to be a National Medal winner is one of the greatest and largest biggest
privileges and honors that have ever come our way and I say thank you Patrick
Pat coral is a Barona tribal elder and a huge supporter of Verona cultural center
and museum he gives generously of his time as a volunteer
he's a captivating storyteller a devoted language teacher and so much more
Pat is one of just a few fluent speakers of the native language
IPE off he learned the language as a young man listening to and talking with
his elders as an adult it has been his passion to preserve the language and
share it with his children grandchildren and future generations of the community
Pat is dedicated to teaching the native language through the museum's language
classes Pat is also the chair of Bironas language Preservation Committee and was
integral in the creation of Bironas 600-page dictionary a publication
documenting the endangered language for the next generations while he sees us so
many of the old ways are gone he understands how important it is to learn
about the old ways and their ancestors that came before his beliefs aligned
with the Burano cultural center in museums mission and he truly is a
valuable community member wherever some jumpa high-g was new wars guide oh when
I was a youngster all of my grandparents their age they spoke the language and it
was like a secret language when they didn't want us to know what they were
doing but one day when I was a young boy my uncle from Mesa Grande II was
visiting my grandfather and he said in English to my grandfather he said does
that boy know the language so he told me something in Indian and I didn't
understand it when my uncle Lawrence left I told my grandfather I said I
don't want to embarrass you ever again I said you start teaching me you talked to
me and that's sort of how it got stuck and this younger generation keeps
growing up and they've some people some of these kids have never heard the
language spoken in a conversation I think it's important it's a part of our
identity of who we are and I was privileged to sit there every time we
had a session with many of the elders that helped to make that length that
dictionary up I don't know 10 or 15 years we spent compiling all that
information makes us proud to have our language in written form and be able to
share it with people and I'm so grateful to see people that study it it was it's
a privilege to see the preschool kids they know a few words and if it weren't
for the museum we wouldn't hold on to these things and now to be nationally
recognized it really makes us feel proud