Chief Blue’s funeral set for Wednesday

The funeral for Gilbert Blue, Catawba Indian Nation chief for 34 years, is set for Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on the Catawba reservation.

Blue, 82, died at hospice Saturday after battling mesothelioma. Blue was a U.S. Navy veteran and legendary leader of the only federally recognized Native American tribe in South Carolina.

The family will receive friends Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m at Whitesell Funeral Home.

Blue was chief from 1973 through 2007, when he chose to retire rather than seek re-election. Blue brought the Catawba, with its reservation in York County along the Catawba River, into the modern era. He was a champion of tribal rights and the rights of Catawba people as individuals and American citizens.

He was the driving force behind the 1993 settlement among the tribe and the state of South Carolina and federal governments which ended a long legal battle over land claim rights over 144,000 acres in York, Chester, and Lancaster counties in South Carolina and into North Carolina.

Blue's leadership has been praised as the key to working out the settlement and helping the tribe create social, political, health, education, and other programs.

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Chief Blue’s funeral set for Wednesday."