Thomas Leon Hebert

Dementia hammered Tom Hebert, who knew the end was near when he could no longer ride Eusebio, his Cayuse pony and best friend.

Hebert died alone Tuesday, Feb. 8, at the age of 83, at the Maple Valley Memory Home in Monmouth, Oregon.

Tom was born Aug. 9, 1938, in Wenatchee, Washington, but grew up on Vashon Island where his parents ran a nursing home for wayward gentlemen down on their luck.

Hebert spent the last 20 years living on the Umatilla Indian Reservation and developed a reputation as a social gadfly, defined as a person who interferes with the status quo of a community by posing novel, potentially upsetting questions, usually directed at authorities. 

In 1960, Hebert graduated with a theater degree from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, and did his graduate work at the Dallas Theater Center and at Baylor University in Texas.

He was hired in 2000 as a consultant to develop plans for a horse program to serve Native youth. Because Tom always overdid things, the horse project (and other unsolicited documents) ended up gathering dust somewhere on a shelf. When someone asked him for three pages, he would write 30, albeit backed up with detailed research.

But before moving here, Hebert had an adventurous life that included stints as a Retired Peace Corps volunteer in Nigeria from 1962-64. After his Peace Corps service, he taught English and Speech at Prairie View A&M in Texas when that school was the largest Black college in the country.

Tom was as a USO organizer and for 18 months established USO Clubs to entertain troops on U.S. Marine Corps combat bases in South Vietnam. He was honored by, among others, General Foster La Hue, First Marine Division, in 1967. He was also awarded the USA Medal of Civilian Service in 1968.

In the late 60’s Tom was a UNICEF refugee relief officer during the Biafra war on the Portuguese Island of Sao Tome where he challenged the racism of a church-led effort, resulting in his deportation under armed guard on a night arms flight to Lisbon.

He co-authored two books espousing the promise of trade schools.

He worked nine years in Chattanooga as supervisor of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Energy Conservation and Solar Institute.

He worked as a consultant for the Duwamish Indian Tribes.

He was the keynote speaker on the campus of the University of Idaho with remarks recognizing Martin Luther King Jr.

He moved to the Umatilla Indian Reservation in 2000 and his love deepened for the durable Cayuse pony. He and Eusebio rode in local and regional parades, including the Westward Ho! Parade at the Pendleton Round-Up. He gave kids rides during events at Tamastlikt Cultural Institute.

When he died, Hebert left boxes of extensive research on the Cayuse Tribe and the Cayuse horse.

The research, reading and riding of Cayuse horses, especially his own Eusebio, was Tom’s passion. A horseman’s quote in the Spanish Mustang Registry said this of Hebert: “You used to irritate me (as you well know) but as time has gone on, damned if I’m not pretty much on your side … You have done more with your horse than anyone I know of but have gotten less attention for it.”

Not many will miss Tom.

He wanted attention. He wanted validation. He mostly got in his own way, but that never stopped him from trying to make things better.