Richard E. Bartow’s (Rick Bartow’s) tribe and family story offer insight into his life. Filled with beauty and real life lessons, Bartow’s story is rich and complex, and is far beyond the generalizations and stereotypes of Indigenous peoples usually conveyed in sociology and history texts. These lessons provide an opportunity for students to see a traditional minded Indigenous person as a contemporary human being. Rick Bartow (1946-2016) was a Baduwa’t Wiyot educator, contemporary and traditional artist, musician, and songwriter whose family escaped the Indian massacres in California after the gold rush. His great grandparents walked 500 miles to Newport Oregon, Yaquina Bay and started a new life in the Siletz Tribe territory where three generations of Bartow’s family lived in the place his great grandparents’ homesteaded. Bartow was drafted into the Vietnam War. He returned physically well, but suffered extreme PTSD and alcoholism. He used metaphors in his art and music for solace and healing for himself and his community. Candid about his trauma and challenges in life, he equally interpreted beauty and appreciation for animals. He sought professional help and was able to become sober, a good example to others who might be suffering. Through his art and music, Bartow was a storyteller. He dedicated his life to inspiring youth to be all they could be while participating in the preservation of the Wiyot culture and ceremony. Rick Bartow is an example and a model for Indigenous survivance.