Ardina Revard Moore of Miami, Oklahoma, passed from this life on April 19, 2022, at Montereau in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was 91.
Ardina, Quapaw/Osage, was born December 1, 1930, in Belton, TX to Jimmy Osage and Martha Dora (Griffin) Revard. Her mother died when Ardina was only seven years old. She was raised by her grandfather, Chief Victor Griffin, who was the last chief of the Quapaw Tribe before they formed a business committee, and her grandmother, Minnie Griffin. Chief Griffin was both Osage and Quapaw and was a liaison for the Osage. In the 1920s he testified to Congress in Washington, D.C. on the use of peyote in the Native American Church religion.
Ardina grew up speaking both English and Quapaw while living on the farm with her grandparents. She also lived in Moore, Oklahoma and Deer Lodge, Montana before moving to Miami in 1978.
Ardina graduated from Northeastern State University in 1957 and taught health and physical education at high schools in Midwest City and Del City, Oklahoma. After making traditional clothing for her children to attend powwows, she became a fashion designer and in 1983 she founded an Indian apparel business called Buffalo Sun in Miami. This business took her to fashion shows across Indian Country, with her work appearing in shows such as the Powhatan Renape Nation fashion show in Pennsylvania; Los Angeles, where fashion shows were held at the American Cultural Center and the International Trade Center. She won first place in the Santa Fe Indian Market fashion show twice and was awarded best in her division at the Eiteljorg Museum’s annual Indian Market in Indianapolis. In 2003, she was honored by the Heard Museum in Phoenix.
As one of the last remaining speakers of the Quapaw language, she made it a life goal to preserve the culture and language of the tribe and proudly developed and implemented an education curriculum designed to preserve the language for future generations. She is a founding member of the Dhegiha Language Society, an annual conference that brings together language speakers from the Osage, Omaha, Quapaw, Kaw, Ponca and Northern Ponca nations.
During her career, she served as an adjunct professor at the Northeastern A&M College and taught Indian history and genealogy. While at NEO, she joined the Community Service Program and began teaching evening language classes to preserve the Quapaw language. In 2011, she was an inductee into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame and has served in multiple leadership roles including Secretary-Treasurer, Tribal Historian, Quapaw Cultural Historian and Genealogist and chair of the Quapaw Tribal Cultural Committee. In 2016, she was honored at the AARP’s 8th Annual Indian Elder Honors.
She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Miami, the Native American Church, the Order of the Eastern Star Chapter in Miami and the Daughters of the Nile.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. James D. Moore, M.D.; daughter, Suzy Moore; son, Buckner Moore and her parents.
Ardina is survived by two sons, Steven Lyle Moore of Miami and James Revard Moore and his wife Albina of University Place, Washington; one daughter, Martha Barker and her husband Terry of Tulsa; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her grandson, Joseph Tali Byrd, is the current Chairman of the Quapaw Tribe.
Funeral services will be at 9:30 a.m. Friday, April 22, 2022, at the Pavillion at Downstream Casino. Zack Morris will officiate and George Stabler will conduct Native American Rites. Interment will follow in the Griffin Family Cemetery, southeast of Quapaw. Ardina will lie in state at her home until 8 a.m. Friday. Services have been placed in the care of Paul Thomas Funeral Home and Cremation Service of Miami.
