Mary Thomas, the first woman to lead the Gila River Indian Community and an outspoken voice on issues such as casino gaming, poverty and tribal water rights, died Thursday of undisclosed causes, report Shaun McKinnon and Sean Holstege of The Arizona Republic. She was70.
Although she was active in tribal politics for much of her life, Thomas was known as the face of Indian casinos after appearing in a series of television ads explaining how gaming profits helped provide basic services on the Gila River Reservation.
Thomas was elected governor of the Gila River Indian Community twice, serving from 1994 to 2000, and as lieutenant governor twice, once before she became governor and for a second term in 2003. She helped the community establish its own police and fire departments and led an effort to build a new hospital on the reservation, south of Phoenix.
She survived a recall effort in 1998 and ran unsuccessfully for the state House of Representatives in 2000. For a while, her name was mentioned as a candidate for Congress, but she turned her attention back to her own community, as a volunteer and then once more as an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2011.
