The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation mourns the passing of its eldest member, Lillian Agnetta Sebastian, who joined the Creator March 28, 2005. The Tribe recently honored Lillian as she celebrated her 99th birthday with congratulatory letters from Connecticut’s congressional delegation and a proclamation from Governor M. Jodi Rell naming her birthday “Lillian Sebastian Day” in the state.
Born January 13, 1906, to Arthur and Julia Sebastian, Lillian was the second of nine children. Her family moved to Mystic when she was a child and she and her siblings attended Mystic Academy. As the eldest girl, her family came to recognize her as their matriarch and the Tribe revered her as an Elder. Lillian attended the Tribe’s Fourth Sunday Meetings in the early 1900s, joining her extended family at gatherings often held at her aunt’s home in Mystic.
Lillian made her own way in life, even as a young woman. She absorbed her parents’ strict work ethic; as a child she earned twenty-five cents an hour at her first jobs picking strawberries and blueberries. When her oldest brother Arthur moved to New York City, where he eventually worked as a stockbroker on Wall Street, Lillian also left home to work with various families in New York and Pennsylvania. But with four brothers serving overseas during World War II, Lillian returned to Mystic and a job at Electric Boat. Although her first choice was to become a carpenter, she learned welding instead and spent four years in the “Victory Yard” climbing in and out of ballast tanks, welding seams so the tanks could be used in submarines.
When the war ended, Lillian’s job also ended, as did those of many women. Determined to be independent and filled with ambition, Lillian started her own catering business for weddings, dinner parties, and large events. She was so successful and built up such a loyal following that devoted customers were still calling her to bake for them on holidays when she was ninety-eight years young.
In the 1970s, Lillian applied for permission from the State of Connecticut to live on the Eastern Pequot Reservation. Based on her heritage and family line, the state agreed that as an Eastern Pequot she was entitled to a home on one of this country’s oldest continuously occupied Native American reservations. Her home is still there, although age finally made it more difficult for Lillian to spend as much time there as she would have liked. An active member of the Elder’s Council of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, Lillian never missed a Pow-Wow and only very rare illnesses kept her from Tribal and Elder’s meetings. Until her final, brief sickness, Lillian practiced yoga, rode an exercise bicycle, worked around the house, and planted a garden every year.
Tribal members regularly sought Lillian’s advice and valued her opinions and views on their most important issues. She was a living symbol of the Tribe’s historic roots in southeastern Connecticut, and a moral guide for several generations. Lillian considered her siblings her best friends; she is survived by her remaining sister Idabelle and brother Howard. Brothers Arthur, Warren, James, and Benjamin and sisters Dorothy, Marjorie, and Julia predeceased her, as did her father Arthur and mother Julia. Hundreds of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews will miss her good cheer, wisdom, and guidance in their lives.
Her family will greet relatives and friends at The Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl Street, historic downtown Mystic on Friday from 10:00am until 12noon.A private, traditional Native American going home ceremony and burial at Elm Grove Cemetery will follow the calling hours.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Elder’s Council can be sent to the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, Post Office Box 208, North Stonington, CT 06359.