gorman was born in 1907 in a one room stone home outside of Chinle, AZ. He was one of five siblings and the oldest son of Nelson and Alice (Peshlakai) Gorman. Alice was the daughter of the famous silversmith Beshlagai iłiini ałts’óózigii (slender silver maker) who was from Crystal, New Mexico. Both she and her husband, Nelson were some of the first Diné (Navajo -the people) to be sent off to boarding schools in the 1890s. Alice attended the Teller Indian School in Grand Junction, Colorado, while Nelson went to Santa Indian School. Upon graduation the couple met and married in 1903. Carl spent his early childhood on his father’s ranch in Chinle. His dad was one of the first Navajos to own and operate a trading post in the early 1900s.
As a student at Teller Indian School Alice became a Presbyterian. She also fell in love with western types of music and later, after returning to the reservation, she translated over thirty Christian hymns into Diné bazaad (Navajo language).
Carl, far right, and his younger brother Wallace, help out with chores. The man, John Lee, was one of Nelson Gorman’s ranch hands. circa 1913.
Boarding School
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