Penny McKelvey AKA "Oh Shinnah Fastwolf"

[Sparks]

https://worldharmonyunlimited.com/2011/10/oh-shinnah-fast-wolf/

The link leads to a video that can also be watched on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asWra16IC5o [Oh Shinnah WorldWaterDay]

This led to other videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h6Z_MmLKQc

Thanksgiving for Mother Earth — TheWisdomKeepers
Short video about showing gratitude for Mother Earth, taught by Native American warrior woman Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf. Prepared for www.BettinaGordon.com Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHLlJmcHLq0

A Film by Bettina Gordon - All Is Made Beautiful (Introduction)
Get the DVD at Amazon (http://bit.ly/AllIsMadeBeautiful-amazon) or Valley Entertainment (http://tinyurl.com/allismadebeautiful)

All Is Made Beautiful: Native American Traditions with Warrior Woman Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf | A Film by Bettina Gordon
Meet Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf, the internationally renowned Warrior Woman and elder of the Apache People. Long before the Green movement, Native Americans knew how to care for "Mother Earth" and her inhabitants. In this entertaining and educational film, Oh Shinnah demonstrates powerful yet easy-to-follow practices such as smudging, feathering, and food blessing. These ancient rituals will help you to reduce stress and anxiety in your life, center yourself and connect to those around you, take charge and protect this planet for many generations to come.

Oh Shinnah also reveals what she considers her most important work today: The Journey of the Waters, a sacred pilgrimage following the Apache trail of purification and transformation. Once a year, she and her most trusted student, Deep Arrow Woman, take an international group of non-native men and women on this journey through the mystical mountains and healing waters of New Mexico and Colorado. The participants utilize the healing power of nature to transform their lives. This truly is Ancient Wisdom for Modern People. 

The documentary also features Nuclear Scientist and Astrophysicist Dr. Elizabeth Rauscher, who validates multiple Native traditions from the scientific point of view.

Link: https://www.valley-entertainment.com/products/wisdom-keepers-all-is-made-beautiful-dvd

[Sandy S]

She died in 2022.

I don't know who wrote this obituary. As always, remember that obituaries are not fact checked before publication.

Her birth name is not given. Parents not mentioned. No overt heritage claims. Other than "supported by multiple native elders throughout her life". Her husbands are not listed nor are the surnames of her children given.

"her sister Dr. Dolores Krieger" is not a bio sister.

OhShinnah Fast Wolf passed away on January 11th, 2022. She was 88 years old when she died of natural causes in a memory care facility in Columbia Falls, Montana.

She was born in Silverton Colorado in 1934 during the height of the Great Depression. During her life she traveled, adventured, and lived all over the United States. She was an amazing singer and song writer having performed at venues in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City, amongst other locations. During her life she performed in the same clubs as Muddy Waters, Nick Gravenites and Michael Bloomfield. She was also involved with the Committee Theater in San Francisco and Chicago’s Second City Theatre. She performed at Carnegie Hall, with the artist Sting, and opened for Jerry Garcia on Jacques Cousteau’s ship the Calypso.

Starting in the 1970’s, OhShinnah studied and taught natural medicines, healing, environmental activism, and applied practical spirituality. She was a pioneer in the use of crystals and partnered with her sister Dr. Dolores Krieger to teach students crystal healing in combination with Therapeutic Touch.

OhShinnah was a delegate at to the United Nations conferences on the Human Environment, Spirituality, the Decolonization of Indigenous People, the World Conference of Spiritual Leaders, and as a ceremonialist at World Water Day. She spoke on environmental issues at the invitation of various governments.

OhShinnah was awarded the Nurse's in Transition Humanitarian Award, the Helen Caldecott Humanitarian Award for Women, the Noetic Science Institute Temple Award for Creative Altruism, and her name is inscribed on the Wall of Tolerance in Birmingham, Alabama.

She was exceptionally generous and was supported by multiple native elders throughout her life. Her legacy is carried on by her students worldwide and a memorial is planned near Molas Lake, Colorado, later 2022.

She was preceded in death by her Daughter Fawn, survived by her children James, Heather, and Kaiwie, grandchildren Sky Bear, Calico, Jamie, James, Autumn, Numa, and 11 great grandchildren.

https://www.buffalohillfh.com/obituaries/ohshinnah-fastwolf

As mentioned earlier in this thread there is a possibility that her birth first name is some variation of Johanna. Here is more:

When she was born, her father was asked what he wanted to call her. Oh Shinnah was not allowed by the government, so she was named “Johanna” (Jeanne) and then the government employee asked what the last name was, but in the Native American tradition of the time, there was none. Her father’s name was “Fast Wolf. So she was called Johanna Fastwolf. But everyone called her, and continues to call her, ‘Oh Shinnah.

https://aiglebleu.net/en/honouring-oh-shinnah-fastwolf/
https://web.archive.org/web/20250420181058/https://aiglebleu.net/en/honouring-oh-shinnah-fastwolf/

I don't think any of that story is true other than the probability of her first name being Johanna.

[Sandy S]

A longtime acquaintance, Calvin Fast Wolf who is an Oglala Lakota, said he knew her 25 years ago as Penny McKelvey.
Mr. Fast Wolf is an adjunct professor who teaches Lakota language at San Francisco state University. He first came across Penny McKelvey at an Indian Arts and Craft show in Chicago in 1964 or 65. "She was 100 percent Scotch-Irish when I first met her and proud of it, because that was when Kennedy was president."

Visions of an enduring people : a reader in Native American studies
Publication date 2000
Publisher Dubuque, Iowa : Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co.
Watts, John G; Fleming, Walter C

[Sparks]

I found a similar mention at this page:

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Be+Warned+-+Trespassing+on+First+Nations%27+Spirituality.-a087868571

Who is a genuine American Indian? Does it matter, if he does no harm? Calvin Fast Wolf, an Oglala Lakota living in San Francisco, objects to a woman he met years ago as Penny McKelvey, now using the name Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf to sell a "spiritual community of healers." McKelvey charges nine hundred dollars for a week in Glacier National Park. Fast Wolf is an old and honored name among Oglala, says Calvin Fast Wolf, and he considers his family insulted by her business.

[Sandy S]

Our fraud and George McKelvey had two children, one who died in 1995.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122415907/fawn-mckelvey

In the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, accessed through ancestry.com, Fawn McKelvey is listed as white.

Fawn Lee McKelvey
[Fawn L McKelvey]
[Fawn McKelvey]
Gender   Female
Race   White
Birth Date   26 Sep 1957
Birth Place   Dover, Delaware
Death Date   2 May 1995
SSN   522314419
Citizenship or Alien Status   U.S. citizen.
Type of Claim   Birth record established before age of 5.
Notes   01 Jun 1981: Name listed as FAWN LEE MCKELVEY; 14 Feb 1986: Name listed as FAWN L MCKELVEY; 11 May 1995: Name listed as FAWN F MCKELVEY

That final name change of "Fawn F. McKelvey" I assume is to add "Fast Wolf".

Photo attached here is of George McKelvey, his daughters Heather and Fawn. Along with whoever Ohshinnah Fastwolf is. She was JoAnn Blanche Scheer in marriage record, previously married and divorced.

So we don't know if Scheer is her birth name or her prior married name.

[Sandy S]

In the extensive article "Oh Shinnah/Bridging academia and culture", by Cate Tellwilliger Gazette Telegraph, Sunday June 30, 1991 - her two "accomplices" are Lindsey Redhawk and Darlene Golas.

Darlene Golas is still an active follower and promoter.

Other active followers include:

Betty deMaye-Caruth
Sally Rothacker - Peyton

https://www.twocronesandamicrophone.com/about

Betty deMaye-Caruth and Sally Rothacker - Peyton are active in promoting Oh Shinnah through https://www.twocronesandamicrophone.com/oh-shinnah-fast-wolf . They have recently interviewed Darlene Golas.