John "Eesawu" Kimmey

If there was an appropriate term to describe the lifeworks of John "Eesawu" Kimmey it would be as a 'seedplanter.' He had an innate characteristic of a visionary/community developer, working for years with the native people of the American Southwest. John became a student of the elders of the Hopi village of Hotevilla, Arizona and became a student and traveling companion of the late Hopi Prophet and village leader, David Monongye. At the elders' request, John came to live in Hotevilla to assist them in a communication effort that reached out to the United Nations and many other world leaders. While residing with the Hopi John was urged by the elders to return to Santa Fe and found an organization to collect and conserve native food crops of the Southwest. John founded Talavaya Center, a non-profit educational and research center which established a community seed bank of over 600 varieties of native cultivars. In 1984 Talavaya Center received the United Nations Environmental Programme Award for its successful efforts in the conservation of genetic diversity of important germplasm and the farming lore of the ancestral cultures of the Southwest. Having received permission, John became a foremost teacher of the Hopi Prophecy and the wisdom of the Hopi Elders which he taught around the world.