Val Sheker

Term Start: 9/2009

Term End: 9/2012

Valorie “Val” Sheker, born May 12, 1962, is of Kalapuya heritage and the third daughter of Calvin Sheker and Vicki Reibach Long.

She returned to the Grand Ronde community in 1994 along with her three young sons. She worked in various positions with the Tribe, including secretary for the Education Department and Central Phones operator. At the same time, she attended college on a full-time basis, completing degrees at Chemeketa Community College and George Fox University in Newberg. She received a bachelor’s degree in Business and Organizational Leadership from George Fox in 2001.

In July 1998, Ms. Sheker was appointed Claims Administrator for the Tribe and Member Services administrator, a position she held until being elected to Tribal Council. During her tenure there, she oversaw enrollments, Tribal SSI/SSD, insurance and risk management, Elder pensions, Tribal health security programs, and per capita and timber disbursements. She was instrumental in the development of the spousal insurance benefits.

She first served the Grand Ronde membership as a Tribal Council member from 2002 to 2005. During her tenure on Tribal Council, she strongly advocated for Elder services, Tribal member housing, health care, intergovernmental relations, increased per capita, a cultural interpretive center, Tribal member employment and economic development.

She has been re-elected to Tribal Council in 2006 and 2009.

While on Tribal Council, Ms. Sheker emerged as one of the most visible Grand Ronde leaders in local and Indian Country politics. She helped form the Oregon Tribal Gaming Alliance and was elected as the alliance’s first vice chairperson. She also was elected as vice chairperson of the Executive Board of the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments, which represents 42 local governments. She also served as a member of the Women’s Lawmakers and Legislators group and was the Tribe’s representative on the Oregon Department of Transportation regional planning organization.

In 2008, she was elected third vice president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, which represents the concerns of 54 Northwest Tribal governments in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, northern California and western Montana.

Ms. Sheker continues to serve as a member in good standing with the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, a “council of councils.” Her special interest has been working with ATNI’s Culture and Elders Committee. She also has demonstrated her leadership in the effort to preserve Fort Vancouver’s historic St. James Cemetery.

She enjoys attending cultural, Elders and Tribal gatherings. She has served before being elected to Tribal Council on the Royalty and Culture committees and continues to support them during her term on Tribal Council.

She lives in Grand Ronde with her three sons, Gary, Eric and Anthony. Eric and his love, Tribal member Hope Lafferty, made her a first-time grandmother on July 4, 2006, with the birth of Ethan Sabin.

Gary and his wife, Teri, gave Ms. Sheker her first granddaughter, Azreyuh, shortly after Ethan’s birth. Since then, she has been in God’s grace to have three more grandchildren, including identical twin boys from Hope and Eric.

On Christmas Eve 2005, she became engaged to Umatilla Tribal member Dave Tovey.