Michele Meiners

[Skyzabove]

Michele Meiners has been a featured guest on Blind Frog Ranch and I recently saw her name listed for an upcoming UFO conference that caters to the fringe.  I was curious about her because she is said to be “a Native American representing a blend of three Native American Nations. The Navajo, The Chippewa, and Pawnee Nation.”  The wording about who she represents was a little strange. 

She also is said to have spent “6 years in the Uinta Basin investigating Native American Cultural and its correlations to phenomenal occurrence.”

Outside of a few television appearances and conferences the ink thing I could find out was old LinkedIn post indicating she had attended BYU and had been  Executive Producer for Queen of Diamonds of Sierra Leone” which apparently had been part of the Sundance Film Festival.

[cellophane]

From an Alaska funeral home:

https://adportal.adn.com/adportal/listingDetails.html?id=807

Bernadette Rouwalk Byrd
Nov 15, 1962 -
Apr 22, 2020
Bernadette Rouwalk Byrd, 57, died on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska, of natural causes. A celebration of Bernadette's life will be held once it is safe to gather again after the COVID-19 crisis passes.
Bernadette Rouwalk was born on Nov. 15, 1962 in Gallup, N.M., to Donald Dean Rouwalk (Pawnee) and Alyce Jane Kellywood Rouwalk (Navajo). She was born into the Navajo Kiyaa'áanii Clan (Towering House Clan), born for the Skeedee (Wolf) Band of Pawnee Indians. Bernadette's loving father Don died in 1972, a loss she never forgot. She spent her childhood in Albuquerque, N.M., with her mother and three sisters, Michele, Donna and Caroline. Bernadette graduated from Sandia High School in 1980 and attended the University of New Mexico. Her early adult years were spent in Albuquerque and Window Rock, Ariz., where she had her daughter Alicia Montoya (38), and son Charles Montoya (37), with her first husband, Richard Montoya. She returned to Albuquerque after her divorce, met and married Terry Byrd from Kentucky. Together they had two sons, Andrew Byrd (30) and Justin Byrd (22). They resided in Kirtland, N.M., a few years. Throughout her life Bernadette was employed as a hair dresser, a bank teller, a U.S. government contractor and finally a federal employee with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) within the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. At the time of her death she was a General Legal and Kindred Administrator for the BIA.
In 2001 she and her family moved to Anchorage. Bernadette and Terry Byrd divorced in 2016. In 2015, Bernadette suffered from a long illness attributed to diverticulitis. With the help of her family and very good friends she recovered but her health was never the same.
Bernadette will be missed by her mother, Alyce Rouwalk Lynn; stepfather, Ron Lynn; sisters, Michele Meiners (spouse Kent Meiners), Donna Rouwalk and Caroline Rouwalk (partner Danny Diaz); children, Alicia Montoya (spouse Amanda Opeka), Charles Montoya, Andrew Byrd (partner Rainna Stock) and Justin Byrd; grandchildren, Rajker, Wyatt; and a baby granddaughter on the way (all Andrew Byrd's children); her niece and many nephews; many cousins; and her many friends across the U.S. [...]

Michele and Kent Meiners live in Sandy, Utah.

There's a long comment by Michele Rouwalk from 2014, here, about her family and her genealogy:
https://tombenjey.com/2010/03/03/more-about-rush-roberts/

Her sister Caroline is identified as "Navajo Nation and Pawnee Nation" in the April 2021 Trust Quarterly, published by the BIA:
https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/media_document/ots_qtly_newsletter_issue1_sect508_6.27.2022.pdf

I'm not sure where the Chippewa connection comes from.

[educatedindian]

We received an email from her sister. I'm posting the whole thing unedited.

----------
Hello,

My name is Caroline Rouwalk, enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and descendant of the Pawnee Nation and Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians. I recently came across a posting questioning the validity of Michele Meiners' claims to Native American heritage, specifically to her claims of Chippewa heritage. I am her sister, as you found out in the obituary from our sister, Bernadette Byrd from 2020. I am just writing to clear up the question of Michele's mentioning Chippewa heritage.

We are half Navajo from my mother's side and we are also Pawnee and Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians descendants from my father's side. As I mentioned before, I am enrolled with the Navajo Nation, however, Michele has chosen to enroll with the Pawnee nation and holds a Pawnee Nation ID card and has a Certificate of Indian Blood, as do all my sisters. The claims for "Chippewa" heritage comes from our great grandmother, Rose Denomie, who was half Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and half French Canadian. She was married to our Pawnee great grandfather, Henry Roberts, son of the Pawnee Chief Rush Roberts. Here is the Carlisle Indian link to her records there that show she was a member of Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians:

https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/student_files/rose-denomie-student-file

Also another good resource:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Denomie-19

Rose and Henry were parents to my grandmother, Edith Roberts Beardsley of Pawnee, OK, who was mother to my father, Donald Dean Rouwalk (deceased).

Following the blood quantum of Rose Denomie to our generation, that makes us 1/16th Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

I hope that clears up Michele's claims to Chippewa heritage.

Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions about our heritage. I am a long time supporter of denouncing pretendians and appreciate your work.

FYI, I was trying to register and join the forum where the posting was, but kept getting an error message.

Sincerely,
Caroline Elizabeth Rouwalk
Enrolled member of the Navajo Nation