Nampeyo, Tonita

Tonita Hamilton Nampeyo was one of the daughters of Hopi-Tewa potter Fannie Nampeyo and Vinton Polacca. Like her siblings, Elva Nampeyo, Leah Nampeyo, Harold Polacca and Iris Nampeyo, Tonita learned how to make pottery from their mother.

Tonita was born in 1936 in Polacca, at the foot of First Mesa. Her father was a carpenter and the family moved around as he found work. Then in 1942 he found better and longer term work at the Keams Canyon School. The family moved to Keams Canyon where they lived in a home provided for them in the government housing complex next to the school. Most of the time they were there, Tonita and Thomas were sent away to the Keams Canyon Boarding School for the winter sessions. Both completed high school there.

Tonita married Eugene Hamilton and they became teacher’s aides. Then both enrolled at the University of Northern Arizona and earned Bachelors degrees in education. They taught school for many years but several years before they retired, they got to teach in the Keams Canyon Schools.

Tonita spent long hours with her mother, learning how to make pottery. Toward the end of Fannie’s life they were inseparable. With Tonita’s assistance, Fannie finished making her last piece of pottery two weeks before she died. After Fannie died, Tonita moved her family into the Corn Clan house and assumed the role and duties of the Corn Clan Mother.