Tribe Declares Thursday a Day of Mourning for Passing of Chief

Tribal operations will be closed for business on Thursday, April 6th, and declared a “Day of Mourning” out of respect for Sôtyum Vernon “Silent Drum” Lopez. Tribal offices will remain closed on Friday, April 7th.

Tribal Chief Silent Drum, a proud veteran of World War II, died on Monday at the age of 100.

Born at his family home on Lovells Lane in Mashpee on June 16, 1922, the son of Emiline and Isaac Lopez, the Chief was the last surviving of nine siblings.

Casually nicknamed “Bunny” by an aunt who was charmed by his twitching nose in childhood, the name stuck with him throughout his life.

“Bunny” was the husband of the late Mary J. Stanley Lopez who died in 2006.

Lopez attended school in Mashpee and the Lawrence High School in Falmouth before being drafted into the Army at the age of 21. He served proudly as a member of the 214th Military Police defending the European allies. He was stationed for a time in England before being dispatched to Omaha Beach in the fifth wave of soldiers to reclaim Normandy in the name of France from the Third Reich. Looking back at century of life celebrating his 100th birthday Lopez recalled the grenades exploding and bullets blazing overhead as he stepped over bodies of men who sacrificed their lives in the effort.

“I wondered why I wasn’t one of them,” he said. “I was just lucky.”

He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge on the western front of Germany.

After the war Lopez met and married the love of his life, Mary, and the two made their home in Brockton and then Holbrook raising a son and daughter.  Lopez worked at the nearby Avon Cut and Die company making steel die cuts for shoes.

In 1971 Lopez built his home on Meetinghouse Road in Mashpee and took a job at the State Fish Hatchery in Sandwich where he worked for 10 years until retiring at the age of 70.

He and his wife remained active farming a small patch of land and tending to the lush gardens that surrounded their home.

Lopez served on the board of the first Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council established in 1972 and was a member when the Council petitioned for federal acknowledgement in 1974 and filed a claim for the return of ancestral land in Mashpee in 1976.

After the passing of Chief Vernon “Sly Fox” Pocknett in 1998 Lopez was asked to be among those to be considered to lead the tribe. In a traditional process held at the tribe’s sacred grounds on 55 acres Lopez was overwhelmingly affirmed by the many tribal members who stood behind him. “I was surprised by it to be quite honest,” Lopez said.

Beyond gardening Lopez enjoyed hunting and fishing and wood carving and just being outdoors in the natural environment. He will be missed by the many four legged and winged friends he cultivated in his backyard.

Lopez is survived by his daughter and caregiver Marlene Lopez of Mashpee; two grandsons James Black of Charlestown, SC, and Derek Black of East Falmouth; a great grandson Dylan Black and a great-granddaughter Peyton Adams, and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his son Ralph Lopez.

A graveside service will be held on Friday at 11 am at the Old Indian Cemetery in Mashpee.