By Rachel Maker, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Public Information Department
Those who know Citizen Potawatomi Vice-Chairman Linda Capps best describe her leadership with the words: grace, compassion and love. After 36 years of service to the Tribe and a lifetime of service to the community, Capps is retiring, leaving behind a legacy that will be remembered by many whose lives she has impacted.
Capps, the youngest of seven siblings, was born in Harrah, Oklahoma, where she attended Harrah High School before earning her bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Central Oklahoma.
Capps spent years working in education. She taught business at the high school level, served as Title IV Indian coordinator at Tecumseh Public Schools and taught basic education to adult Native Americans at Gordon Cooper Technology Center (GCTC). She also coordinated the Bid Assistance Program at GCTC.
Outside of education, Capps has sold real estate, worked in purchasing and credit at OG&E, operated a steam cleaning business and worked as a landman.
Throughout her career, Capps has also served on many boards and professional organizations including Oklahoma University’s Planning Committee on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) for Southwest Center of Human Relations Studies, Community Advisory Council of the Kansas City Federal Reserve, a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank Branch of Oklahoma City, Board of Directors of Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, GCTC Foundation Board and a long-standing member of the Board of Directors for Sovereign Bank, owned by CPN.
Over the years, she has been recognized across Indian Country as a recipient of many awards such as Oklahoma Citizen of the Year, the Small Business Administration’s Oklahoma Minority Advocate of the Year (1997), Shawnee Chamber’s Gordon Richards Achievement Award (2016), Kate Barnard Award (2017), Don Bodard Friend of Youth Award (2017), Tecumseh Citizen of the Year (2012 and 2020), Pottawatomie County Most Powerful Woman (2020) and the Journal Record’s Native American Leaders in Business (2021).
She has also received other special recognitions such as being inducted into the GCTC Hall of Fame (2010), awarded an honorary doctorate in humanities by OBU (2014) and winning first place in the Countywide & Sun’s Pottawatomie Power Polls (2020).
When Capps became an elected official for CPN in 1987 and Vice-Chairman in 1990, the Tribe employed less than 500 employees. Today, the Nation employs more than 2,300 people and serves nearly 40,000 Tribal members.
Departments and services also expanded during her administrative tenure. Workforce and Social Services Director Margaret Zientek, who has worked under Capps for 29 years, said she witnessed that growth firsthand.
“When I first started, Workforce was a large grant for the Tribe at the time — it was just us and housing,” Zientek said. “We have grown, and that’s under the guidance of Capps and the Chairman.”
Though her career includes many accomplishments, employees, Tribal members and others close to her say her influence is what they will remember most. Several Tribal members and employees, who have known Capps for more than 20 years, shared memories of her leadership and compassion with the Hownikan.
Zientek said, “She’s helped me grow. If I can lead with half the grace that Capps does, then I feel good.”
Workforce Manager Melinda Duin, who has worked for the Tribe for 26 years, said Capps encourages employees to continue learning and growing.
“Linda has always been so great with letting us explore new avenues to help people in different ways,” Duin said. “She’s always been an advocate for education and training. Social service work is extremely hard on the worker because your heart aches for people and your brain is constantly trying to find ways to help people. Ms. Linda giving us the opportunity to go to trainings, recharge the battery and better serve people is huge.”
Duin described Capps as both a mentor and role model.
“She lives and serves with her heart,” Duin said. “I aspire to be like her.”
Burt Patadal, who serves as the re-entry and diversionary lead counselor for the Workforce and Social Services’ Tribal Re-entry Program, has worked for the Tribe for 25 years and said Capps is a good person to work for and that he would do anything for her and the Chairman.
“She’s patient and she’s a good woman,” Patadal said. “She listens to my opinions on things and trusts me. That’s the best thing in the world — to have someone’s trust.”
Former Workforce and Social Services Director Carol Levi, who worked for the Tribe for more than 35 years, said Capps consistently made people feel valued.
“If Linda saw there was a need, that’s when her compassion would come in,” Levi said. “If someone needed help, she wasn’t afraid to go see what she could do. She’s easy to work with and she will make time for you. You just don’t get that very often when people are that busy.”
For Administrative Assistant Dennette Summerlin, watching how Capps treats people makes her want to be the same way. Summerlin has worked as Capps’ assistant since 2003.
“One of the greatest things about Ms. Capps is her love for the employees,” said Summerlin. “She is compassion and love, and that is something a lot of people leave out as leaders because they are so focused on policy and process. Sometimes we forget our people are human and could be going through something, so for her to give them grace is something.”
FireLake Discount Foods Marketing Manager Nicole Sanchez, who has worked for the Tribe for 26 years, said Capps has been a source of guidance and encouragement throughout her adult life.
“I lost my mother while in high school, so I have been so blessed to have amazing women like Ms. Capps in my adult life to help me grow as a woman, mother, Christian and Tribal member,” Sanchez said. “She’s just allowed me that space and given me grace to grow.”
Sanchez said Capps is someone she can go to if she has a question or needs guidance.
“She leads with her heart,” Sanchez continued. “She’s so classy in everything that she does — her actions, her demeanor. She’s one of a kind. If there’s anyone I would want to be like, it would be her.”
Sanchez described Capps as “a beacon, like a lighthouse.”
That guiding light extended to the Potawatomi names Capps gave Sanchez and her children. Sanchez reflected on her daughter’s Potawatomi name, Memegwe, which means butterfly. She shared her daughter will be interning in the butterfly program at the Aviary this summer.
“Capps has always encouraged us to spread our wings and fly,” said Sanchez. “I think about how long it’s taken her retirement to take shape, just like a butterfly in its process. It’s time to release it and let it go.”
Sanchez continued, “I don’t think I would be the woman I am today if it wasn’t for her guidance, love and encouragement. I truly don’t. I know I’ve had a lot of amazing people in my life, but she will forever be the one who holds a special place in my heart.”
