by Lolita Mann Paddock
Jean Huskon Mann, Navajo weaver, was born and raised near Shadow Mountain and Gray Mountain, Arizona. She married Henry Mann at age 17, and they raised eight children together in the Navajo Reservation community of Cameron until Henry died at age 36. As a single mother, Jean’s main source of income was weaving Navajo rugs at home, at the Grand Canyon and at Cameron Trading Post. She retired from weaving in her 70s. Now close to 90, she lives in a nursing home in Flagstaff.
In August 2010, author Kathy Eckles Hooker and photographer David Young-Wolff visited Jean at her Cameron home. Their photographs and an interview are included in Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Portraits of Beauty. Its publication revealed Jean’s history as a Navajo weaver and her warm, spiritual relationship with her children.