Profile Description
Ramona Button was born in Sacaton to a Tohono O’Odaham father and a Pima mother.
A professional nurse, in the ‘70s she began to see a decline of health on the reservation because the people were getting away from their traditional foods. She started planting corn, wheat, Tepary and other beans and harvesting the seeds. Soon people across the reservation learned what she and Terry were doing and wanted the beans.
Terry was born into a non Indian family in Connecticut but always felt closeness to the Native American cultures. He met Ramona in Rapid City, South Dakota and followed her back to Arizona where they were married. Although he is not a member of the Tribal Council he has been instrumental in agriculture on the reservation, fighting to improve water distribution to the Indian farmers and a variety of other causes.
