Aileen (Crow) Bird

Aileen (Crow) Bird

NPS/Public Domain

Quick Facts

Significance:

Pipestone carver and demonstrator who worked at the monument for 18 years. She has passed on the carving tradition to her children as well, ensuring that it survives.

Aileen (Crow) Bird
“Sitting Star”
Sisseton/Wahpeton
May 22, 1927 - April 11, 1998

Aileen was the daughter of Moses and Estella Crow. The Crow family moved to Pipestone in 1927 from Granite Falls, Minnesota. Many generations of quarriers and crafters have come from this family.

Aileen’s first experience working in the quarries and with the pipestone itself was in the 1940’s when she helped her sister Ethel (Crow) Derby. Ethel later taught Aileen how to carve turtles, arrowheads, and hearts from the stone. One of the special items she later learned to carve was buttons out of the pipestone.
 
Aileen married Sylvester Bird on July 17, 1946. Together the couple raised four children, one boy and three girls. In earlier years she worked as a nurse’s aide in the Pipestone Indian Hospital and later as a cook at the Good Samaritan Village.
 
Aileen worked as a cultural demonstrator at Pipestone National Monument for 18 years, from 1973 to 1991. She enjoyed talking to the visitors and explaining how the pipestone is carved. 
 
Aileen’s three daughters (Adrienne, Colleen and Peggy) carry on the family tradition of carving pipestone.