Marcia Flowers, a major figure in the Eastern Pequot Tribe who helped unify both factions of the tribe and petition for federal recognition, died on Wednesday at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital.

She was 70.

"She will be greatly missed by the tribe and we are grateful for all of the contributions and service she's given to the tribe during her lifetime," said Katherine Sebastian Dring, chairwoman of Eastern Pequot Tribal Council.

Flowers served as the tribe's historian and genealogist in the mid-1990s, was elected to the tribal council in the late 1990s and became the tribal council chairwoman in 2001.

She held the post for two terms, until the mid-2000s, Sebastian Dring said.

Afterward, Flowers continued to serve on the council and became a tribal ambassador in 2006, working to promote goodwill among the tribes and in the community. 

She was instrumental in uniting the former Pawcatuck Eastern Pequots and the former Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut, now known as the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, Sebastian Dring said.

The tribe recently renewed its pursuit of federal recognition, a crucial status it won in a 2002 Bureau of Indian Affairs decision.

The decision was reversed three years later.

Bernard Flowers, Marcia Flowers' husband of 32 years, said his wife would have wanted to be remembered for her honesty, integrity and trustworthiness.

"Those were the things she always presented to the voting tribal members," he said.

Flowers of Ashaway, R.I., worked at Westerly Hospital as a licensed practical nurse for more than 30 years. 

She was born in Westerly and earned her degree from the Rhode Island School of Practical Nursing in 1972.

Flowers' daughter, Heather Hadley, recalled her mother researching the genealogy of the tribe.

"She went around to all the little town halls, she pulled censuses," Hadley said. "She and my dad, they would go all over the state, looking for census records and overseer records and just research tirelessly. I remember our whole dining room turned into a genealogy library."

Marcia Flowers collected so much information, she was able to create a chart tracing back generations and through tribal marriages.

The research ultimately became part of the tribe's petition to seek federal recognition, Hadley said.

"She truly believed that our tribe needed to be recognized, and that it needed to be known how much our tribe has been involved in this area," Hadley said. "(That) our roots are one of the most important things we should know about and remember."

"She believed it was very important that the community understood that we have a place here," Hadley said.

Darlene Hamlin, Flowers' cousin, served on the tribal council with Flowers for about 10 years.

"She expected everyone to do their part," Hamlin said. "She was very outspoken when it came to the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

Flowers' tribal name was "Dreaming Spirits" because she dreamed about the missing information she needed to apply for federal recognition and where to find it, Hamlin said.

"It was amazing how she found out information, gathered information and memorized information about the tribe and its history," Hamlin said.

"She just loved her family and her tribe, and she wanted people to know that," Hadley said.  "And she lived it every day. She lived it every single day of her life."

d.straszheim@theday.com