From the Battle Creek Inquirer:
Laura Spurr wore many hats in her 64 years of life: nurse, health official, fundraiser and tribal chairwoman for the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi.
Spurr died Friday from a heart attack suffered while she was in Temecula, Calif., according to a statement released by her family. She was there to speak at the Pechanga Resort & Casino about what she is probably best known for publicly in the Battle Creek area: the FireKeepers Casino, a project Spurr and the tribe pursued for nearly a decade.
The casino was one of Spurr’s many projects she pursued throughout her life. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1967 with a degree in nursing, she found herself working in the health field in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and Grosse Pointe.
Spurr also obtained a master’s degree from Chicago’s DePaul University with a double major in nursing administration and education.
In Washington, she was active in several organizations, such as the Personnel Committee for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington and the Committee of the League of Women Voters.
Health continued to be an issue for Spurr, who served as the Chair of the Education Committee and the Health Committee at the tribe’s Pine Creek reservation.
Spurr never stopped being a nurse, even in the days just prior to her death, according to RoAnn Beebe-Mohr, Tribal Council secretary.
“On our way out here, there was a medical emergency on the plane,” Beebe-Mohr said by telephone from California. “Laura – being a registered nurse – stepped up and helped take care of this woman. She stayed with her until the paramedics boarded the plane.”
Spurr also spearheaded the tribe’s Moguago Scholarship Fund and golf outing and reserved funds to build a 6,000-square foot health center at Pine Creek, which opened in 2008.
A member of the Tribal Council since 1999, Spurr saw the construction of FireKeepers Casino as a path to the improvement of living standards for the tribe.
“Laura was a tremendous leader with great vision who led our tribe during a period of growth and development,” Homer Mandoka, tribal council vice chairman, said in a statement released Saturday. “Her legacy will be with us for generations. She will be greatly missed.”
Beebe-Mohr echoed those statements, and also described Spurr as her best friend.
“Without Laura being the tribal chair, it probably wouldn’t have got done,” she said. “She was a very strong leader.”
The $300 million casino took 18 months to build, and the tribe spent years battling in courts with casino and gambling opponents.
“Our tribe looks forward to bringing 2,500 good-paying jobs to the area, which is struggling once again by the economic downturn,” Spurr said in 2006, after the group known as Citizens Exposing Truth About Casinos dropped a lawsuit against the tribe.
Jobs weren’t the only thing Spurr said the casino would bring; revenue from the facility’s income was and will continue to be shared with the area.
A week prior to Spurr’s death, a check for almost $2 million was given to the FireKeepers Local Revenue Sharing Board. The money goes to local governments for increased costs and lost tax revenues from tribal lands.
“We are spending our money in Calhoun County and the state of Michigan and helping the economy go forward,” Spurr told the Enquirer at the time.
The local economy was important to Spurr, especially in the Athens area. She grew up at Pine Creek and longed for downtown Athens to become what she remembered from her childhood. She said in 2009 that she hoped business would return and the tribal council said expansions at Pine Creek could be good for Athens.
“Our homeland is here (in Athens),” she said. “This is where the membership wants to be.”
Beebe-Mohr said Spurr graduated from Athens High School, and her funeral is expected to draw hundreds of people, including dignitaries from other tribes and government officials.
Spurr is survived by her husband, Stephen, and two sons, Nathaniel and Josiah.
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