Jeanne L'Strange Cappel
Jeanne L'Strange Cappel, also known as Jennie Strange Rolson, Wa-be-no O-pee-chee, and Wabena Opechee, was an American writer, educator, and clubwoman, author of Chippewa Tales.
Early life
Jeanne Marie Strange was born in Dundas, Minnesota, the daughter of Edward Strange and Laura Sargent Strange. She was described as being a member of the Chippewa people, and recalled a Chippewa grandmother in her presentations. She graduated from the University of Southern California.Career
Cappel was a physical education teacher and playground director in Los Angeles. She wrote two volumes of Chippewa Tales, retellings of traditional stories, and The Mother You Gave Me, a novel, with Beatrice Phillips Cole. She was a founding member and president of the American Indian Woman's History and Art Club, and wrote, directed, and acted in a play, Out of the Past, performed by the club in 1933. The club required active members to have Indian ancestry.Cappel gave lectures on American Indian lore to community groups and at a Campfire Girls camp, sometimes in costume, and sometimes with her son to accompany her. "The Indian tales deal so much with things in nature," she explained of her work. "They not only give a practical suggestion that is real education for the child mind, but they also afford the imagination a delightful impetus."
Cappel was also active with the Dickens Fellowship, and the Los Angeles branch of the National League of American Pen Women. She was reported to be "the first woman of her ancestry to become a Daughter of the American Revolution".