Miss Clara May Bohan Taylor was the December First Language Speaker. Her parents were Anderson and Helen Bohannon. She has one son and five grandchildren.
Choctaw was her first language. She spoke only Choctaw at home with her parents. They attended Buffalo Presbyterian Church in Smithville, Oklahoma, where she continues to attend. She also enjoys singing Choctaw hymns.
She went to work at Smithville Elementary School as a bilingual language teacher with Christine Ludlow. After Smithville school hired her as a teacher’s assistant, she worked for 36 years, retiring in 2008 after seeing many Choctaw children attend and graduate from there.
In her early years, she was part of the Choctaw revitalization movement, led by the Rev. Gene Wilson, who helped keep the culture alive. Choctaw dancing is still active today under different leadership.
She attends the Choctaw language class at the Choctaw Community Center in Talihina under the leadership of Raymond Johnson. He divided the people into groups and asked me to lead one group to help read the lesson sheets in Choctaw sentences, or read the Choctaw Bible and sing Choctaw hymns.
She attends the Choctaw Community Center in Smithville regularly. She was also part of the group in Talihina with Councilman Eddie Bohanan, who recorded Choctaw hymns on CDs.